ENGLISH AND CANADIAN WHEATS 163 



had made the differences of quality to which they 

 formerly attached some significance practically 

 negligible. These differences were of the order of 

 two or three per cent., whilst the difference between 

 weak English and strong foreign wheats was far 

 and away greater. It is almost impossible to give 

 anyone unfamiliar with the niceties of judging 

 bread a clear idea of them, though perhaps the 

 following figures will help in the matter. In the 

 baking experiments necessary in the course of this 

 investigation the loaves are marked on a more or 

 less arbitrary scale, points being assigned for volume, 

 height, the character of the crust and the texture 

 of the crumb. An average sample of flour from 

 English wheat generally earns some 50 or 60 points, 

 whilst flour suitable for the preparation of ordinary 

 bread, or flour of the "London Households" stan- 

 dard, gets about 80. Still better grades used only 

 for special purposes may be marked as high as 100 

 or even, but very exceptionally, more. The best 

 grades of Canadian wheat, that is typical strong 

 wheats, generally earn from 85 to 95 on this scale, 

 the differences depending largely on the harvest 

 conditions obtaining in Canada from season to 

 season. But if one could obtain no evidence as 

 to the possibility of growing this kind of wheat 

 in the country one met with plenty of criticisms 

 regarding the uselessness of attempting to do so, 

 based on the belief then prevalent that strength 

 was determined by the conditions under which 



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