8. PLUMPNESS. Wheat of great weight per measured bushel is necessarily rather 

 plumft, but wheat merely because it is plump, does not necessarily "test" extremely high. 

 (See discussion of weight below). The harder wheats, however, such as durum, northern 

 spring, and hard winter, often test well — sixty pounds or more — without being very plump. 

 Such wheats, which can neither be described as truly plump nor badly shriveled, may be 

 said to be "framy." The heavy weight of "framy" wheat is probably largely due to the 

 density of the kernel contents. Shriveled wheat is caused by unfavorable conditions such as 

 hot winds, extreme drouth and insect attacks. 



9. PURITY. Wheat of great purity should be all of one class or variety and must be 

 free from other grains, weed seed, trash, and soil. Though the miller, in order to attain 

 certain results, may wish to mix wheats, he desires to mix them in certain definite propor- 

 tions and in his own way. Different wheats may also need different treatments before grind- 

 ing. In such cases mixtures are, of course, difficult to handle. Wheat should, therefore, be 

 true to class, type, or name. 



Other grains. Grains other than wheat, while nourishing, do not make light bread and 

 have no place mixed with milling wheat. The miller looks upon such grain essentially as 

 weed seed. 



Weeds, trash, and soil. The seeds of various weeds are frequently found in milling 

 wheat. Among the more common and troublesome are yellow foxtail, or pigeon grass, 

 mustard, and cockle. Some weed seeds give flour a bitter taste and bad odor. Flour made from 

 uncleaned wheat badly infested with cockle seed, is poisonous. 



10. ODOR. When wheat is either very musty or very smutty, the fact can easily be 

 detected by the odor. The smell of must is acrid and irritatii.g, while that of smut is foul. 

 Usually very smutty wheat has many smut balls present. Flour made either from very 

 musty or very smutty_ wheat is ill flavored and unfit for human consumption. Such wheat 

 should be used only as food for stock. 



t 



11. WEIGHT OF ONE HUNDRED KERNELS. Count out one hundred kernels of 

 wheat, using no kernels of foreign grain, weed seed, or trash. Considerable difference will 

 be found between the weight of one class or variety of wheat and another. 



12. WEIGHT PER BUSHEL. Originally a bushel of grain meant a quantity of grain 

 which would fill a vessel of a definite volume, i. e., a bushel measure (2150.42 cubic inches). 

 Nowadays a bushel of grain means a certain weight which has been agreed upon and enacted 

 into law. Thus a man buying a bushel of wheat buys it at its legal weight of 00 pounds, re- 

 gardless of its volume. Though there are greater extremes, a measured bushel of wheat sel- 

 dom weighs less than SO, or more than 63 pounds. Though the miller buys his wheat by 

 weight alone he still desires that a bushel- measure filled with wheat weigh heavily. There- 

 fore grain buyers use a small steel-yard and bucket, called a tester, to determine how much a 

 bushel by volume (2150.42 cubic inches) actually weighs. The weight thus secured is called 

 the "test." The miller finds that wheat which tests low has small, shriveled kernels. Such 

 kernels have a relatively high per cent of germ and hull. As the miller uses for our common 

 white flour only the endosperm of the wheat kernel and tries to keep out of it both germ and 

 hull, shriveled wheat gives the miller a low per cent of flour. For this reason he will not pay 

 as much for sixty pounds of light, shriveled wheat as fur sixty pounds of heavy, plump wheat. 

 Very light weight per bushel is usually due either to sprouting or shriveling as previously ex- 

 plained. 



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