Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1914-09-25
THE DIET QUESTION.

lAQulllOS IcCClNCu plONO ludb ioi 30
numbers of persons grasp only with
great difficulty the fundamental princi-
Piles of nutrition and do not readily
discriminate between pure food and
wholesome food The demand is for
some specific guide or chart as to
what to eat. This is not the road to
good health and happiness. but quite
the contrary; because until self
knowledge and self-reliance are at
tanned the individual is subject to all
kinds Of vague and unreasoning fears
and fancies and is, therefore, continu-
ously in danger of exploitation by any
plausible faddist, with all the attend
ant dangers.
Next to rice, wheat is the most uni
versally used cereal and in this coun-
try it leads; therefore, more than any
other plant, wheat becomes constitu-
ent part Of our bodies.
Wheat begins to grow at IL degrees
Fahrenheit and when the aggregate
temperature as represented by the
sum Of the daily average equals 1856
degrees the germ begins to hatch" or
escape from the husks If not too deep
ly buried If too deeply buried,
greater amount of heat Is required pro-
portionate to the depth, and If the seed
lies at depth lower than one foot
it rarely terminates. Seedlings cease
to grow if the average temperature
for the day remains below AZ degrees
Fahrenheit When young plants have
been subjected to an aggregate tenn
perature of 1895 degrees Fahrenheit
from the time when sown, or of IT'S
degrees from the time of termination,
branching goes on freely and the
young ears form. Under the stimulus
of an average temperature of 55 de-
grees Fahrenheit, or a little above,
the flowers are produced. But still
higher daily average temperature Is
required for the full development and
ripening of the grain. An average of
rs degrees is most favorable to ma
turity, with abundance Of sunlight and
rain.
Given a matured wheat berry, what
has happened is that under the vitaliz-
ing stimulus of sunlight the engines
and bacteria In the soil and the
plant have taken these elements, and
many others not here mentioned, out
Of the soil and the air and bound
them together with the kinetic energy
of the sun into molecules of protein,
carbohydrate, fat, ETC., the wheat berry
serving as a reservoir Of potential en-
ergy until a suitable machine again
converts it into kinetic energy. AS
Stunning that the wheat plant had the
power to modify it's environment by
eliminating from it's diet in the soil
one or more of the elements on which
it's growth and vitality depend, we
should call it stupid and think it justly
deserving of the smut disease and the
blight that would inevitably attack it
because of the weakness resulting
from the ensuing starvation.
By reason of ancestral adjustments
our digestive organs are able easily
TO digest, transform and utilize this
wheat energy. The wheat berry is
food for us because it is developed
practically in the same scale that we
are. But for some strange reason we
insist on radically changing our en-
vironment by eliminating from our
diet the most important and vital part
Of the berry, thereby throwing our
ancestral habits out of gear and Great
ing trouble.
Blythe states that modern milling
produces nine varieties Of our flour
and three brans from the wheat berry,
the original wheat showing 2.09 per
cent ash, the flour showing .55 per
cent ash, fine bran showing 655 per
cent ash, medium bran showing $50
per cent ash, coarse bran showing SOL
per cent ash. This ash consists Of: