ENTIRE WHEAT FLOUR. 

 Chas. D. Woods and L. H. Merrill. 



Of all the food products which a beneficent nature has placed 

 at man's disposal, wheat easily ranks first. It is true that rice 

 forms the staple food for a larger proportion of the human race, 

 yet it needs no argument to prove the superiority of wheat over 

 this cereal. This superiority is due not only to the intrinsic food 

 value of the wheat kernel, but also to the vast number and varie- 

 ty of products which can be derived from it. The requirements 

 of our modern civilization, and the introduction of the methods 

 and machinery that have made the fulfilment of these require- 

 ments possible, have led to a close study of the structure of the 

 wheat kernel. No other- seed has received a tithe of the atten- 

 tion bestowed upon this, and the introduction at this place of all 

 that botanists are able to tell us of this wonderfully complex 

 little seed would be of little service to the general reader. At 

 the same time, some knowledge of the anatomy of the wheat 

 kernel is so essential to a clear understanding of the facts to be 

 presented in the following pages that a brief space is devoted to 

 the subject. As this bulletin is designed for non-scientific read- 

 ers, the use of technical terms is avoided as far as possible. 



It does not require a very close inspection of the kernel to dis- 

 cover that it consists of three distinct parts: I. The essential 

 part of the seed which, when the seed is planted and grows, de- 

 velops into the new plant. This is known as the embryo, or 

 germ, or chit. 2. A much larger portion, making up the great- 

 er part of the grain, which is designed by nature to serve as food 

 for the young plant during germination, or the earlier stages of 

 growth ; precisely as a piece of seed potato serves as food for the 

 young potato plant, or as material stored in the egg furnishes 

 nutriment for the developing chick. This part of the wheat 

 kernel is known to botanists as the endosperm, and is the only 

 part which enters into our fine white flours. 3. The coverings 

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