Grain of wheat

“ The grain of wheat is a part of the flower of the wheat plant, which, when it becomes ripe, is easily separated. It contains a minute and rudimentary plant; and, when it is sown, this gradually grows, or becomes developed into, the perfect plant, with its stem, roots, leaves and flowers, which again give rise to similar seeds. No mineral body runs through a regular series of changes of form and size and then gives off parts of its substance which take the same course. Mineral bodies present no such development and give off no seeds or germs. They do not reproduce their kind. ”

“ Now, if a single grain of wheat were planted in soil as fertile as that of Egypt, at the end of eight years of sowing and reaping, if we had a field large enough, the product would be sufficient to feed all the families of the earth for more than a year and a half. But if we were to undertake to plant one grain of wheat in this way, after a few years we would fill all the fields which would be suited for a wheat harvest. Down near the equator it would be too hot for the wheat to grow successfully. ”

“ The red varieties yield the largest amount of grain, but the white the whitest flour.
Wheat is preferred to the other cereal grasses as an article of food on account of its containing a larger quantity of flesh-forming matters. The flour also may be rendered very white by separating it from the husks, or bran, and the fruit is much more easily separated from the chaff than is the case with the other cereals. The proportion of flesh and force-producing to those of force-producers only, is more nearly adjusted to the requirements of the system in wheat than in any other food. ”

“ The land was planted with an imported Australian wheat, which we believe the smaller heads to be, but the wheat is about evenly mired with grain like the large heads, which we think to be a species of barley.
The grain is an old, coarse, bearded wheat which is continually appearing in fields of ordinary grain and naturally excites interest among all to whom the variety is a novelty. It is the old seven-headed Egyptian wheat, which has never proved of any cultural value, because its manifolding of the head is of no advantage. ”

“ It would be useless to go into a more extended notice of varieties, as some do best in certain localities, and all are rapidly spread through the dealers, and by the influence of agricultural periodicals. The best time to harvest wheat is when the straw below the head has turned yellow, and the grain is so far out of the milk as not to be easily mashed between the fingers, but before it has become hard. The grain is heavier and of better quality, and wastes far less in harvesting, than when allowed to ripen and dry standing in the field. ”

“ The plot upon which wheat has been continuously grown, year after year, for more than 50 years, without manure of any kind, the land merely being kept free from weeds, is in the highest degree remarkable, for it has given over the whole period an average yield of between 13 and 14 bushels of dressed grain per acre, which is more than the annual average yield of the crop as grown in the United States and several other leading wheat countries. ”

“ Strength is usually associated with certain external characters which can readily be judged by the eye of the practised wheat buyer. Strong wheats are usually red in colour, their 61 skin is thin and brittle, the grain is usually rather small, and has a very characteristic horny almost translucent appearance. The grains are extremely hard and brittle, and when broken the inside looks flinty. On chewing a few grains the starch is removed and there remains in the mouth a small pellet of gluten, which is tough and elastic like rubber, but not sticky. ”

“ There is no grain more prolific than wheat, Nature having bestowed upon it this quality, as being the substance which she destined for the principal nutriment of man. A modius of36 wheat, if the soil is favourable, as at Byzacium,199 a champaign district of Africa, will yield as much as one hundred and fifty200 modii of grain. ”

“ Its grain, however, in its wild state, is so small, as to appear worthless to those who are acquainted with the grain of cultivated wheat. It is, nevertheless, still gathered in some districts, where ancient custom still prevails, and after being tied up in bunches and dried in the sun, it is set fire to, and the light chaff burns so rapidly, that the grains are quickly freed from it, and only browned by the process, and when thus slightly roasted, it is considered a very agreeable food. ”

“ Yet father raised large crops of corn, potatoes, oats and wheat. Wheat grew very large but sometimes ran too much to straw; some seasons, rust would strike it and then the grain would shrink, but as that and gets older, and the more the clay is worked up with the soil, the better wheat it raises. In my opinion it will be as good wheat land as the oak openings or prairies of the West for all time to come. ”

“ This is so constituted that when soaked with water it ferments the starch and changes it to sugar for the young plant's use.
Fig. 280. Section of grain of wheat.
The germ itself is also a very nutritious food for man; hence the seed is eaten, "baby and all." In the corn, those kernels with the largest germs have the largest food value, and, therefore, to-day corn breeders are developing kernels with very large embryos.
If we examine the microscopic structure of the food part of a grain of wheat (Fig. 280) , we find that there are two outer layers, a and b. ”

“ The development of grain produced wheat, and wheat was ground into flour, and flour was baked into bread, and bread had for untold centuries been the sustenance and the staff of life.
Centuries ago an old Chaldean priest tried to ascertain if wheat had ever grown wild. That question never was settled. It was universally believed, however, that wheat had to have the cultivation of man. Nevertheless, the origin of the plant must have been analogous to that of other plants. Wheat-growers must necessarily have been people who stayed long in one place. ”

“ THE GRAIN CROP—MODERN METHODS OF CULTIVATION AND HARVESTING
[Pg 90]
Of the one and one-half billion people that constitute the world's population, more than one-third, or about eight times the population of the United States, are consumers of wheat-bread; and this number is yearly increasing by twelve million. Moreover, each individual of this aggregate consumes yearly very nearly one barrel of flour, or about four and one-half bushels of wheat. In other words, it requires somewhat more than two billion three hundred million bushels of wheat each year to supply the world's demand. ”

“ This most important constituent is subject to great variation in wheat, so much so that this grain grown in one locality makes a light bread, while that from another, in the same hands and under the same treatment, yields a heavy bread, and of poor quality. No one doubts that much improvement may be made in the milling of corn—as much, perhaps, as has been recently effected in that of wheat. ”

