Chapter XXIV: Section II (2)

The only objection to the general introduction of this process seems
to be the degree of care and accuracy required in properly adjusting
the respective qualities and quantities of acid and alkali, and
which could seldom be attained even by those who are largely engaged
in the manufacture of bread.

I cannot leave this subject without adverting to a practice which
has prevailed in England and France, and perhaps also in this
country, of steeping wheat before sowing it in solutions of arsenic,
sulphate of copper, and other poisonous preparations.

The result has been that injurious effects have often followed, both
to those who are employed in sowing such grain, and to those who
have used the bread manufactured from it. The great importance of
the subject led to the appointment of a commission at Rouen, in
France, in December, 1842, having for its object to determine the
best process of preventing the smut in wheat, and to ascertain
whether other means less dangerous than those above noticed were
productive of equally good results. The labors of this commission
extended over the years 1843-'44-'45, and the experiments were
repeated two years following on the farm of Mr. Fauchet, one of the
commission, at Boisquilaume, in the department of the Seine
Inferieure.

The results arrived at by this commission are--1st. That it is not
best to sow seed without steeping. 2nd. That it is best to make use
of the sulphate of soda and lime process, inasmuch as it is more
simple and economical, in no way injurious to the health, and yields
the soundest and most productive wheat. 3rd. That the use of
arsenic, sulphate of copper, verdigris, and other poisonous
preparations, should be interdicted by the government.--("Gardeners'
Chronicle," January 6th, 1849, pp. 10 and 11.)

_Composition of wheat and wheat flour, and the various modes of
determining their nutritive value_.--In my former report it was
stated that the analyses of the various samples of wheat, the
results of which were there given, had been chiefly directed to the
determining the amount of rough _gluten_ which they contained. My
reasons for adopting this plan, and the arguments in favor of its
general accuracy, as compared with other modes of analysis, and
especially that by which the ultimate composition is ascertained,
were also detailed. A more full examination of this subject has
served only to strengthen the opinion already expressed, that for
the great purpose to be answered by these researches, the process
which I have adopted is, to say the least, as free from objection
as any other, and if carefully and uniformly carried out, will truly
represent the relative values of the several samples of wheat flour.
As this is a matter of much consequence in a practical point of
view, I trust I shall be excused for introducing some additional
facts in regard to it.

The term _gluten_ was originally applied to the gray, viscid,
tenacious, and elastic matter, which is obtained by subjecting wheat
flour to the continuous action of a current of water. But it appears
that this is a mixture of fibrine and caseine, with what is now
called _glutine_, and a peculiar oily or fatty matter. Now these
substances may be separated from each other, but the processes
employed for this purpose are tedious, and to insure accuracy the
various solvents must be entirely pure--a point which, especially in
the case of alcohol and ether, is not ordinarily easy to be
attained. This will be rendered still more evident by a reference to
a French process, which will hereafter be noticed.

But were it much less difficult in every case accurately to separate
the constituents of gluten, it would not, in my opinion, be of the
least practical utility. It is to the peculiar mechanical property
of this gluten that wheat flour owes its superior power of detaining
the carbonic acid engendered by fermentation, and thus communicating
to it the vesicular spongy structure so characteristic of good
bread.[37] It may also be added, that the results of more than one
hundred trials have satisfied me that a diminution or loss of
elasticity in the gluten is the surest index of the amount of injury
which the sample of flour has sustained. Whether, therefore, the
sample contains a certain proportion of nitrogen, or whether it
contains albumen, fibrine, and caseine in sufficient quantity, it
may still want the very condition which is essential to the
manufacture of good bread. My objection, therefore, to the mere
determination, however accurate, of the proportion of nitrogen
contained in wheat flour, or of the various principles which form
the gluten, is, that it does not represent the value of the various
samples for the only use to which they are applied, viz., the making
of bread. The remarks of Mulder, the celebrated Dutch chemist, upon
the subject of manures, are so applicable to this point that I
cannot refrain from quoting them. "It has," he says, "become almost
a regular custom to determine the value of manures by the quantity
of nitrogen they yield by ultimate analysis. This method is entirely
erroneous; for it is based upon the false principle, that by
putrefaction all nitrogeneous substances are immediately converted
into ammonia, carbonic acid, and water! But these changes sometimes
require a number of years. Morphine, for example, is prepared by
allowing opium to putrefy; and the process for preparing leucin, a
substance which contains 10.72 of nitrogen, is to bring cheese into
putrefaction. Cheese, therefore, does not perhaps in a number of
years resolve itself into carbonic acid, ammonia, and water, but
produces a crystalline substance, which contains no ammonia. Hence
the proportion of nitrogen yielded by manures is not a proper
measure of their value, and therefore this mode of estimating that
value ought to be discontinued."[38] We infer, therefore, that the
proportion of nitrogen furnished by food of various kinds is not the
true measure of their nutritious value, and cannot for practical
purposes take the place of that process by which the amount of rough
gluten is determined.

No better illustration can be given of the uncertainty which attends
the inferences drawn from the ultimate composition, than the fact
heretofore stated in regard to hay, the nutritive value of which is
placed in the tables containing the results of these analyses, at a
figure nearly the same as that of ordinary wheat flour.[39] In the
paper on the "Composition of Wheat," by M. Peligot--(" Comptes
Rendus," February 5th, 1849)--to which I have already referred, the
author gives the results of the various analyses which he has made,
and details the process he adopted.

