Year: 1879

Wheat is the prince of grains. It con- tains not only starch and other constitu- ents common to- all grains, but a large DOT cent. of glutan-the plastic princi ole of grain So it yields a larger amount of nourisnment than many other of the cereals. Animals that live on grain composed largely of starch are not well nourished do not thrive well and long on starch alone, but do live and flourish where gluten is contained in considera- ble quantity. They do better still when they can get for food a mixture of all the constituents of the grains. These con- stituents exist in all, but not in the same proportions. Maize contains more oil; wheat more gluten. Some grains con tain comparatively little oil or gluten. Oatmeal is obtained by kiln-drying the oats and removing the outer skin. Its four is coarser than wheat four Its taste is peculiar and not always liked. The Scotch oatmeal is coarser than the English and is more highly valued Bar ley is very little used in making bread

 Pearl barley is the grain deprived of its husk, rounded and polished by attrition. Patent barley is pearl barley ground to the state of flour. Barley contains but very little gluten in a free state. Its plastic manner IS albumen and casein. It cannot be made into light bread, but a bread is formed of it by mixing wheat flour with barley meal. It is less diges- tible, less palatable and less nutritious than wheaten bread. Barley water, so useful as nutritive and demulcent drink in sickness, is prepared from pearl barley. Barley, under the influence of warmth and moisture, germinates, and the growth of the sprouts being. checked by exposing the grain to heat in a kiln is called malt. It contains diastase, that converts the starch into dextrine and 1 sIgar. The malt, infused in hot water, yields sweet wort, rich in sugar, and used for making beer. Rye in form somewhat resembles wheat. The center is starchy and the grain contains some gluten, and so may be made into light bread. It is the staple food of some sections of the earth in which wheat will not grow. It has nearly the nutri- | tious value of wheat. Its brown color and acid taste render it of much less value. Its relaxing effect upon the food canals renders its useful in constipation. 1 Maize exists in many varieties Popcorn | has the peculiar quality, on exposure to l strong heat, of turning inside out. All l the varieties, deprived of its hull and broken, or coarsely ground, are known as hominy-samp, or grits, which is boiled and eaten like rice. It contains but little l l less with wheat or rye. The brown

 bread of the Eastern States is mixture ] of wheat, maize and rye meal. It con-

 tains large percentage of starch and 3

 small one of plastic, fatty and mineral

 matter, and so is not 3 nutritious article

 of diet. To obtain a sufficient amount

 of nutrinent q very large quantity must be eaten. Starch, eaten with plastic

 articles-as milk. meat and cheese-pro- l ,rfa sfg 1pth 1S na k

 digested and is proper aliment in dis.

 orders of the intestines, especially in di.

 arrhea and dysentery. Rice flour of tht

 shops is usually so much adulterateC

 that for the sick or well rice, if needed

 in the form of flour, should be ground d

 home. Boiling rice is so apt to remove

 what little plastic matter it contain:

 that steaming is the best way of cook ing it.-PrGirie Farmer.