The philosophy of eating. By Albert J. Bellows, M.D.

INDIAN CORN AS FOOD.

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and heat-producing elements, as will be seen by reference to the plates, Figs. 2, 3, 9, 11.
Indian corn has too little gluten to make good light
bread alone; but mixed with rye meal, which is very
glutinous, the most wholesome and best of bread is
made, which in many places in New England constitutes the staff of life to the laboring classes. Hominy, especially "large hominy,' which is merely the
grain cracked into two or three pieces, is excellent
food, and if made from southern corn, as it generally
is, contains a full share of muscle-making material, and
is well adapted to laboring men; it also contains a large
share of the life-giving principles, and is well adapted
to sedentary and literary employments. "Small hominy," which is mostly used in New England, is generally made from flint corn, which contains less of the food
for muscles and brains, and more of the heaters, and is
therefore best in cold weather. Hulled corn also contains the elements of the corn, except those which
reside in the hull; and being soaked in some alkali,
the oil is removed, and it is therefore good summer
food. Well washed from the alkali used to decorticate it, it is unobjectionable and wholesome to those
who like it.
Buckwheat.
Fig. 12.
Buckwheat, or "brank," as it is called
in England, is cultivated more for feeding
fowls and birds in winter than for food for
man. It is inferior to wheat in its nutritive Buckwheat.