Aware of the complex and difficult nature of the examination as
conducted by him, he seems to doubt in regard to some of the results
given in his tables In the fourteen samples which he analysed, the
proportion of water ranges from 13.2 to 15.2, which is a rather
higher average than is yielded by our American samples, especially
those which have not been shipped across the Atlantic. Of the
nitrogenous matter, soluble and insoluble, the proportions range
from 9.90 per cent, to 21.50 per cent.; the former being from a
sample of very soft and white French wheat; the latter from a very
hard wheat with long grains, from Northern Africa, cultivated at
Verriéres. Another sample from Egypt yielded 20.60 per cent, of
these nitrogenous matters, both of which are very remarkable
proportions.

In describing the process for ascertaining the amount of insoluble
nitrogenous matters, this author adverts to their estimation either
by the quantity of nitrogen gas furnished, or of ammonia formed, the
last being preferred for substances, which, like wheat, contain only
a few hundredths of nitrogen. The results which he obtained by this
method were compared with those yielded by the direct extraction of
the gluten by softening the farina under a small stream of water.
"These results," says he, "differ but little from each other when we
operate upon wheat in good condition, although the gluten which we
thus obtain holds some starch and fatty matter, while the starch
which is carried away by the water contains also some gluten." The
loss and gain, as I have already explained, and as has been proved
by these and other comparisons, are nearly balanced, and the amount
of rough gluten will therefore afford a fair exhibit of that of the
insoluble nitrogenous matters in this grain.

The salts in the samples of wheat analysed by M. Peligot, were
either wanting or were in small proportion; while the amount of
fatty matter ranged from 1.00 to 1.80 and 1.90 per cent.

These results agree very well with those which I have obtained. But
it is probable that the proportion is liable to great variation,
inasmuch as it is inferred that the fatty matter originates from
starch through its exposure to the general deoxidising influence
which prevails in plants.[40] There are also many difficulties
attending the accurate determination of this matter, and which are
probably the cause of the higher proportion often given. It is
properly remarked by M. Peligot that the ether employed in this
process should be free from water, and that the flour ought also to
be very dry. By neglecting these precautions, we separate not only
the fatty matter, but also a certain amount of matters soluble in
the water, which is furnished as well by the wheat as by the ether.

It would not, I think, be difficult to point out some incorrect
views entertained by this chemist, and more especially those which
relate to the fatty matter. Some of his processes for the separation
of various substances, if not faulty, require so many conditions for
success as to render the results, at least in other hands,
exceedingly uncertain.

But the capital error which he has committed is that concerning the
bran, already adverted to, which he considers injurious to the
flour, chiefly in consequence of the large proportion of fatty
matter which it contains.

In regard to the soluble nitrogenous matter usually called albumen,
from its resemblance to the animal substance of the same name, I
have to remark that in my trials the proportion has been found to be
considerably less than that often given in tables of the composition
of wheat. In one sample it was found to be as low as 0.15 per cant.,
in another it did not rise above 0.20 per cent. The amount was
usually so inconsiderable, that I did not think it worth while to
retard the progress of the work by following out processes which
could add little to the utility of these investigations.

Although much time and labor have been expended upon the analyses of
the ash of plants, I have but slight confidence in the results
heretofore given. The difficulties which attend the obtaining the
ash in a proper condition, and the fact that the products of all the
organs and parts of the plants have been analysed together, must
necessarily impair the accuracy of the experiments, and render the
inferences drawn from them of uncertain value. Much, indeed I may
say almost everything, still remains to be done in this department
of agricultural chemistry.

_Weight of wheat as an index to its value_.--Much has been said in
regard to the relative weights of the bushel of wheat of different
varieties or under different modes of culture.

As ordinarily determined, this weight ranges from fifty-six to
sixty-five or sixty-six pounds, being in a few cases set down
somewhat higher. It is said also that the bushel of wheat weighs
less in some years than it does in others, and that the difference
often amounts to two, or three, or even four pounds. Though this may
seem of comparatively little consequence for a few bushels, yet, for
the aggegate of the wheat crop of the United States, or for a State,
or even a county, it makes a great difference. Thus, were we to
estimate the product of one year in the United States at one hundred
and ten million bushels, weighing fifty-six pounds to the bushel,
and another year at one hundred and eight million bushels, weighing
sixty-two pounds, the difference in favor of the latter, though the
least in quantity, would amount to five hundred and thirty-six
million pounds in weight, or more than one million and a quarter of
barrels of flour.--(Report of the American Commissioner of Patents
for 1847, p. 117.)

It may be remarked, however, that it is not after all so easy to
determine with accuracy the weight of a bushel of wheat, nor to
decide upon the circumstances which have an influence in increasing
the density of a grain of wheat. If the microscopical
representations of wheat are to be relied on, it is probable that
the increase in the density of wheat depends upon the increase in
the proportion of gluten. I have found in several cases that, the
proportion of water being the same, those samples of wheat which
contain the largest proportion of gluten exhibit the highest
specific gravity, or, in other words, will yield the greatest number
of pounds to the bushel. But the weight of wheat will be influenced
by the proportion of water which it contains; the drier the grain,
the greater is its density; a fact which may account for the
difference which has been observed in the weight of wheat in
different seasons. If this is the cause, the calculation above given
in reference to the United States is fallacious--but if the amount
of gluten is _actually_, instead of _relatively_, increased by
peculiarities in seasons, it is no doubt correct.

I have devised a series of experiments to test the accuracy of the
statements made upon this point, but have not yet had leisure to
complete them.

_General conditions from the analyses of wheat flour_.--The large
number of analyses which I have made, and the uniformity of the
processes pursued, enable me to draw some general conclusions which
it may be useful to present in a connected form.

1. In the samples from the more northern wheat-growing States, there
seems to be little difference in the proportion of nutritive matter
that can be set down to the influence of climate. Thus, the yield of
the wheat from Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, is scarcely inferior to
that from New York, Indiana, and Illinois, although the two latter
are somewhat farther south. Local causes, and more especially the
peculiarities of culture and manufacture, have more influence,
within these parallels of latitude, than the difference of mean
temperature.

