a
difference in favor of the unfermented bread to the amount of thirty
pounds thirteen ounces, or in round numbers, a sack of flour would
produce one hundred and seven loaves of unfermented bread, and only
one hundred loaves of fermented bread of the game weight. Hence it
appears that in the sack of flour by the common process of baking,
seven loaves, or six-and-a-half per cent, of the flour are driven
into the air and lost."--("Experimental Researches on the Food of
Animals," &c., p. 183.)

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 whe