WHEAT. Ill 



contains as it goes on the market cannot be stated, but 

 it has been shown to vary largely from day to day 

 with the varying conditions of the atmosphere. In 

 California, where the atmosphere inland is very dry 

 at harvest, this subject is a matter of considerable 

 commercial importance. It is claimed that the mois- 

 ture that this California wheat will absorb during a 

 voyage from San Francisco to Liverpool will some- 

 times increase its weight enough to pay the entire 

 cost of the freight. Wheat bought inland and kept 

 in warehouses all the season would increase in a sim- 

 ilar manner. 



Experiments by Hilgard and O'Neil, of the Univer- 

 sity of California, indicated that wheat of the inland 

 of (Jalifornia might increase twenty-five per cent in 

 weight by the absorption of water when transported 

 to a temperate climate, while a gain of five to fifteen 

 per cent might be looked for with absolute certainty. 

 A difference of nine per cent was observed in twenty- 

 four hours. Brewer found a difference of from five to 

 eight per cent between the water in wheat in a furnace 

 heated room in February and the moist air of New 

 Haven freely circulating in the same room in Septem- 

 ber. Richardson found that two days were sufficient 

 to equalize the moisture in samples of flcur which 

 varied from less than eight to over thirteen per cent 

 originally. Afterward the water in the samples 

 fluctuated with the humidity of the air. 



Wheat absorbs forty five per cent of its weight of 

 water in germinating. The lowest temperature at 

 which wheat will germinate is forty-one degrees; the 

 highest temperature one hundred and ten degrees; 

 and the best temperature for the germination of wheat 

 is about eighty-four de^ees Fahrenheit. 