2. The samples from New Jersey, Lower Pennsylvania, the southern
part of Ohio, Maryland (probably Delaware), Virginia, the Carolinas,
and Georgia,[41] contain less water and more nutritive matter than
those from the States previously enumerated. That the samples from
Missouri, which is included within nearly the same parallels of
latitude as Virginia, do not exhibit so high an average of nutritive
matter as those from the latter State, must be ascribed principally
to a want of care in the management of the crop, and perhaps also in
the manufacture of the flour. Virginia flour, for obvious reasons,
maintains a high reputation for shipment.

3. The difference in the nutritive value of the various samples of
wheat depends greatly upon the variety, and mode of culture,
independently of climate. The correctness of the former statement is
shown by the much larger proportions of gluten yielded by many of
the samples of _hard_ wheat from abroad, the Oregon wheat in
Virginia, and a variety of Illinois wheat, &c. And in regard to the
effect of particular modes of culture, the various analyses of
Boussingault may be referred to, and that in my table of a sample
from Ulster county, New York.

4. The deterioration of many of the samples of wheat and wheat flour
arises in most cases from the presence of a too large per centage of
water. This is often the result of a want of proper care in the
transport, and is the principal cause of the losses which are
sustained by those who are engaged in this branch of business.

5. There seems to be little doubt that a considerable portion of the
wheat and wheat flour, as well as of other breadstuffs, shipped from
this country to England, is more or less injured before it reaches
that market. It is also shown that this is mostly to be ascribed to
the want of care above noticed, and to the fraudulent mixture of
good and bad kinds. The remedy in the former case is the drying of
the grain or flour before shipment, by some of the modes proposed,
and the protection of it afterwards as completely as possible from
the effect of moisture. The frauds which are occasionally practised
should be promptly exposed, and those who are engaged in them held
up to merited reproach.

6. It has been fully shown, by the results of many trials, that the
flour obtained by the second grinding of wheat, or the whole meal,
contains more gluten than the fine flour. Hence the general use of
the latter, and the entire rejection of the bran, is wasteful, and
ought in every way to be discouraged.

7. It cannot but be gratifying to us that the average nutritive
value of the wheat and wheat flour of the United States is shown by
these analyses to be fully equal to, if not greater than, that
afforded by the samples produced in any other part of the world. And
it will, in my opinion, be chiefly owing to a want of proper care
and of commercial honesty, if the great advantages which should
accrue to this country from the export of these articles are either
endangered or entirely lost.

