THE MILLING OF WHEAT 271 



removed between each breaking. The flour which was thus re- 

 moved came from the center of the wheat grain, which is 

 softer and first reduced in milling. This flour was so dirty as 

 to be fit for only a low grade. The middlings were purified 

 from bran, and then passed to rollers which reduced them. 

 By a bolting operation, the coarse particles were now removed, 

 and the unreduced portion of the middlings were again purified, 

 then reground and rebolted. They passed through eight such 

 operations. The residuum of the last process passed to the 

 bran duster, and the refuse from the bran duster was sold as 

 "shorts." The flour from the middlings was the "patent" 

 flour. It required several hours for wheat to pass through the 

 different processes. The richest part of the endosperm, the 

 outside, was to a certain extent lost, being closely attached to 

 the tough bran coats, or so contaminated with small pieces of 

 bran as to injure the color of the flour, throwing it into the 

 "baker's grade." 



Revolutions seem to be continually taking place in the milling 

 industry. After the process of milling had become long and 

 complicated, an effort was made to shorten it again, and with 

 considerable success. ' l It was the triumph of the ' short system ' 

 over the long system, and resulted in affording every small mill 

 owner in the country an opportunity to adopt the roller system 

 at an expense that was within his reach. ' ' The reform extended 

 to Great Britain and the Continent, even affecting Hungarian 

 methods and systems. It granted the small country miller a 

 new lease of life. 



' The Present Processes of Milling. The milling of wheat has 

 become a very scientific and exact business, especially in the 

 largest mills. 1 Prior to the milling of flour comes the selection 

 of the wheat to be ground. The grain should be bright-colored 

 and plump. Grain which is dark-colored from exposure to 

 rains, or from heating in stack or bin, is of an inferior grade, 

 for the rising quality of the gluten has been impaired. In se- 

 lecting wheat, the miller does not rely upon external appear- 

 ances, however, and all wheat is selected by chemical and bak- 

 ing tests, which are made before the wheat goes to the mill. 



1 For the major portion of the data bearing on this phase of the 

 subject the writer is indebted to Messrs. James P. Bell and Prank 

 W. Emmons of the Washburn-Crosby Company of Minneapolis. 



