WAR BREAD AND ITS CONSTITUENTS 27 



given to the preparation of the grinding surfaces of 

 the stones. The lower stone was fixed, while the 

 upper, exactly balanced above it, and separated from 

 it by a minute interval, revolved at high speed. The 

 grain was fed into the space between them through a 

 hole in the centre of the upper stone, while the lower 

 stone was grooved to allow escape of the products of 

 grinding. 



All, or nearly all, of the wheats which were grown 

 at home forty years ago had a tough husk and a soft 

 kernel. The stones stripped off the former without 

 breaking it up unduly, while they ground the latter 

 fine. Subsequent sifting sufficed to separate a flour 

 which made a white loaf, while the outer parts of 

 the grain were fed as "offals' to animals. Now, 

 foreign wheats, or the greater number of them, are 

 hard in the kernel and thin and brittle in the husk. 

 By the time the stones of the old-fashioned mills had 

 ground the former fine enough, the husk had also 

 become much disintegrated, and proper separation by 

 sifting became impossible. So, for a good many 

 years, the use of hard foreign wheats led to dark- 

 coloured loaves. Meanwhile, however, the roller 

 process was developing, and American millers found 

 that roller mills could deal satisfactorily with the hard 

 thin-skinned wheats grown in their country. Very 

 white flours could be obtained, and these were exported 

 to England, where they attracted the public taste and 

 competed with great advantage against the darker 

 flours got by stone milling. English millers, in self- 

 defence, adopted and developed the roller process. 



Roller-milling plants show a remarkable adaptation 

 of means to ends, and a large and well-run modern 

 flour-mill commands the admiration of all who inspect 

 it. The grain is transported from one department 

 to another, and is generally dealt with from first to 