TABLE EXHIBITING THE PER CENTAGE COMPOSITION OF VARIOUS SAMPLES OF
AMERICAN AND FOREIGN WHEAT FLOUR, BY LEWIS C. BECK, M.D. (1849).
----------------------------------+-----+-------+------+--------------
| |Gluten | | Glucos |
Kind of Wheat Flour, and from | | and | |dextrine,|
whence obtained |Water|albumen|Starch| &c. |Bran
----------------------------------+-----+-------+------+---------+----
Country Mills, New Jersey |12.75| 11.55 | 65.95| 8.10 | .65
West Jersey Wheat |12.80| 12.32 | 69.48| 5.90 | .50
White Wheat, New Jersey |11.55| 12.60 | 66.85| 8.50 | .50
Pennsylvania Wheat |11.90| 13.16 | 66.20| 7.25 | .75
ditto ditto |13.35| 12.73 | 66.90| 6.50 | .52
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |13.35| 14.72 | 71.28 | .65
Pelham Wheat, Ulster Co., N.Y. |10.79| 13.17 | 67.74| 7.60 | .70
"Pure Genesee" Wheat |13.20| 11.05 | 75.20 | .55
Ohio Wheat, "fine" |12.85| 12.25 | 73.90 |1.00
Ohio Wheat, "superfine" |13.00| 9.10 | 77.80 | .10
Winter Wheat, Ohio |13.10| 11.56 | 66.84| 7.90 | .60
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |13.05| 12.69 | 73.61 | .65
Michigan Wheat, "superfine" |13.25| 11.10 | 74.80 | .85
Michigan Wheat |12.25| 10.00 | 67.70| 8.75 | .75
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |12.75| 11.20 | 66.00| 8.50 |1.05
Illinois Wheat |12.73| 14.61 | 65.20| 6.45 | .80
Magnolia Mill, St. Louis, Mo. |13.13| 10.27 | 69.75| 6.15 | .35
Mound Mill, St. Louis |13.48| 10.53 | 67.35| 8.15 | .20
Walsh's Mill, St. Louis |12.70| 10.63 | 69.40| 6.65 | .40
Washington Mill, St. Louis |12.88| 11.00 | 68.65| 7.27 | .20
Missouri Mill, St. Louis |13.00| 10.46 | 67.79| 8.35 | .40
O'Fallan's Mill, St. Louis |12.85| 11.25 | 68.24| 7.00 | .66
Phoenix Mill, St. Louis |13.22| 10.10 | 68.70| 7.30 | .15
Nonantum Mill, St. Louis |12.10| 11.02 | 68.60| 7.93 | .35
Franklin Mill, St. Louis |12.25| 10.29 | 69.85| 7.26 | .35
Eagle Mill, St. Louis |11.00| 10.15 | 69.50| 8.65 | .20
Winter Wheat, Missouri |14.00| 9.30 | 70.05| 6.30 | .35
Wisconsin Wheat |12.80| 13.20 | 68.90| 6.50 | .70
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |12.80| 13.46 | 72.54 |1.20
Maryland Wheat |13.00| 12.30 | 66.65| 7.10 | .65
Richmond City Mill |11.70| 13.00 | 67.50| 6.90 | .50
Haxall and Co., Richmond, Va. |11.40| 12.80 | 68.50| 6.60 | .35
Virginia Wheat, "superfine" |12.05| 12.95 | 74.50 | .50
Haxall and Co., "best brand, '49" |11.40| 13.25 | 68.20| 6.25 | .60
Haxall and Co., "2nd brand, '49" |11.00| 13.20 | 75.60 | .20
Richmond City Mill, '49 |11.90| 10.50 | 70.00| 7.10 | .50
Oregon White Wheat, Va. |12.80| 14.80 | 71.30 |1.10
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |13.85| 14.50 | 65.15| 5.90 | .60
Gallego Mill, Richmond, Va. |11.50| 13.50 | 68.35| 6.00 | .65
Ship Brandywine, Liverpool |13.38| 10.62 | 67.60| 7.75 | .65
Ship Fanchon, Liverpool |13.83| 11.38 | 67.45| 6.34 |1.00
Ship New World, Liverpool |13.65| 11.60 | 65.80| 7.70 | .65
Ship Juniata, Liverpool |12.50| 14.14 | 64.20| 8.36 | .80
Ship Stephen Lurman, Liverpool |11.65| 13.18 | 64.50| 9.55 | .68
Ship Leila, Liverpool |13.22| 13.18 | 64.65| 8.00 | .95
Ship Oxenbridge, Liverpool |13.90| 10.13 | 68.42| 7.30 | .25
| |& bran | | |
Ship Italy, Liverpool |12.94| 10.60 | 68.56| 7.90 |
Ship West Point, Liverpool |14.30| 12.30 | 63.00| 9.45 | .95
Ship W.H. Harbeck, Liverpool |13.53| 10.18 | 66.95| 8.80 | .30
Ship Princeton, Liverpool |13.40| 11.52 | 65.60| 7.90 | .85
Ship Columbus, Liverpool |13.50| 10.45 | 66.45| 8.50 |1.03
Ship Russell Glover, Liverpool |13.45| 10.47 | 66.20| 8.83 |1.05
Ship South Carolina, Liverpool |13.80| 9.00 | 70.80| 5.95 | .38
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |13.30| 9.45 | 76.90 | .35
Ship Cambridge, Liverpool |14.50| 8.52 | 70.60| 5.40 | .40
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |14.10| 9.10 | 70.55| 5.45 | .20
Ship Columbus, Liverpool |14.85| 8.47 | 76.48 | .20
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |14.15| 9.00 | 76.60 | .25
Ship Ashburton, Liverpool |13.55| 11.68 | 69.22| 5.30 | .25
Wheat grown in Canada West |12.80| 7.23 | 74.12| 5.10 | .75
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |12.60| 8.45 | 78.55 | .40
Chilian Wheat |12.44| 9.45 | 67.80| 8.37 |1.30
Chilian Wheat |12.85| 8.65 | 71.60| 6.10 | .60
| |& bran | | |
Valparaiso Wheat |12.50| 14.55 | | |
French Wheat |13.20| 9.85 | 69.00| 7.65 | .30
Spanish Wheat |13.50| 10.30 | 68.90| 7.00 | .30
Canivano Wheat |11.33| 16.35 | 63.10| 6.50 |2.30
Canivano Wheat |11.15| 15.40 | 67.25| 5.70 | .60
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |12.60| 18.70 | 67.00 |1.70
Hard wheat, grown near Malaga |10.87| 12.15 | 64.38| 12.60 |
| | | |& lactic acid
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |10.00| 14.50 | 60.20| 15.30 |
----------------------------------+-----+-------+------+---------+----

There is no crop, the skilful and successful cultivation of which on
the same soil, from generation to generation, requires more art than
is demanded to produce good wheat. To grow this grain on fresh land,
adapted to the peculiar habits and wants of the plant is an easy
task. But such fields, except in rare instances, fail sooner or
later to produce sound and healthy plants, which are little liable
to attacks from the malady called "rust," or which give lengthened
ears or "heads," well filled with plump seeds.

Having long resided in the best wheat-growing district in the Union,
the writer has devoted years of study and observation to all the
influences of soil, climate, and constitutional peculiarities, which
affect this bread-bearing plant. It is far more liable to smut,
rust, and shrink in some soils than in others. This is true in
western New York, and every other section where wheat has long been
cultivated. As the alkalies and other fertilizing elements become
exhausted in the virgin soils of America, its crops of wheat not
only become smaller on an average, but the plants fail in
constitutional vigor, and are more liable to diseases and attacks
from parasites and destructive insects. Defects in soil and improper
nutrition lead to these disastrous results. Soils are defective in
the following particulars:

1. They lack soluble silica, or flint in an available form, with
which to produce a hard glassy stem that will be little subject to
"rust." Soluble flint is never very abundant in cultivated soils;
and after they have been tilled some years, the supply is deficient
in quantity. It is not very difficult to learn with considerable
accuracy the amount of silica which rain-water as it falls on the
earth will dissolve out of 1,000 grains of soil in the course of
eight or ten days. Hot water will dissolve more than cold; and water
charged with carbonic acid more than pure water which has been
boiled. The experiments of Prof. Rogers of the University of
Virginia, as published in Silliman's Journal, have a direct bearing
on this subject. The researches of Prof. Emmons of Albany, in his
elaborate and valuable work on "Agriculture," as a part of the
Natural History of New York, show that 10,000 parts of soil yield
only from one to three parts of soluble silica. The analyses of Dr
Jackson, as published in his Geological Survey of New Hampshire,
give similar results. Earth taken from an old and badly exhausted
field in Georgia, gave the writer only one part of soluble flint in
100,000.

