WHEAT 81 



while in the mouth a sticky mass Hke chewing gum is ob- 

 tained. This is gluten. The more elastic this gluten is the 

 better such wheat will be for making flour to be used for 

 bread. The hard, red, flinty wheats have the best quality of 

 gluten, and hence make the highest grade of flour. The 

 whiter, softer and more starchy wheats make good flour for 

 pastry purposes. Wheat raised on soil rich in humus, in a 

 climate where the summers are dry and hot, usually has hard 

 red kernels which contain gluten of the best quality for bread 

 making. 



Even in the United States there is so much variation in the 

 quality of wheat, due mainly to climate, that the United 

 States Department of Agriculture has divided it into eight 

 wheat districts. We cannot give a detailed account of each 

 of these districts, but it will probably be enough to say that 

 the wheat of the southern and New England states gener- 

 ally is rather soft and starchy and does not make good flour. 

 The wheat grown in the states north of the Ohio River has 

 a harder grain, but not hard enough to make the highest 

 grade of flour. The spring wheat grown in the Northwest 

 and the winter wheat of Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas have 

 the hardest grains and make the highest grade of flour. In 

 parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and South Dakota durum 

 wheat is being raised extensively. This wheat is better 

 adapted to dry and hot summers than other kinds of wheat. 

 Durum wheat is used largely in making macaroni, and on 

 this account is frequently called macaroni wheat. The wheat 

 raised in the Rocky Mountain and coast states is generally 

 white in color, soft and starchy. Hard wheats taken into this 

 region and grown for a few years change so that they become 

 soft and starchy. 