“ ==Epilogue to Book I.==
Alas! the forbidden fruits were eaten,
And thereby the warm life of reason was congealed.
A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun Of Adam, l
Like as the Dragon's tail 2 dulls the brightness of the moon.
Behold how delicate is the heart, that a morsel of dust
Clouded its moon with foul obscurity!
When bread is "substance," to eat it nourishes us;
When 'tis empty "form," it profits nothing.
Like as the green thorn which is cropped by the camel,
And then yields him pleasure and nutriment;
When its greenness has gone and it becomes dry,
If the camel crops that same thorn in the desert, ”

“ A fair estimate of all the wheat raised in 1846 does not exceed 160,000 bushels, which, by the average, would grow upon 8,000 acres of land - not a hand's breadth compared to the whole body claimed and held in idleness. The quality of the wheat produced here is, I believe, unequalled throughout the world ; it certainly excels in weight, size of grain, and whiteness of its flour, that of our Atlantic States, Chili, or the Black sea, and is far before any I have seen in California. ”

“ Among the enemies we should not forget to mention various weeds that spring up in the fields and endeavor to choke out the legitimate occupants of the soil.
The nutritive value and chemical composition of wheat grain are important points worthy of consideration here, because this general article is to be followed by one upon the culinary aspects of the grain treated. The market value of a flour largely rests upon its appearance, while the nutritive value depends upon the results determined by the analytical chemist. ”

“ A. Young thinks, that farmers cannot cut their wheat too early. He remarks, that the green state of the straw is no indication that the grain is immature; because the straw of blighted corn never acquires a bright yellow colour; but remains green till it becomes black. When the stalk is in this condition, the circulation of the sap ceases; and the grain daily decreases in size. He, therefore, advises the wheat to be cut ”

“ Of the three grains herein briefly treated we have seen that wheat stands at the head as a food for man in our country. In any form it is prepared it can be a complete and palatable food. The albuminoids (gluten, etc.) are in such abundance and form that the flour may produce snowy, spongy and most healthful bread—truly a staff of life on which all rejoice to lean. Rye is a declining grain, it being replaced by wheat. It will grow on poorer soil than wheat, but with the many kinds of commercial fertilizers at our service no one should grow rye because of an impoverished soil. ”

“ It is cheering in late autumn and early winter when no other young growth is to be seen on the farm, suddenly to find the field covered with the fresh shoots of the wheat in regular lines, and to notice how, after its first appearance, it makes little further upright growth for a time, but spreads laterally over the ground as the roots extend downwards. ”

“ After seven years of investigation the author has worked out the following theory of the strength of wheat flours, which has finally enabled him to devise a method which promises to be both accurate and rapid, and to require so little flour that it can readily be used by the wheat breeder to determine the strength of the grain in a single ear. It has already been mentioned that a strong wheat is one that will make a large loaf of good shape and texture. The strength of a wheat may therefore be defined as the power of making a large loaf of good shape and texture. ”

“ For the American Agriculturist.
HINTS ON THE CULTIVATION OF WHEAT. Buffalo, October 25th, 1843.
There are four conditions that modify the value of a wheat crop. One may not only be larger in measure than another, but heavier for the same measure; yielding more flour from a given weight; and lastly, affording a greater proportion of gluten from the same quantity of flour. It is necessary for the farmer to have each of these considerations in view, if he would attain the utmost success in the cultivation of this invaluable grain. ”

“ LESSON CXXXVII MODIFICATIONS OF PLAIN WHITE BREAD BREADS OTHER THAN WHEAT.—As mentioned previously, wheat is the most popular grain in this country, largely because we are most used to it, not because it is a better food than other cereals. The use of different starchy materials and grains, especially the whole cereals, is advised to give variation not only in flavor, but in nutritive content. Yeast breads containing cereals other than wheat are more satisfactory in texture and in size of loaf when they are made by combining some wheat with the other grains. ”

“ Where it is a rich earth, those plants should be grown which require a greater proportion of nutriment, coleworts for instance, wheat, winter-wheat, and flax. The result, then, will be, that a light soil will be given to barley—the root of that grain standing in need of less nutriment—while a more dense, though easily-worked soil, will be assigned to wheat. In humid localities spelt should be sown in preference to wheat; but where the soil is of moderate temperature, either wheat or barley may be grown. Declivities produce a stronger growth of wheat, but in smaller quantities. ”

“ The English grain is fuller and rounder than the American, being puffed up with moisture.
Every year the total loss in the United States from moisture in wheat and flour is estimated at four to five million dollars. To remedy this great evil, the grain should be well ripened before harvesting, and well dried before being stored in a good dry granary. Afterwards, in grinding and in transporting, it should be carefully protected from wet, and the flour be kept from exposure to the atmosphere. The best precaution is kiln-drying. ”

“ Hard and soft wheats differ in the composition of the grain. The soft wheats are richer in starch and are likely to have large grains, while the hard, with smaller grains, are relatively richer in gluten. ”

“ She resembled the swallow in the fable who once every thousand years transferred a grain of wheat, in the hope of rearing a mountain to reach the moon. Such persons are raised up in every age; they obstinately insist on transporting their grains of wheat and they derive a certain exhilaration from the sneers of the bystanders. ”

“ It is absolutely certain, if wheat will not grow with care and industry, and all the usual appliances of good husbandry, where it once nourished successfully, there is one or more ingredients wanted, in such a condition, that the plants can appropriate them to their own nourishment. And first of the inorganic matters.
The proportion of straw will vary from 2 to 31⁄2 times the weight of the grain. Suppose the quantity taken off the land be estimated at 21⁄2 times the weight of the grain. ”