THE OEIGIN OF RED BOBS 261 



able in Canada to produce wheats for export which are 

 as red as possible, and the grading regulations have been 

 framed in such a way as to discourage the raising of 

 white wheats. 



The color of the red and white wheats is due to the 

 color of the bran layer on the exterior of the kernels and 

 not to that of the flour-making mass which the bran layer 

 encloses. There is absolutely no correlation between the 

 color of the bran and the quality of the grain in respect to 

 bread-making. So-called white wheats have a pale yel- 

 lowish bran layer while red wheats have a darker reddish 

 bran layer. Now the bran layer upon a kernel is more 

 or less translucent, so that the appearance of a grain as 

 a whole is aifected by the whiteness or translucency of 

 the interior mass. If the kernel inside the bran layer is 

 horny and translucent, as it is when it contains much 

 gluten, the wheat appears to be relatively dark; but, if 

 the interior is starchy and white, i. e. soft, the wheat 

 has a paler appearance. Both white and red wheats may 

 have the hard homy or the soft starchy interior and thus 

 may appear darker or paler. The difference of shade de- 

 pending on the difference of the interior only, is signifi- 

 cant and important, because starchy wheats are of in- 

 ferior value for bread-making. In considering a red 

 and a white kind of wheat we may therefore have four 

 possible kinds of grains: 



(1) hard red grains which are the darkest of all, 



(2) soft red grains which are pale reddish because 



the interior is white and the whiteness is 

 seen through the translucent reddish bran 

 layer, 



(3) hard white grains, in reality a dark yellow, 



which have a horny interior like hard red 

 grains, 



