El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-08-22


w The beginning of bread making
W is in the preparation Of the soil
for the seed wheat The quality of
the bread depends greatly upon the
chemical composition of the soil in
which the wheat, from which the Hour
IS made, is grown. This chemical COM
position may change from year TO year
because Of climatic changes, pr from
loss Of certain properties taken from
, it by the wheat itself Consequently the
soil of the great wheat fields OF the
country IS being subjected 10 cnemlcal
| analysis in order that the modern farm
er may be able to supply the desired
qualities to the grain American wheat
I ranks as the standard OF quality. the
/ experiment stations connected with the
various state agricultural colleges are
giving much attention to soil analysis
( and this is one of the factors which has
aided in the improvement Of the quail
! ~ and nutriment Of the modern LOAF
4 Of bread.
It was only in 1910 that the first
/ book advocating the application OF
/ chemistry to agriculture was written
/ by the German chemist Liebig. Since
/ then experiments and scientific tests OF
/ the soil have become general through
! out Europe and America The enor-
nous wheat fields of the western states
have an important influence upon the
1 bread conditions of the world, eonse-
Quently the efforts made by the de-
partment Of agriculture to keep rec
ords of the soil conditions are now be-
! coming recognized as of great econom-
/ zeal value, not only to the farmer VINO
/ desires a large wheat crop, but also to
| the bakers who desire wheat crop
which will provide the flour required
/ for good bread
Two Viewpoints of Quality.
The quality Of wheat is gagged from
/ two distinct viewpoints, that OF the
/ farmer and that of the miller. farm
! er's idea of a good wheat is the variety
which gives him the largest monetary
return per acre. Both bulk and quality
enter into this calculation of value
The quality of wheat to the miller de-
ponds upon three things, its percentage
/ of dirt, weed seeds and other impurl-
ties; the percentage Of water in the
/ composition OF the grain, and most
/ important, though hard to determine,
quality known as strength. me
modern methods Of growing. cleaning
and threshing wheat, made possible by
have gone far towards establishing the
! first requisite. The second, that of
moisture, must be largely undetermin-
! ate each year because OF the varying
quantity of rainfall
The Farmers Responsibility.
| The farmers part in the production
] of bread concludes only with the dellV-
eTing Of the wheat either to the miller
/ or the commission merchant. he mas
all the responsibility of preparing the
( soil, in which process he has all the
/ help which modern science can give re-
/ gardng the fertilization to be added to
| supply any lacking chemical quality.
! Great natural waterfalls, such as Nj
( agara Falls, have been made to drive
dynamos and the electricity thus gener-
J ated has been employed to combine the
! free nitrogen Of the air with some oJher
| product which will give to the farmer
Z the chemical quality his SOIL requires
| Formerly large quantities Of guano
from Peru and nitrate OF soda from
! Chilli were imported for the develop
ment OF American wheat lana with
the threatened exhaustion of these pro-
| ducts came the chemical development
Of two new heterogeneous fertilizers
/ which can be supplied at price quite
/ within reach Of the average farmer
/ In Norway and Germany, as well as IN
/ this country, great electro chemlcaI
/ laboratories, operated by natural water
/ power, have been established Wnlch are
supplying fertilizers to aid the farmer
enrich his wheat field
Raised From 13 10 SS Bushels
The effect of supplying additional
nitrogen to the soil has seemed almost
impossible, but IS attested by actual
chemical eXperim entS. Tests made snow
greater gain in England than in the
United States, probably because the
smaller farm areas Of England develop
more concentrated methods OF work.
When the average crop was IL bushels
an acre without the use OF IerJlllzer' II
was increased at an English experiment
station to Is bushels by the 1ntroduc-
Z ton of a fertilizer containing phOs-
! phorous lime potash and all the other
elements Of plant food except nitrogen
When nitrogen was supplied the aver
/ age yield was raised to q bushels an
! acre, and by the supply of complete
/ fertilizer including all the elements,
the yield rose to So bushels per acre
about two and a half times the average
Weld of American wheat fields. In this
/ connection it must be noted, however
that in England the grade of American
J wheat is recognized as the standard OF
100 while that of the home grown is
only 60 in comparison.
! chinery has had a most important IN
/ fluence upon the increase in the use
I of raised white bread, because II mas
/ made possible the handling OF gram
/ with a speed and facility which would
\ have been impossible under the older
/ methods of harvesting and handing II
/ is said that the inventor of the reaper
! has been as great benefactor 10 hu-
I mainly in the production OF 1000 as
was the inventor of the cotton gin IN
/ the production of clothing. The me-
| chanical reaper doubled the producJon
/ of wheat per capita in this country.
and also released a large proportion OF
! the agricultural population for Otner
J industries, thereby Indirectly aiding IN
! the industrial advancement Of the coun-
! try The first reaper was invented Dy
/ Obed Hussey. of Ohio, in 1913, but little
! notice was attracted to it Other men
! had the idea in mind and the machine
was patented by Cyrus Mccormick In
1881.
Advent of Harvesting Machinery.
Threshing by hand with the old-time
I fail was a more tedious and labOriOuS
! process than cutting the grain with a
) scythe, so the invention of the thresh-
( ing machine was almost as necessary as
( the reaper, and it was patented about
! the same time. In 1887 the first patent
I was awarded for a machine for thTesh-
/ ing and cleaning the grain. These port
able threshing machines have been IA
4 miliar figures in farming regions for
/ the past half century
| A machine viii travel from farm to
/ farm. earning for grain in a few hours
which would have taken a number OF
( men several weeks to thresh less per-
! fectIy Now the great farms Of the
west employ a combined harvester and
/ thresher which. in a few minutes, cuts
4 threshes, winnows and puts in sacks
( the wheat. at cost Of s1.25 an acre.
/ The early pillow used by the American
I cOlonist was OF wood. sometimes
| strengthened by an iron plate The first
! all-irOn pillow. invented in 1877 by
| Charles Newbold, of New Jersey. was
| received with disfavor by the farmers,
who believed that the iron would poison
/ the soil. The cast iron pillow. with
/ changeable parts, was invented in 1919
! and it was used until the invention of
J the oliver chilled iron plow, which is
/ now so we'll known. Steam DlOU-s are