The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-09-14
WEEKLY DIGEST
OF Experiment Station Bulletins.
PREPARRD CEREAL FOODs.
No SO.

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riment stations is of so universal
or SO much Importance as the
composition Of the food eaten by the
family, yet not exceeding n fourth as
much attention has been given to this
subject as to the composition or the
foods we feed to our domestic animals.
The stations of California, Connecticut
and Delaware have each issued a bulle
tin on this subject, and farmers bulle
tin No, 90, on Foods, Nutritive Value
and COST farmers bulletin No. 81, on
''Meats; Composition and Cooking
and bulletin No. "a, Office Of experiment
stations, on Chemistry of Food" all
three issued by the United States De-
partment of Agriculture, Washington,
d. O., embrace about all the station
literature upon this subject previously
issued, and all have been digested in
these columns. Now bulletin No. 80 of
Wyoming station comes to hand treat
ing of the Composition of Prepared
pared Cereal Foods"
Within the last twenty years a verit-
able revolution has taken place on
American breakfast tables for within
that, time the use Of breakfast foods
prepared from oats, wheat and corn
has become general and the markets
are now foodeded with pasteboard
packages of these goods In great vari
ETY. of style and shape, and the maya
zines and periodicals are full of their
advertisements, nearly all more or lees
ex~travagant.
The general use OF these foods, the
wide difference in prices Of different
kinds and the extravagant claims made
for many of them caused the Wyoming
station to make q collection Of samples
of all varieties found on sale in the re
tail stores of Cheyenne and Laramie
and to subject them all to exhaustive
chemical tests.
Tt is explained that food is used in
the body for two purposes-to repair
waste and to produce energy-and, In
case of young persons, to produce
growth.
The chemist classics food into three
great classes-protein, carbohydrates
and fats. Protein ia sometimes called
albumenous or heterogeneous food. It il
the element of greatest value in skim
milk, white Of egg, cheese and lean
meat. The glutenous, doughty portions
of wheat, oats, etc are rich in protein,
as are beans and peas. Protein is the
only kind of food that goes to make
muscle, and it is also valuable for ten
dons Qeaders), bones, nerves, etc. The
carbohydrates form fat and produce
bodily heat and energy. The oily parts
of foods are classed as fats, and their
use is the same as that of the carlo
hydrats, except that one pound OF fats
is equal to two and q quarter pounds of
carbohydrates.
The cereal. grains are chiefly com
posed of starch and gluten, starch be
ing a carbohydrate and gluten chasing
as protein. If a spoonful of wheat be
chewed for awhile the starch will be
dissolved and swallowed With the
saliva, while the gluten will become
tough, doughty 8 This gluten ia the
most valuable part of the food. Phos
pilates, an Rshy matter which largely
enters into the composition of the
bones, brain and nerves, are also val1
able, though not large constituents OF
some grains, particularly oats and
wheat.
The carbohydrates of cereal foods
are mostly in the form Of hard greins
Of starch, more OF less insoluble and
indigestible in their natural state, and
these are rendered soluble and digest
ible in course of preparation by partial
cooking and crushing, and s~ubjecting
them to pressure and moisture. Their
starch is then easily converted into the
more nutritious forms of glucose, dex
trim, sugar, etc. The process of pre-
pairing and packing these foods ready
for the grocers' shelves is carried on in
mills especially constructed for that
purpose.
One fact most forcibly brought out
by these analyses at the Wyoming sta
ton is that the relative prices Of these
goods is no indication Of their relative
value. For instance. the highest priced
preparation of wheat vas called Fla
rina," and retailed at 15c. per pound,
while the lowest priced, called wheat
let's" retailed at &c. per pound, and 1t
was just as rich in protein and carbo
hydrates and fats, and more than twice !
as rich in phosphates, as the "Farina, "
The preparation Of cats highest in price
was "Hornby'n." 132 per pound, while