The bakers of Philadelphia allow that it is good flour when 1 41b. of it will make 181b. of bread; to this quantity however they add about three quarts of water, three half pints of yeast and half a pint of salt ; but it often happens that 141b. will not turn out 171b. of bread. A correct judgment may be formed of the proportion of gluten con tained in wheat by chewing some grains for a few mi nutes, when the mass will be found to be more or less tenacious in proportion to the quantity of that substance contained in it. No one who has not tried this experi ment can imagine the difference in that respect that will be found in two parcels of wheat.
Of all the varieties of wheat upon which the experi ment has been made by the writer, the red chaff beard ed, and the white wheat, the seed of which came from Caroline county, Virginia, yielded the most. The Sicily wheat less than any other on which the experiment was made.
Those who are curious to see the whole art of the baker detailed, are referred to Ecilin's Treatise on the art of bread-making.
dosize of bread, means the regulation of the price of bread by law. The first law in England for this purpose was passed in the 51 year of the reign of Henry III. and has been continued until the present tine. In Penn sylvania, while a colony of Britain, the example of the mother country was followed, and so early as 12th of William III. an act for the assize of bread was passed, which prescribes that the calculation of the price of bread should be made from the market price of wheat, but it was found in process of time that this principle was extremely erroneous, inasmuch as the price of wheat. and that of flour were not always in proportion to each other. In the year 1772 therefore (March 21) the former law was repealed, and the assize was determined from the price of flour by the Cwt. and a fourpenny loaf was taken as the standard by which loaves of bread of any size were to he sold. Thus flour being 7s. per Cwt. the fourpenny loaf was to weigh 31b. 54- oz. avoirdupois; if flour was 12s. the loaf %vas to weigh 21b. 8oz. and when flour was 17s. 9d. the same loaf was to be reduced to 1 lb. 141 oz. and so in proportion for loaves of a larger or smaller size. The law was at first only to continue in force for three years, but at the end of that time it was again revived viz. (in March 1775) and continued in force until the declaration of Independence, which of course abolished the powers of the former state and city governments. During the continuance of the illy regulated city police, all the war and for several years af terwards no regulations were adopted on the subject : but after the incorporation of Philadelphia, a law was pass ed by the legislature authorizing the mayor and alder men to fix the assize; but doubts being expressed by some whose opinions were well worthy of consideration, as to the justice of the measure, or rather an opinion being expressed as to the unequal bearing of the law, it was not revived after the expiration of the time for which it had been passed. However in 1797, the legislature,
sensible of the necessity of securing the citizens from imposition, enacted that bread should thereafter be sold by the pound avoirdupois, and bakers and venders of bread are required to keep scales and weights for weigh ing the same. This law is still in existence, but it is a dead letter, for no one pretends to buy bread by the pound ; nor are scales and weights kept for weighing it by the bakers or dealers in the article. Loaves are com monly made of three sizes, and are sold for one fourth of a dollar, one eighth of a dollar, and one sixteenth of a dollar ; and it is known that the weights of loaves sold for the same price by different bakers vary considerably.
Laws to regulate the price of labour, or of articles of the first necessity, ought to be laid with great cau tion: but while it is clear that a reasonable profit should be allowed to every man upon his labour, justice re quires of every government to protect the body of its citizens and strangers from imposition, in the sale of any staple article by a particular sef of men, or in the price they may charge for particular species of labour or personal services. Hence most governments have established inspections for the several domestic articles usually exported, and some have wisely regulated the prices for coach hire and porterage. By the first, the honour of the nation is saved from the disgrace that would attach to it in foreign countries, by the permis sion to its citizens to export damaged articles, or to practice deception in them ; but it also actually raised in foreign markets by the stimulus given to the spirited and honest manufacturer, mechanic, or dealer, to pre pare the articles in which he deals in the best manner, so as to obtain the mark of the highest approbation. The increased demand too, for the articles of home produce, which such strict discipline necessarily creates, eventu ally leads to the increase of national and individual wealth, and promotes morality.