MILLING 157 



we have seen so much that we must think it over 

 carefully before we can understand it all. We 

 brush the flour from our clothes and thank the 

 miller for his kindness. We leave, realizing more 

 fully than we did before that milling is no longer 

 a simple home industry, but that it is, rather, a 

 complex factory system which supplies millions of 

 people with one of their most common food 

 materials. 



This has given us a bird's-eye view of the 

 processes of flour making. As yet, we hardly 

 understand why so many steps are necessary. 

 In our hurried trip, we could not stop to learn 

 the whole story of each process. Let us now 

 study them more in detail. 



The Mill Elevator. - - In order to keep busy at 

 all times a supply of wheat must constantly be 

 kept on hand. This is stored in a tall building 

 called an elevator (Fig. 73, building to the right 

 and rear). The capacity of this elevator may 

 be large or small. It usually corresponds in 

 this respect to the size of the mill. A surplus is 

 also carried because it is of business advantage to 

 buy when wheat is at a low price. The grain may 

 be purchased either in carload lots from central 

 markets or in some cases directly from the farmers. 



Cleaning the Wheat.- -The wheat is brought to 

 the mill from the elevator by a conveyer. The 

 miller knows that in order to have a high grade 