What elements of crops rain water, at summer heat, will dissolve out
of ten or twenty pounds of soil, in the course of three months, is a
point in agricultural science which should be made the subject of
numerous and rigid experiments. In this way, the capabilities of
different soils and their adaptation to different crops may be
tested, in connection with practical experiments in field culture,
on the same kind of earth.

Few wheat-growers are aware how much dissolved flint an acre of good
wheat demands to prevent its having coarse, soft, and spongy stems,
which are anything but a healthy organization of the plant. In the
Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, vol. 7, there
is an extended "Report on the Analysis of the Ashes of Plants, by
Thomas Way, Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Agricultural
College, Cirencester," which gives the result of sixty-two analyses
of the ash of wheat, from as many samples of that grain, mostly
grown on different soils and under different circumstances.

In this report are given the quantity of wheat per acre, the weight
of straw cut close to the ground to the acre, and also that of the
chaff. These researches show, that from ninety-three to one hundred
and fifty pounds of soluble flint are required to form an acre of
wheat; and I will add from my own investigations, that three-fourths
of this silica is demanded by nature during the last sixty days
preceding the maturing of the crop. This is the period in which the
stem acquires its solidity and strength, and most of its
incombustible earthy matter. The quantity of this varies from three
to fifteen per cent. of the weight of the straw. Prof. Johnston and
Sir Humphry Davy give instances in which more than fifteen per cent.
of ash was found; and Prof. Way gives cases where less than three
per cent. were obtained. The mean of forty samples was four and a
half per cent. Dr. Sprengel gives three and a half as the mean of
his analyses. M. Boussingault found an average of seven per cent. As
flint is truly the _bone_ of all the grass family, imparting to them
strength, as in cane, timothy, corn, oats, rye, rice, millet, and
the proportion of this mineral varies as much in wheat-straw, as
bone does in very lean and very fat hogs or cattle.

A young growing animal, whether a child or a colt, that is kept on
food which lacks _bone-earth_, (phosphate of lime,) will have soft
cartilaginous bones. Nature cannot substitute _iron_ or any other
mineral in the animal system, out of which to form hard strong
bones; nor can any other mineral in the soil perform the peculiar
function assigned to silica in the vital economy of cereal plants.
To protect the living germs in the seeds of wheat, corn, oats, rye,
barley, &c, the cuticle or bran of these seeds contains considerable
flint. The same is true of chaff.

The question naturally arises,--How is the farmer to increase the
quantity of soluble silica or flint in his soil? This is a question
of the highest practical importance. There are three principal ways
in which the object named may be attained. First, by keeping fewer
acres under the plough. Land in pasture, if well managed, will gain
its fertility, and in the process accumulate soluble silica in the
surface soil. In this way more wheat and surer crops may be made by
cultivating a field in wheat two years than four or six. If the
field in the mean time be devoted to wool-growing, butter or
cheese-making, or to stock-raising, particular care must be taken to
make great crops of grass or clover to grow on the land, and have
all the manure, both solid and liquid, applied to its surface.

There are many counties in England that yield an average of
thirty-two bushels of wheat per acre for ten crops in succession.
There are but few of the old counties in the United States which
average the half of that quantity: and yet America has greater
agricultural capabilities than that of Great Britain.

Another way to increase soluble silica in the soil, is to grow such
crops, in rotation with wheat culture, as will best prevent the loss
of dissolved flint, at any time by leaching and washing, through the
agency of rain water. This remark is intended to apply more
particularly to those large districts devoted to cotton and tobacco
culture, plants that take up no considerable amount of silica, and
which by the constant stirring of the earth, and the clean tillage
which they demand, favor the leaching of the soil. To keep too much
of a plantation of these crops, is to lessen its capabilities for
producing good crops of corn, wheat, and barley, at a small expense.
Corn plants, well managed, will extract more pounds of silica in
three or six months from the soil, than any other. As not an ounce
of this mineral is needed in the animal economy of man or beast, it
can all be composted in cornstalks, blades, and cobs, or in the dung
and urine derived from corn, and be finally reorganized in the stems
of wheat plants. Corn culture and wheat culture, if skilfully and
scientifically conducted, go admirably together. Of the two, more
bread, more meat, and more _money_ can be made from the corn than
from the wheat plant in this country. But so soon as what is called
"high farming" in England, shall be popular in the United States,
the crops both of wheat and corn grown here will demonstrate how
little we appreciate the vast superiority of our climate for the
economical feeding and clothing of the human family, over that of
our "mother country." In several counties in England, it takes from
twelve to fourteen months to make a crop of wheat, after the seed is
put into the ground. At or near the first of December, 1847, Mr.
M.B. Moore, of Augusta, Ga., sowed a bushel of seed wheat on an acre
and a half of ground, which gave him over thirty bushels by the
middle of May following. This ground was then ploughed, and a fine
crop of hay made and cut in July. After this, a good crop of peas
was raised, and harvested in October, before it was time to seed
with wheat again, as was done. While the mean temperature of England
is so low, that corn plants will not ripen, in Georgia one can grow
a crop of wheat in the winter, and nearly two crops of corn in
succession in the summer and autumn, before it is time to sow wheat
again. No writer, to my knowledge, has done full justice to the vast
agricultural resources of the southern portion of the American
confederacy. But there is much of its soil which is not rich in the
elements of bread. Nothing but the careful study of these elements,
and of the natural laws by which they are governed, can remedy
defects in wheat culture anywhere, but especially on very poor land.

