secured by rubbing off with brushes the outside coating of the brown rice, is much cheaper. It has been sold chiefly for stock-feed, but it has possibilities as a flour substitute.

The rice-growers of the South are doing their best to supply the country with rice in quantity and to make known the possibilities of this cereal. The rice flour supply, though not large now, will doubtless be much increased by next year. One Louisiana mill, for example, is increasing its output from 150 to 1,200 barrels a day.

Other Cereal Substitutes. Besides the substitutes which are common all over the country, there are products produced in too small amounts to make them universal substitutes, such as buckwheat, cottonseed meal, and peanut flour, any of which can be used with other flours for baking. The Southwest produces both flour and meal from milo, kaffir, and feterita.

Flours are made from the Irish and sweet potato, from tapioca, from soy beans, and bananas, but they are manufactured in such small amounts that they do not take the place of wheat to any great extent. Potato flour comes nearest to doing this. It has always been used to some extent in Europe and it is being widely used in Germany now. Potato itself can be used instead of wheat. An extra potato at a meal will take the place of a large slice of bread.

Many of the substitute cereals do not keep so well as wheat, especially if they contain more than a minimum of moisture and fat. The housekeeper and the baker should therefore buy them in small enough quantities to use them up promptly and should keep them in a cool, well-ventilated place. May and June and the summer months are the time when most care is needed.

It is the free use of these many wholesome substitutes that is making possible the necessary saving of wheat. We who appreciate their wholesomeness and their value can well break away from our wheat habit and gladly make the little effort sometimes necessary to begin using newer foods.

CHAPTER III

WAR BREAD

Bread is the staff of life for all nations. But "bread" does not necessarily mean the wheat loaf. At one time and place it has been barley cake, at another oaten cake, and at another corn pone. Bread has always been whatever cereal happened to be convenient. Even such unbreadlike food as rice is to some races what bread is to us.

Why, then, have we developed our wheat-bread habit? Partly because wheat bread has been easy to get and we have grown to like the taste, but chiefly because wheat flour gives the lightest loaf. To understand why, make a dough with a little white flour and water and then gently knead it in cold water. The consistency changes, the starch is washed out and a rubbery, sticky ball is left—the gluten, which is the protein of the wheat. It is this gluten in the flour that stretches when bread rises and then stiffens when it is baked, making a light, porous loaf. Wheat is the only one of the cereals that has much gluten; rye has a little and the others practically none.

Gluten seems to be essential to the making of a light, yeast-raised loaf. Products raised with baking-powder, for which our standard of lightness is different—"quick breads" like biscuits and muffins and cakes—do not require the gluten and can easily be made from substitute cereals. But for our ordinary loaf of bread, at least some wheat seems to be almost essential, though with skill in the making, rye can be made to serve in its place. Patriotic bakers and housewives all over the country have been trying to produce a wheatless loaf which is light, palatable, and sufficiently durable to stand transportation. The durability is a very important consideration; crumbly corn bread cannot be distributed by bakers nor served to armies. Corn bread and the other quick breads are chiefly home-made products.

Our present problem, therefore, is to make the most effective possible use of our wheat gluten, to make it go as far as possible in our breads. Both bakers and private individuals have their share in solving the problem.

THE BAKERS' REGULATIONS. VICTORY BREAD

The bakers have co-operated loyally. Probably no other food industry has been more vitally affected by the war. All bakers using three or more barrels of flour a month have been licensed and so are under the control of the Food Administration. This means practically all the commercial bakers of the country, and many hotels, clubs, and institutions. About two-fifths of the bread in the United States is made in bakeries and three-fifths in the home. The bakeries have used 35,000,000 barrels of flour each year, so the importance of this field for conservation is plain.

The amount of wheat flour they are now permitted to have has been reduced: at present 80 per cent of their last year's quantity, or, if they are pastry and cracker bakers, 70 per cent. They must make no bread wholly of wheat flour. Some substitute must be mixed with the wheat. When the regulation went into effect in February, 1918, 20 per cent was required and later, 25 per cent. In pies and cakes there must be at least one-third substitute. The amounts of sugar and fat used are limited. Even the sizes of the loaves are fixed, so that the extravagance of making and handling all sorts of fancy shapes and sizes may be avoided. Bread must not be sold to the retailer at unreasonable prices.

Victory bread is bread made in accordance with these regulations. The name "Victory" was chosen as representing the idea underlying the conservation of wheat. The name is really a present to the Food Administration, having been used by two large firms who gave up all rights to their trade-mark.

Hotels and restaurants are required to make or serve bread containing at least as much of the wheat substitutes as Victory bread. They may not serve more than two ounces of bread and other wheat products to a guest at a meal. Many of them have recently promised to use no wheat at all till the next harvest. That means, of course, that only through intelligent effort can they serve yeast bread.

THE INDIVIDUAL'S ANSWER TO THE BREAD CRY

Until the wheat-supply increases and the Food Administration lessens restrictions, use no wheat at all if you can possibly do without. Remember that you can make delicious muffins and other quick breads from the substitute flours. And you need no bread at all at some meals. An extra potato or a serving of rice can be eaten instead of the usual two slices of bread and the body will be supplied with the same amount of energy. Do not be the slave of old food habits. When all Europe is eating to keep alive, fastidiousness and food "notions" must play no part in the dietary.

Some people find it is almost impossible to do without the baker's loaf. Hundreds in crowded city quarters have no facilities of their own for baking. Women doing their share in factories and workshops cannot get up earlier to make corn bread for breakfast. Victory bread must be saved for them. For households which must use wheat, the Food Administration has fixed a voluntary ration of 1½ pounds of wheat per week for each person. This includes wheat in the form of bread, pastry, macaroni, crackers, noodles, and breakfast foods.

All who can should do more than their share—they must do their utmost to make up for those whose circumstances prevent them from doing it. The interests and desires of each of us in this war can be translated into service in no more effective way than by conforming our food habits to the needs of the hour.

FLOUR AND BREAD IN THE ALLIED COUNTRIES

All the Allied countries