The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-09-11
ABOUT conH NEAL.

In recent Issue % The Richmond Dis
patch there 10 an editorial headed Corn
Bread Memories." which quotes the
opinion Of an Indiana miller OF the Old
days named Linchicum. He Is IS years
old and has followed the business n
years. and 10. therefore. well aaaliAed
to speak on the subject Of good corn
meal. This he declares, cannot be made
in the modern steam mills, for these rea-
sons:
1.-THE stones turn too fast to make good
meal. for they get heated. and the meal
heat o.srs n ins
the bread Is sure to be soggy. Then. too,
they grind too me and the dough packs
In baking, no matter Tow many eggs
and how much soda and milk you put In
work themselves. for nature does her
work steady"
The Dispatch argues that the fault is
not altogether IN mills run by steam
power. because II has known re-modeiled
water mills which failed to make good
meal Theoretically The Dispatch is cor
rect. ~ the source Of power has nothing
to DO with the product. but - matter
Of fact the old miller Is right. In the
water mills OF the old days. the stones
were large and were driven at low
speed. from 90 to lao revolutions per min
ute. and rarely ground more than fve
or six bushels Of corn per hour. The re-
suit was moderately coarse. thoroughly
live meal from which the best and most
wholesome bread ever eaten was made.
provided, OF course. good corn was used.
In steam min there are several points
Of difference. The greater expense OF
steam power ovef water makes 1t neces-
sary to produce Q much greater amount
Of meal In 9 given time SO a. to make
up for the extra cost Of production.
which are run at high speed and the corn
forced through them at the rate OF twen-
ty-fivs to fifty bushels per hour. The
natural result 10 that the meal 10 crush
ed-not ground--to q me powder and
comes out scaIding hot and with all
the life out Of 1t. All the culinary skill
on earth win not make an good bread
Of this product as could be made OF meal
ground In the old-way. OF course II the
same methods are used in a mill run by
ter. The fault lies. not in the kind OF
power used. but In the way the corn
10 ground and theamount ground IN a
given time. The fine dust-for Il 10 not
meal--made by one Of these lightning
mills is lifeless. and no cook can make
good bread OF H..
There Is another fact not so generally
known which Ia not unimportant. Mr..
Ldnchicum speaks Of the burrs used, by
which he means the buhr-stones used
for grinding, but these do not produce
the hest meal. Both French and Amer
lean bnhr 10 used. 10 weii as Esopus
and other varieties of stone, but we have
never seen as good corn meal made by
any kind df milistones as is that made
by stones cut from Alabama granite.
There 10 famous quarry of this stone
In the southwestern portion of Randolph
County, from which thousands of sets
Of min stones have been quarried, and
which could be found in the old-tims
water mills all over Alabama end ad.
Joining States. No better stone for grind
ing corn could be found, and no better
meal for bread ever existed or was pro-
duced than was made from white Ala
bama corn ground in water mill by a
skillful miller using granite milistones.
This is q dead sure fact.
The Dispatch grows enthusiastic over
the subject Of country fare and yearns
thus:
We wish some millionaire would At UP
Q Virginia country home in ante bellum
style. and, among other things, have In
It a big. open fireplace, black cook In
a gigham dress, with a red bandana Oh
her head. and also have half-acre mint
bed, an tce-house, and an oid-time gar.
den niied with raspberries and goose
berries. thyme. sage. currants, and all
the ordinary table vegetables.
Though the editor doesn't mention wa
ter mills In his enumeration Of the good
things, we know from the preceding par
agraphs that this black cook with the
Bingham dress and the red bandana was
associated in his mind with pones and
hoe-cakes. mullins and johhnycakes, egg
bread ana ash-cakes and the other good
things OF life which naturally Mt in with
ante-bellum country life. And then he
tells Of what would happen:
When one of those old-time homes and
gardens and kitchens Is restored, and
the most and hostess have entered into
possession, we desire to be listed as a
frequent guest with reserved seat in
the chimney-corner. Then all we shall
want will be the zest, the appetite. the
voraciousness we possessed when we
could eat eighteen rolls and six eggs for
breakfast. and consume a whole water
melon between meals. But, alas, II
would be easter to restore old walls and
open fireplaces than to bring back tho
digestion and storage capacity of q
youth that's gone. OF time that's past
and never can return.
Alas. for Oh edays that are past! We
cannot say that we ever possessed tho
appetite ana the storage capacity Of
our virginia brother. but we have been
along in the immediate neishborhood-and
can feel away down in our Utmost anat
omy some thrilling reminders OF the
brave days Of DID," when eating was to
pleasure and digestion was expected to
look out for itself.