All alkaline minerals, such as potash, soda, lime, ammonia, and
magnesia, hasten the solution of the several insoluble compounds of
silica in the soil. This fact should be remembered by every farmer.
To undertake an explanation of the various ways in which alkalies,
oxides, and acids act and re-act upon each other in the surface of
the earth, when subject to tillage, would be out of place in this
outline view of wheat-growing in the United States. I may state the
fact, however, as ascertained by many analyses, that a cubic foot of
good wheat soil in the valley of the Genesee, contains twenty times
more lime than do the poorest soils in South Carolina and Georgia.
The quantity of gypsum, bone-earth, and magnesia, available as food
for plants, varies in an equal degree. Not only lime, but phosphoric
acid, potash, and magnesia are lacking in most soils, if one desires
to raise a large crop of wheat, and have the seeds of the grain
weigh as much as the straw. In a number of the specimens of wheat
analyzed by Prof. Way, when cut close to the roots, the dry wheat
outweighed the dry straw.

Having secured the growth of a bright, hard, glassy stem, the next
thing is to develop a long, well-filled ear. To this end, available
ammonia or nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, and magnesia are
indispensable. Ammonia (spirits of hartshorn) is necessary to aid in
forming the combustible part of the seed. The other ingredients
named are required to assist in making the incombustible part of the
grain. In 100 parts of the ash of wheat, there are the following
substances, viz.:--

Silica 2.28
Phosphoric acid 45.73
Sulphuric acid 0.32
Lime 2.06
Magnesia 10.94
Peroxide of iron 2.04
Potash 32.24
Soda 4.06
Chloride of sodium 0.27
-----
Total 99.94

The quantity of ash in wheat varies from 1¼ to 2½ per cent.; the
average is about 1.69. The amount of phosphoric acid in any given
quantity of the ash of wheat varies from forty to fifty per cent. of
the same.

Seeds that have a thick cuticle or bran, and little gluten, contain
a smaller per centage of phosphoric acid, and more silica. About
one-third of the ash is potash; in nearly all cases magnesia varies
from nine to fourteen per cent.; lime from one and a half to six per
cent. Peroxide of iron is seldom as abundant as in the ash above
given, and the same is true of soda. Chloride of sodium is common
salt, and exists in a small quantity. Salt is beginning to be much
used as a fertilizer on wheat lands in western New York. It operates
indirectly to increase the crop.

The following may be taken as about the average composition of the
ash of wheat-straw. It is "Specimen No. 40," in the tables of Prof.
Way, and I copy verbatim all that is said upon the subject: [Soil,
sandy; subsoil, stone and clay; geological formation, silurian;
drained; eight years in tillage; crop, after carrots, twenty tons
per acre; tilled December, 1845; heavy crop; mown, August 12th;
carried, August 20th; estimated yield, forty-two bushels per acre;
straw long, grain good, weight sixty-two pounds to the bushel.]
Length of straw, forty-two inches.

_Relation of Grain, Straw and Chaff_.

Actual quantities. Per centage.
Grain 1633 lbs. 45.15
Straw 1732 47.89
Chaff 250 6.96
----
Total 3615 lbs.

Specific gravity of grain 1.396
Weight of grain per acre 2604 lbs.
" " straw " " 2,775 3/10ths.
" " chaff " " 401 1/6th.

_Mineral Matter in an Acre._
Wheat 44 ½ lbs.
Straw 113
Chaff 47 1/6th.
-----------
Total 204 7/10ths.

_Analysis of the Ash of the Grain_.
Per centage. Removed from an acre.
lbs. ozs.
Silica 5.63 2 8
Phosphoric acid 43.98 19 8
Sulphuric acid .21 0 1 1/6th.
Lime 1.80 0 12 8/10ths.
Magnesia 11.69 5 3 2/10ths.
Peroxide of iron .29 0 2
Potash 34.51 15 5 6/10ths.
Soda 1.87 0 13 3/10ths.
----- --- ----------
Total 99.98 44 6 l/10ths.

_Analysis of Straw with its proportion of Chaff._
Per centage. Removed per acre.
lbs. ozs.
Silica 69.36 111 1 7/10ths.
Phosphoric acid 5.24 8 6 7/10ths.
Sulphuric acid 4.45 7 2 2/10ths.
Lime 6.96 11 2 2/20ths.
Magnesia 1.45 2 5
Peroxide of iron .29 1 2
Potash 11.79 18 14
Soda none none.
Chloride of sodium " "
----- --- -----------
Total 99.54 160 1 l/10ths.

If we subtract the 111 pounds of silica from 160 pounds of minerals
in the straw and chaff, the difference between what are left and
those in wheat, is not great. As the stems and leaves of wheat
plants grow before their seeds, if all the phosphoric acid, potash,
and lime available in the soil is consumed before the organization
of the seeds begin, from what source is nature to draw her supply of
these ingredients to form a good crop of wheat? If the farmer could
reverse the order of nature, and grow a good supply of seeds first,
and make straw afterwards, then many a one would harvest more wheat
and less straw. But the cultivator must grow the stems, roots, and
leaves of wheat, corn, and cotton, before nature will begin to form
the seeds of these several plants: and every one should know that
the atoms in the soil, which are consumed in organizing the bodies
of cultivated plants, are, in the main, identical in kind with those
required to make their seeds. The proportions, however, differ very
considerably. Thus, while 100 parts of the ash of wheat contain an
average of 45 parts of phosphoric acid, 100 of the ash of the wheat
straw contain an average of only 5 parts. The difference is as 9 to
1. In magnesia the disparity is only a little less striking.

In what are called the organic elements of wheat (the combustible
part) there are seven times more nitrogen in 100 pounds than in a
like weight of straw. Hence, if the farmer converts straw into
manure or compost, with the view ultimately of transforming it into
wheat, it will take 7 pounds of straw to yield nitrogen enough to
form one pound of wheat. Few are aware how much labor and money is
annually lost by the feeding of plants on food not strictly adapted
to the peculiar wants of nature in organizing the same. It is true,
that most farmers depend on the natural fertility of the soil to
nourish their crops, with perhaps the aid of a little stable and
barn-yard manure, given to a part of them. As the natural resources
of the land begin to fail, the supply must be drawn from other
quarters than an exhausted field, or its cultivator will receive a
poor return for the labor bestowed.

In Great Britain, where the necessity for liberal harvests and
artificial fertilizing is far greater than in this country, the
yield of wheat is said to be governed in a good degree by the amount
of ammonia available as food for growing plants. This opinion is
founded not at all on theory, but altogether on the teachings of
experience. But in England, limeing and manuring are so much matters
of constant practice, that few soils are so improverished as many
are in the United States, With land as naked and sterile as is much
that can be found in the whole thirteen colonies between Maine and
Alabama, English farmers could hardly pay their tithes and poor
rates, to say nothing of other taxes, rent, and the coat of
producing their annual crops.

The first step towards making farming permanently profitable in all
the older States, is to accumulate in a cheap and skilful manner the
raw material for good harvests in the soil.

Over a territory so extensive as the United States, it is extremely
difficult to lay down any rule that will be applicable even to a
moiety of the republic. There are, however, many beds of marl,
greensand, gypsum, limestone, saline and vegetable deposits
available for the improvement of farming lands, in the Union. In
addition to these, there are extraneous resources, the ocean with
its fish, its shells, its sea-weeds, and its fertilizing salts,
which will yield an incalculable amount of bread and meat. In the
subsoil and the atmosphere, every agriculturist has resources which
are not duly appreciated by one in a thousand.

As a general rule, the soil must be _deepened_ before it can be
permanently improved. One acre of soil 12 inches deep is worth more
to make money from, by cultivating it, than four acres 6 inches in
depth. Thus, admit that a soil 6 inches deep will produce 14 bushels
of wheat, and that 12 bushels will pay all expenses and give 2 for
profit. Four acres of this land will yield a net income of only 8
bushels. Now double the depth of the soil and the crop: making the
latter 28 bushels, instead of 14 per acre, and the former 12 inches
deep, in the place of 6. Fifteen bushels instead of twelve, will now
pay all annual expenses, and leave a net profit not of _two_ but of
_thirteen_ bushels per acre. If small crops will pay expenses, large
ones will make a fortune; provided the farmer knows how to enrich
his land in the most economical way. It is quite as easy to pay too
dear for improving lands, as to lose money at any other business
whatever.

The first thing for the operator to do is to acquire all the
knowledge within his reach, from the experience of others who have
done for their soils what he proposes to accomplish for his. Twenty
or fifty dollars, invested in the best agricultural works in the
English language, may save him thousands in the end, and double his
profits in two years. The Agricultural Journals of the United States
abound in information most useful to the practical farmer: and the
back volumes, if collected and bound, will form a library of great
value.

_Rotation of Crops in connexion with Wheat Culture_.--A system of
tillage and rotation which will pay best in one locality, or on one
quality of soil, and in a particular climate, will be found not at
all adapted to other localities, different soils and latitudes.
Hence, no rule can be laid down that will meet the peculiar
exigencies of a farming country so extensive as the thirty States
east of the Rocky Mountains. There are soils in Western New York,
known to the writer, which have borne good crops of wheat every
other year for more than twenty years, and produce better now than
at the beginning of their cultivation. The resources of the earth in
supplying the elements of wheat and corn are extremely variable.
There are friable shaley rocks in Livingstone county, N.Y., which
crumble and slake when exposed to the air, that abound in all the
earthy minerals necessary to form good wheat. These rocks are
hundreds of feet in thickness, and have furnished much of the soil
in the valley of the Genesee. The Onondaga Salt Group, and other
contiguous strata, which extend into Canada West, form soils of
extraordinary capacity for growing wheat. Indeed, the rocks and
"drift" of a district give character to its arable surface.

Nothing is more needed at this time than a good geological map of
the United States, accompanied by an accurate and popularly arranged
work on agricultural geology. The writer had hoped to give such a
map in this report; but it is thought best to devote another year to
the collection of geological surveys and facts, and to the making of
more critical and extended researches before publishing.

In the matter of rotation of crops in connection with wheat culture,
clover and corn are generally preferred in all the Northern, and
most of the Middle States. In New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Northern Indiana, and Illinois, so far as the
writer is acquainted, a crop of wheat is made in rotation, either
every third, fourth, or fifth year. Wherever wool growing is united
with wheat culture, clover and wheat are the staple crops of the
farm. Wool and superfine flour are exported; farmers taking nearly
all the bran and shorts of the millers who purchase their wheat.

The offal of wheat makes not a little feed with chaff and cut straw.
Many agriculturists grow peas, beans, turnips, beets, and carrots in
large quantities, as well as clover, corn, oats, and barley. Peas
and beans, both stems and pulse, when well cured, are excellent feed
for sheep; and on good land they are easily grown. They prepare the
soil well for wheat.

All the manure derived from sheep is husbanded with extreme care by
the farmers who are gradually enriching their lands. On a deep,
rich, arable soil, quite a number of sheep may be kept per acre, if
highly cultivated; and their manure prepares the land for producing
generous crops of wheat at a small expense. Of all business men,
farmers should be the closest calculators of _profit_ and _loss_.

