CHAPTER XV. 

 THE MILLING OF WHEAT 



Methods of Milling. " The first miller plucked the berry from 

 the stalk, and using his teeth for millstones, ground grist for 

 a customer who would not be denied his stomach." All mill- 

 ers who have succeeded this first pioneer have made use of va- 

 rious forms of apparatus to make the grinding process easier 

 and more effective. There have been three distinct types of 

 mills from which all others are only variations, and each one 

 of which effects the reduction of the grain by a method peculiar 

 to itself: (1) The mortar and pestle type, in which the work 

 is done by grinding and rubbing; (2) some form of the machine 

 having two roughened surfaces, between which the grain is 

 crushed or cut through the motion of one, and sometimes of 

 both, of the surfaces; (3) the roller system of milling, involving 

 a gradual reduction or granulation process in which the grain of 

 wheat is separated into particles and reduced to successive de- 

 grees of subdivision by being passed between rolls, first cor- 

 rugated and then smooth, each successive series of which has 

 an increased approximation of surfaces. 



The Mortar and Pestle Type. The second miller was always 

 a woman. This initial stage in the development of milling was 

 marked by several types of grinding devices. 



HANDSTONES. Our knowledge of handstones, or "corn" 

 stones, goes back to the paleolithic period. Such stones were 

 doubtless first used for pounding nuts 

 and acorns. The same type was used 

 the world over, and there is an abun- 

 dance of specimens. The grain was 

 placed upon a second stone with a flat 

 surface. Pounding with the globular 



HANDSTONE CU P tO be holl wed out 



of the lower stone. Within a few 

 feet of each other, 26 such hollows have been found in the rock 

 near an Indian settlement at El Paso, Texas. They are found 

 in many parts of the world. 



