Adulterations of Buckwheat Flour Sold in 
the Lawrence Market. 
BY MARSHAL? A. BARBER. 
With Plates III and IV. 
Seven samples of buckwheat flour were purchased of grocers in 
Lawrence, Kansas. No two samples were obtained of any one 
dealer, and the purpose for which they were bought was not given. 
One variety was said to come from Michigan, one from New York, 
and one from Tennessee; while the other four were from different 
mills in Douglas and Leavenworth counties. Inquiry was made in 
nearly every case as to the purity of the flour, and the purchaser 
was always assured that the sample was ‘‘pure buckwheat.” 
The examination was made with the compound microscope, and 
the results are best explained by the photomicrographs illustrating 
this article. In these the objects are magnified about 265 diame- 
LETS: 
Fig. 1 is from a photomicrograph of pure buckwheat. The 
sample was obtained by grinding in the laboratory buckwheat free 
from all other grains, so that a flour, known to be genuine, was at 
hand for comparison. The two fragments shown fairly represent 
the masses of starch grains seen in buckwheat flour. These grains 
vary comparatively little in size, they are closely compacted in the 
masses, and the individual grains are somewhat angular in outline 
and show few concentric lines. 
Fig. 2 represents a mass of starch of wheat obtained from shorts. 
In the wheat flour fragments the starch grains vary much in form, 
and the larger ones far exceed in size the largest of the buckwheat 
starch grains. Their outline is more regular than that of the 
buckwheat grains, and the prevailing forms are round and elliptical. 
With comparatively little magnification the wheat starch grain is 
shown to have well marked concentric lines, and to differ from the 
buckwheat in the form of its center. These two points are not 
clearly shown in the reproductions of the photomicrographs; but 
the comparative uniformity in size of the buckwheat starch grains 
and their smallness and irregularity of form make the fragments of 
this flour easily distinguishable from those of wheat. 
(87) KAN. UNIV. QUR., VOL. VII. NO. 1, JAN. 1898. SERIES A. 
