2y 21ie Milling of Wheat in the United Kingdom. 



of milling are blamed for the alleged inferiority, but it is silly 

 to take flour made by older methods of milling from some 

 wheats, and compare it with flour made by modern methods 

 from other wheats, if the object be to test the virtues or defects 

 of the rival methods of milling. Bread produced from mill- 

 stone made flour can he really nice if the right sorts of wheat 

 be used. Wholemeal bread or the " 80 per cent, standard " 

 article can be palatable if the same precaution be observed ; 

 but such breadstuff's made from an average of all the wheats 

 available to British millers would not be nice or appetising. 

 " Standard bread " would necessitate " standard wheats." As 

 matters stand, the quantity consumed is so small that the flour 

 can be made from wheats most suital)le for the purpose, but if 

 the demand for it greatly increased, its success would probably 

 be its undoing, for then other wheats must be used, and the 

 bread would not be as nice as it is, or, let me say, it would be 

 worse than it is. 



The millstone was a fine tool, the quintessence of the ex- 

 perience and knowledge of very many generations of capable 

 millers and specialist millstone builders, but it had its limita- 

 tions. Consider the thickness of a piece of bran, and realise 

 the degree of mechanical perfection involved in getting a 

 millstone 4 ft. in diameter and 10 to 15 cwt. in weight to 

 revolve for (),000 hours per annum, in balance, generally on a 

 single point, so closely to a sister millstone, that they touch the 

 l)ran simultaneously on both its inner and outer sides without 

 unduly pulverizing it and without coming into contact them- 

 selves. Something to be proud of ! But consider also the 

 amount apd intensity of the friction involved — one stone 

 stationary, and the other revolving at a periphery speed of 

 1,500 ft. per minute. The wheat was " fed " to the stones 

 through a hole in the centre of the upper one, and was passed 

 between them to their circumference by means of indentations 

 in their surfaces, specially placed to force the grain or meal in 

 an outward direction. This involved at least 4 ft. of extremely 

 severe rubbing in one grinding. Compare that with the 

 relatively gentle action of roller mills — two rolls revolving in 

 the same direction at a differential speed ; the faster at a peri- 

 phery speed of about 880, and the slower at 350 ft. per minute, 

 and grinding done at only one point in the circumference. 

 Obviously, if it be desirable to grind with a minimum amount 

 of friction, rolls are incomparably superior to millstones, even 

 though it be necessary to pass the stock thi'ough a much greater 

 number of grindings, if rolls be used. 



Let me describe some changes involved in the gradual 

 change from one system of milling to the other. I need not 

 enlarge iipon the concurrent improvements in our methods of 



