The elementary principles of breadmaking / by John Goodfellow.

  • Goodfellow, John.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The elementary principles of breadmaking / by John Goodfellow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    CHAPTER IV. THE GERMINATION OF THE SEED. ^ regarded as a link between the old plant and the new. A daughter of the one It contains within itself the germ of the other, possessing latent vitality which only awaits favourable conditions to awake to activity. In the first chapter it was shewn that the grain consisted of three main parts : (1) The bran—protecting in function. (2) The germ or embryo, consisting of representatives of the stem, leaves and roots. (3) The endosperm—a store of food for the young plant during the early stage of its growth. At present we are concerned chiefly with the develop- nient of the germ and the changes which are brought about in the constituents of the endosperm. The essential properties of a seed are all summed up in the inactive rudimentary plant and the reserve food material which the latter will at some future time require. When the seed is subjected to suitable conditions—chiefly moisture and warmth—marked changes occur in the germ, which indicate a resumption of active life. The germ consists, for the most part, of cells of protoplasm, which have the power under suitable conditions of under- going cell division. The growth of the young plant is thus due to a multiplication of the cells of which it consists, and this multiplication only occurs to any extent when suitable nourishment is provided for the developing cells. Part of the nutriment exists adjacent to the scutellum of the germ, but it is mainly found in the endosperm. The chief nutrients of the endosperm and germ are: (1) Aleurone grains. (2) Gluten. (3) Soluble albuminoids.