Great care should be taken to sow good and clean seed on clean land.
Previous to putting the seed in the ground (drilling is preferable
to sowing broadcast), wheat should be soaked five or six hours--not
longer--in strong brine. After this, add a peck or more of recently
slaked lime to each bushel, and shovel it over well, that the lime
may cover each seed. It is now ready to commit to the earth. Most
good farmers roll the earth after seeding: some before.

In the Southern States, planters are in the habit of permitting
their wheat to remain too long in the field after it is cradled, and
in small shocks. Good barns are too scarce in all the planting
States, and in some others.

_Summer fallowing_ is generally abandoned, except in cases where old
pastures and meadows, new prairie, or bushy bad fields are to be
subdued. As a general rule, friable soils need not be ploughed long
before the intended crop is expected to begin to grow. Among
fertilizers, wood ashes, salt, bones, lime, guano, and poudrette
have been used in wheat culture with decided advantage. In Great
Britain, manure derived from the consumption of turnips and other
root crops by sheep and neat cattle, is much used in preparing land
for wheat. Sheep, clover and peas, corn and hogs, rotate well to
insure the economical production of this staple. Manure is usually
applied to the crop preceding wheat.

It may be interesting to some readers to see in this place the mean
result of several organic analyses of wheat made by M. Boussingault.
Wheat, dried at 230 deg. _in vacuo_, was found to contain:

Carbon 46.1
Oxygen 43.4
Hydrogen 5.8
Nitrogen 2.3
Ash 2.4
-----
Total 100.0

Charcoal may be regarded as a fair representative of carbon, and
water as the representative of both oxygen and hydrogen. It will be
seen by the above figures, that over 95 per cent. of wheat is made
up of elements which greatly abound in nature in an available
condition; and the same is true of all other plants. It is doubtless
owing to this circumstance, that a comparatively small quantity of
guano and other highly concentrated fertilizers are able to produce
crops five, ten, and fifty times greater than their own weight.
Azote, or nitrogen, in the form of ammonia, or nitric acid, (aqua
fortis), and the incombustible part of plants are the elements which
least abound in soils, and should be husbanded with the greatest
care.

The Hon. C.P. Holcomb, of Delaware, furnishes some interesting remarks on the wheat crop of the United States:--

A short wheat crop in England, Mr. Webster says, affects the
exchanges of the civilized world. In the vast increase of population
in the absence of long wars and famines, the importance of this
staple is constantly increasing. Its cultivation is the most
attractive and pleasant of all descriptions of husbandry; and its
rewards are generally remunerating, when the soil and climate are
favorable, and the markets are not too distant.

It is important to know what our relation is to this staple of the
world, and what is, and what is likely to be, our contribution to
the great aggregate of production. Beyond feeding our own great and
rapidly increasing population, it probably will not soon, if ever,
be very great. It is a mistake, I apprehend, to suppose our country
is naturally a great wheat-producing country. The wheat district at
present, in comparison to the whole extent of our territory, is
limited. It is confined, so far as any appreciable amount is grown,
to about ten degrees of latitude and twenty degrees of longitude,
and embracing about one half the number of the States. The crop of
1848 is estimated by the Commissioner of Patents at one hundred and
twenty-six millions, and our population at twenty-two millions. This
gives a less number of bushels, per head, to our population than the
consumption of Great Britain, which is generally set down at one
hundred and sixty millions, or six bushels to each inhabitant. But
with us Indian corn is a great substitute; so are potatoes and oats
in Ireland and Scotland. Still our consumption of wheat, including
the black population, is undoubtedly less, per head, than theirs.
But in the absence of any certain data, to ascertain either the
actual production, or our consumption, our only safe course is to
take the actual excess, or the amount exported, after supplying our
own wants. This, for the fiscal year 1848, being the crop of 1847,
amounted, in flour and wheat, to twelve millions two hundred and
ninety-four thousand one hundred and seventy-five bushels, although
Mr. Burke's figures would show a surplus of some forty millions!
That there was not, and never has been any such surplus in the
country is very evident, for the foreign demand was all the time
good, and drew away all we had to part with.

The crop of 1848 was, undoubtedly, one of the best and largest we
have ever grown; yet I have ascertained, by application at the
registrar's office, that the exports for the fiscal year 1842,
amounted in wheat to but 1,527,534 bushels, and in flour to
2,108,013 barrels, or less by 226,676 bushels than the exports of
1848. Twelve millions is comparatively a small surplus in a
favorable season, for a country with a population of twenty-two
millions of inhabitants. The loss of a small per cent. in an
unfavorable season would at once sink this excess.

Let us now notice more in detail the different sections of our
country as adapted to the growth of wheat.

The New England States, some of them aided in their recent
enterprises by bounties offered by the state governments, have
failed to insure such success as is likely to encourage them to
continue the culture of wheat; or, at all events, to induce them to
aim at increasing their product to any considerable extent, since,
as one of their own farmers candidly states, "the attempt to grow a
crop of wheat is an experiment."

The States south of North Carolina, and inclusive of a part of
Delaware, have never heretofore succeeded in growing wheat to any
considerable extent, though there were periods in their
history--before the general introduction of the culture of
cotton--when, if it had been practicable to make the cereal one of
their staples, they would certainly have done so. Besides the common
dangers from rust and blight, the fly, and sometimes the frost--as
the past season--they have a most formidable enemy in the weevil. In
Upper Georgia, in the Cherokee country in particular, wheat will
probably be cultivated to some extent, and a limited cultivation of
it by the planters for their own use will probably continue in
several of the southern states. But the cotton, rice, and sugar
states, like the manufacturing states of New England, will not soon,
if ever, add much to the supply of wheat; the rich staples of the
former, and the varied husbandry and grazing of the latter, suited
to supply the immediate wants of a manufacturing population, will be
likely to receive their attention in preference.