790 DISCUSSION ON WHEAT: 
1. That while, as already noted, the percentages of gliadin and dry 
gluten increase and decrease with that of the protein, the ratio between 
these determinations is neither constant nor definite.’ 
2. That there is a well-marked relationship between the ‘baking 
strength’* of a flour and its percentages of protein, gliadin, and dry 
gluten. The data from both series of flours clearly indicate this relation- 
ship, though it was not always possible to establish a definite ratio between 
the chemical and baking results.* 
3. That, while the protein content is undoubtedly the best single measure 
of strength when judging normally ripened wheats of the same variety, the 
character of the gluten must be especially taken into consideration when 
discriminating between wheats of different varieties. In flours of high 
bread-making values the gluten is resilient, elastic, firm and cohesive; in 
poor flours it may be flabby, non-resilient, soft, or sticky. 
4. That the view held by many chemists that the gliadin ratio or 
‘number’ is of importance as an index of strength received no confirmation 
from the analysis of Canadian flours. The generally accepted statement 
that from 55 to 65 per cent. of the protein should exist in the form of 
gliadin is undoubtedly incorrect; the larger number of the strongest flours 
examined possessed a gliadin number below fifty. The gliadin number, 
though holding with the other nitrogenous data in parts of the series, is 
on the whole erratic, and apparently of very little value for diagnostic 
purposes. The percentage of gliadin is, according to our evidence, decidedly 
more valuable.* 
5. That we failed to obtain any evidence confirmatory of the view held 
by Mr. Wood: that the amount of nitrogen and ash free extract controlled 
the volume of loaf. If the size of the loaf is determined by the volume 
of gas evolved in the bread-making process, then this volume is dependent 
on the enzymic action (which may affect the protein as well as the carbo- 
hydrates) rather than on the amount of sugar present in the flour.” We 
have not observed any relationship between the percentages of sugar, as 
actually determined, and the volume of loaf. 
6. That, while certain of our data seemed to indicate an agreement 
between the ratio to total nitrogen of soluble salts and shape of loaf—as 
held by Professor Wood-—-they did not permit of any direct correlation.® 
The Effect of Dampness on the Quality of Wheat. 
It sometimes happens in the wheat fields of North-Western Canada 
that, owing to inclement weather following the cutting of the grain, wheat 
becomes damp while in the stook, and may remain so for some weeks before 
it is threshed. As such wheat is accounted of a lower commercial grade 
by reason of the duller and paler appearance of the grain, because also of 
the common impression that the moisture in the grain has injuriously 
affected the gluten and thus impaired the resultant flour for bread-making 
* Quality in Wheat, Bulletin No. 57, Exp. Farm Series, pp. 44, 49. Report 
of the Chemist, Exp. Farms, 1908-09, p. 146. 
2In determining the ‘baking strength’ of a flour, values have been assigned 
to water added, water retained, volume, shape and texture of loaf and form 
of crust (Bulletin No. 57, Exp. Farm Series, p. 18). 
* Bulletin No. 57, pp. 41, 45, 50. Report of the Chemist, Exp. Farm Series, 
1998-09, p. 146. 
* Quality in Wheat, Bulletin No. 57, pp. 41, 42. Report of the Chemist, 
Exp. Farms, 1908-09, p. 146. 
® Quality in Wheat, Bulletin No. 57, pp. 43, 47, 48. 
*The Grades of Wheat, Bulletin 60, p. 19. Report of the Chemist, Exp. 
Farms, 1908-09, p. 147. 
