548 THE SMALL GRAINS 



I. Preparatory process : II. Milling proper : 



A. Cleaning A. Breaking 



B. Scouring B. Scalping 



C. Tempering C. Grading 



D. Purifying 



E. Reducing 



F. Dressing 



A brief statement of these different steps has been made 

 by L. A. Fitz, and kindly permitted by him to be inserted 

 herein as follows : 



Cleaning. The wheat is usually unloaded at the elevator and given 

 a preliminary cleaning over the receiving separator. This machine is 

 simply a large improved fanning mill which, by means of screens 

 and air blast, removes the coarse material, such as sticks and straws, 

 and also the fine material, consisting mostly of weed seeds and dirt 

 particles. The final cleaning is given over an improved type of 

 fanning mill, known as a "mill separator," and this removes practi- 

 cally all of the remaining foreign material. 



Scouring. However, there still remain fine dust particles clinging 

 to the kernels, especially in the crease and the brush, and these are 

 removed by "scouring." 'In this process the kernels of wheat are 

 thrown with considerable force by sets of beaters against the slightly 

 roughened sides of the scouring case and also against each other. 

 The dust particles, fine hairs of the brush, and small bran particles 

 are thus loosened and then removed by strong suction of air applied 

 at the top of the machine. All fine material removed from the 

 cleaning and scouring machinery by air suction currents is conveyed 

 through spouts to dust collectors. This prevents such material 

 from flying about in the mill and becoming mixed in the flour. 



Tempering. After the wheat has been cleaned and scoured it 

 may be necessary, in order to prevent the branny coat from grinding 

 up fine and going through the bolting cloth into the flour, to add to 

 it a little moisture either as water or steam, or even both. This is 

 called "tempering" the wheat. Tempering is especially necessary 

 with the hard wheats because of their more brittle character. 



Breaking. After these preliminary steps in preparing the wheat 

 for the rolls, the real milling process begins. This process is a grad- 



