The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1914-09-25
THE DIET QUESTION.

Inquiries received prove that large
numbers Of persons grasp only with
great difficulty the fundamental princi-
pies 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 1t leads; therefore, more than any
other plant, wheat becomes constitu-
ent part Of our bodies.
Wheat begins to grow at Al degrees
Fahrenheit and WREN 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 II not too deep
ly buried. II too deeply buried,
greater amount of heat is required pro-
portionate to the depth, and if the seed
lies at a depth lower than one foot
1t rarely terminates. Seedlings cease
to grow if the average temperature
for the day remains below IL degrees
Fahrenheit when wing plants have
been subjected TO an aggregate tenn
perature of 1896 degrees Fahrenheit
from the time when sown, or of 1715
degrees from the time of termination,
branching goes on freely and the
young ears form. Under the stimulus
of an average temperature Of So 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
Is degrees is most favorable to ma
. turity. with abundance Of sunlight anc
rain.
\ Given a matured wheat berry, what
= has happened is that under the VitaIlz-
q ing stimulus of sunlight the engines
" and bacteria in the soil and the
y 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 q suitable machine again
- converts it into kinetic energy. AS
- SHINING that the wheat plant had the
mower to modify its environment oI
~ eliminating from its diet in the sol
one or more of the elements on which
- its growth and vitality depend, w
should call It stupid and think 1t JUST!
- deserving Of the smut disease and tn
- blight that would inevitably attack
=. because of the weakness resultlni
~ from the ensuing starvation.
:. By reason Of ancestral adjustment
no our digestive organs are able easil
10 to digest, transform and utilize TIL
.oI wheat energy The. wheat berry
'af food for US because it is develope
practically in the same scale that W
80 are. But for some strange reason W
~ insist on radically changing our el
~ yironmeut by eliminating from on
q, diet the most important and vital pal
=; of the berry, thereby throwing on
tn1 ancestral habits out of gear and crea
ha ing trouble.
an Blythe states that modern millin
-, az produces nine varieties of our fio'
no and three brans from the wheat berr
rbt the original wheat showing 10y p
10. cent ash, the -four showing 30 p'
in. cent ash, fine bran showing COB p'
Nod cent ash, medium bran showing o.
no per cent ash, coarse bran showing 8.
~ ner cent ash. This ash consists or