The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900, 1897-08-29
BAD BRITISH BREAD.
HEAVY LOAVEs NOT THE FAULT OF
AMERICAN FLOUR.

lish Criticism-The Lancet's Argument
Against Foreign Foods VIII Not Affect
the Sale of Oar Wheat.
The task or privilege Of feeding Eng
land during the next 12 months will
fall, as is already widely known, chief
ly upon America. The Russian wheat
crop is failure, and export of grain
has been forbidden by the car. The
market for the enormous superfuous
yield Of American cereals is thus pro-
vided by one of natures fortunate COM
pensations, and all concerned are hap
Ply or should be. It is curious that just
at this moment new warning or argu-
ment against the use of foreign grown
food should be put forward by that ac-
knowledged authority upon all ques-
tions affecting the physical we'll being
of man, The Lancet. Its assertion
amounts to this-that the healthiest
food for any people is the product Of its
local or native soil.
The average ignorant layman is no
doubt of the impression that wheat is
wheat and beef is beef the world over.
Far from it, says a correspondent Of
The Lancet, whose views are Endorsed
By the editor Of the great organ of med
lcal science in an interesting article. It
is, of course, well understood that eli
matio conditions have great deal to
do with the suitability of food. The APP
petite for fat in the arctic and for fruit
in the tropics affords the commonest ex-
ample.
''The same principle, - the editor of
The Lancet points out, is illustrated
even in the comparatively narrow range
of climatic conditions in this country.
Who has the same inclination to eat a
large, underdone, juicy steak in the
broiling days Of our short summer as in
winter? We rather have recourse to sal
ads, fruits, vegetables, and if to meat
at all it is in sparing quantity and gen.
orally cold. But, as an agricultural cor
respondent has most ably and pertinent
ly pointed out to us in a recent very in
teresting communication, the subject
may be pushed step further and con-
sidered from point Of view which in
its general bearings on the question of
food supply is of Unquestionable impor-
lance. AS he has observed, the same
plant varies in its feeding properties
when grown at a different altitude or
on particular soil or in a different CHI
mate. In other words, the nutritive
value of plant or its fruit, be it seed
or leaf, Is influenced by soil and climate.
Heritage composed of grasses and clo-
vers-i. e. pasture-has a marked in
fluenoe upon the health, development
and early maturity of sheep and cattle
according to geographical position and
geological character of the soil. Thus
'storeland' and feeding land are terms
used to express the relative character Of
the soil, and, as our correspondent, who
is a farmer, points out, these varying
conditions have we'll known influence
in altering or modifying the type and
character Of breed or pedigree. Is it
design in nature, he asks, that plants
growing in any particular country shall
be more suitable food for animals in
that particular country than foreign
food or that grown in different coun-
try? AS an illustration, linseed or flax
seed produced in one country is full of
oil, and in another the proportion of oil
is distinctly less. A sample of seed in
one country, again, is rich in muous,
while in another it contains very little
muoilage, the difference in this respect
in Russia, Indian and English seeds be-
ing considerable. Again, he asks, does
Assam tea afford a more healthful bev-
erage to the Chinaman than Indian tea?
Yet the character of the two decoctions
made from these respective teas is quito
different.
ITO come nearer home and to touch
upon the economic side Of the question
as closely affecting our own agricultural
interests, is English wheat made into
bread a better food for the people in
this country than bread made from for
eign -four? The baker selects foreign
-four because the resulting loaf is light
er, and the flour will take up more
water, and sack will yield greater
number of leaves than an English sack.
There could hardly be opened up for
discussion more interesting phase of
the subject, and our correspondent has
WIlbI0A very pCLGluSltly upO1I fSLJ
important question. 1t is just possible,
on studying and rejecting upon the is
sues he has raised, that another rational
and powerful argument in favor Of the
consumption of home grown food may
be found. "
The Lancet's argument may be IRA
tional and powerful, " but I do not be-
lieve it will diminish the sale Of Ameri-
can wheat in England by single BUSH
ell during the coming autumn and win
ter. The point incidentally brought out
that foreign flour will yield more bread,
weight for weight, than English -four
is quite potent enough to decide the
question in every bakery in England. If
The Lancet would devote itself to an
agitation of the question how to make
bread with any -four, it might accom-
plish great and glorious reform in
this baker ridden country. If a more
discouraging, unappetizing object can
be produced as product of the culinary
art than the English household loaf,
as it is called, have failed to discover
it.-London Cor. New York Sun.
Hatpins Must Go.