[dymond] elevator SCREENINGS 83 



Uses of Screenings in Flour Mills 



Eastern Canada. Most of the Western wheat milled in Eastern 

 Canada has passed through the elevators at the head of the lakes. 

 The standard grades coming out of the elevators carry only a small 

 percentage of weed seeds fine enough to be removed by elevator 

 cleaners; the lower the grade the greater the proportion of impurities 

 tolerated. 



Before the wheat is ground to make flour, all dirt and impurities 

 are removed from it. It is the practice of nearly all flour mills in this 

 country and in the United States to mix with the bran and shorts the 

 screenings taken from the wheat. Formerly the material was un- 

 ground but at the present time regulations in both countries require 

 the complete pulverization of all weed seeds included in the feeds. 



The mill screenings difl"er from elevator screenings in that they 

 contain a lower percentage of the smaller weed seeds and a higher 

 percentage of small and broken wheat. To remove the impurities as 

 completely as is necessary in milling, a good deal of the smaller and 

 lighter wheat is removed with the weed seeds. The most prevalent 

 weed seeds are wild buckwheat, wild oats, wild mustard, hare's-ear 

 mustard, ball mustard, stinkweed and lamb's quarters. Mill screen- 

 ings, however, vary as widely in composition as elevator screenings. 



The smaller flour mills usually buy the higher grades of wheat 

 because they have not such highly efficient cleaning machinery as that 

 possessed by the larger mills. The latter can and do handle more of 

 the lower grades which carry a relatively high percentage of weed 

 seeds. 



Many of the smaller mills in Eastern Canada use a proportion 

 of local wheat in the manufacture of their flour. This local wheat is 

 usually bought directly from farmers and much of it is uncleaned. 

 The screenings mixed with the bran and shorts of such mills will vary 

 considerably with the locality and the season. 



Western Canada. Very little of the wheat purchased by Western 

 Canada mills has had any previous cleaning; it is just as it came from 

 the threshing machine. It is first given a cleaning similar to that given 

 wheat passing through the terminal elevators on its way East and 

 therefore the screenings resulting from this first cleaning resemble those 

 accumulating in the elevators. 



The screenings are disposed of in various ways depending on the 

 location of the mill and the composition of the screenings. 



The fine seeds are usually separated from the rest of the screen- 

 ings and disposed of: (1) by shipping them to the United States where 

 they are used in the manufacture of mixed dairy feeds; on account of 



