72 ENVIRONMENT AND MILLING QUALITIES. 



a given quantity of flour is another unit of quality, separate and 

 distinct from strength or stability, and having regard to the fact 

 that in all these tests, I am dealing with small quantities of wheat, 

 I have made no attempt to determine the relative merits of these 

 sample lots on this point. 



The colour of the bran does not necessarily indicate the colour 

 of the endosperm ; wheat with a red skin may yield a very white 

 flour, or a wheat with a white skin may yield a very yellow flour. 

 Nor is a red wheat necessarily or even probably stronger than 

 a white one ; but inasmuch as white bran is generally more valuable 

 as a commercial commodity than red bran, also because powdered 

 white bran is less discolouring than powdered red bran, and as in 

 grinding, some of the husk always is powdered, white wheat is better 

 than red wheat, if on all other points they are actually or approxi- 

 mately equal. But on the other hand, the growing of red wheat 

 need not be discouraged if there be any valid general or local 

 reasons for preferring some existing red varieties, or if there 

 should be any prejudice in some parts of India in favour of red 

 wheat. 



British millers do not object to hardness in ordinary wheat 

 (T. vulgare) nor do they object to mellowness, so long as the wheat is 

 free-milling. They very strongly prefer wheat which can be 

 easily separated into its commercial constituents, so that the bran 

 can be removed with a minimum of grinding, and the flour be 

 separated with a minimum of trouble in dressing. 



Relative commercial values depend upon supply and demand 

 and strong wheats are ordinarily in relatively small supply and 

 command higher prices than weak wheats. But there will always 

 be a demand for some weak wheats, from which flours most 

 suitable for the manufacture of biscuits or puddings can be pro- 

 duced, or which can be mixed with very strong wheats for the pro- 

 duction of many typical British bread flours. From these premises 

 it follows that the difference in commercial value between strong and 

 weak wheats is not a constant one, but does and will vary from time 

 to time as the relative supply of each type varies. On the average 



