THE WHEAT PLANT 



Suji. 



Semolina. 



TRITICUM 



VULGARB 



Properties 



crops, but to discover several distinct races of wheat mixed in one ana 

 the same field. 



Properties and Uses. The methods of employing wheat for human 

 food in India vary somewhat in the different provinces. From the grain, 

 three chief kinds of flour are made, viz. suji, maida and did. The 

 first is a granular meal obtained by moistening the grain overnight, 

 then grinding it. The fine flour passes through a sieve, leaving the suji 

 and bran above. The latter is got rid of by winnowing, and the round, 

 granular meal or suji remains. This preparation may be described as a 

 form of semolina, and is most easily produced from the hard wheats rich 

 in gluten. It is employed in confectionery, and in place of oatmeal in 

 making a land of porridge. The hard white wheats are also valued in the 

 preparation of macaroni. Maida and ata may be prepared from the flour 

 separated in the preparation of suji by regrinding it and passing it through 

 a finer sieve than used formerly, the finer flour that passes through being 

 maida and the coarser ata. They are, however, most largely prepared 

 without going through the process of separation of suji, the dry grain 

 being at once ground and sifted into the two qualities. Maida is the luxury 

 of the rich while ata is the flour of the poor and is generally cooked in the 

 form of coarse cakes chapattis toasted by the side of an open fire. These 

 are eaten along with dal and ghi or other relish, and constitute the chief 

 food in the wheat-consuming tracts of India. In many localities, however, 

 the ata is not obtained from pure wheat but from a mixture of wheat- 

 barley or wheat-gram, the two grains being ground in the mixed form a 

 habit that has led to cultivation of the mixed crops already alluded to and 

 also to the sale of the mixed grains, a condition by some persons incorrectly 

 regarded as deliberate adulteration. In the larger towns of India, bread 

 and biscuits, prepared from flour leavened and baked in the European 

 fashion, have come greatly into use and seem destined to even more general 

 consumption. But the fermenting of wheat flour in the manufacture of 

 bread seems to have been unknown prior to the advent of the Europeans. 

 The uses of wheat in the arts and medicine need hardly be detailed. 

 Wheat starch is, as a rule, too expensive for extended use in India. Like 

 that of rice, the gluten mixed with fine lime is employed as a special cement. 

 For microscopical results consult Hanuasek (Micro. Tech. Prod. 

 (Winton and Barber, transl), 1907, 37, 334-49). 



Adulteration of Indian Wheat. The opening of the Suez Canal 

 brought India into direct touch with Europe and demonstrated the pos- 

 sibility of Indian wheat and other foodstuffs being conveyed to Europe 

 in thirty days. Prior to 1870, no mention occurs of India's participation 

 in the world's supply of wheat. And when it did appear in the corn 

 markets of Europe, it was viewed by many as introducing an undesirable 

 disturbing element which it became necessary to ward off rather than to 

 encourage. The delusion that rice was the staple food of India, and, there- 

 fore, her chief agricultural (food) crop, seems never to have been more 

 rudely dispelled than by the emphatically demonstrated fact that India 

 not only grew wheat, but was prepared to contest certain markets and to 

 land special wheats at a price lower than they could be produced elsewhere. 

 This was first met by the outcry that, for greed, the better classes of the 

 community were exporting the surplus stocks that formerly were stored 

 against times of scarcity and famine. When this failed, the tendency to 

 uncleanly wheat, instead of being removed by emulation, was stereotyped 



1088 



Mixtures. 



Bread and 

 Biscuits. 



Starch. 

 Cement. 



Adultera- 

 tion. 



Disturbing 

 Element. 



India 



Contesting 



European 



Markets. . 



