NOTES ON FLOUR-STRENGTH. 175 



On reducing these several products separately to flour, 

 and dressing through a No. 14 silk, the following results 

 were obtained : — 



Water absorption, ni , 

 quarts per 200 lbs. ^ lure11 - 



Portion A (passed through No. 5) reduced 51*7 11*63 



and dressed through No. 14. 

 Portion B (passed through No. 7) reduced 52*0 11*48 



and dressed through No. 14. 

 Portion C (passed through No. 9) reduced 55*0 11*77 



and dressed through No. 14. 



In this case the peculiarity noticed in the previous 

 experiment is even more strikingly exemplified. If the 

 water absorbing powers of the different grades of semolina 

 are alone considered, it would appear that fineness of 

 division is the determining factor, but on reducing these 

 different grades to flour of a uniform grade the rather 

 curious fact is to be noted that although further reduction 

 in the size of the particles increases the water absorbing 

 power, the flour derived from the finer and more absorptive 

 grades of middlings is more water-absorptive than that 

 obtained from the coarser grades. 



In the case of the soft wheat this is not very striking, 

 but in the case of the Fife wheat the gradation is quite 

 strongly marked. The cause of this is so far unexplained. 



2. The effect of blending different wheats on the water 

 absorbing power of the resulting flour.— Two wheat mix- 

 tures were taken, one a mixture of the following soft 

 wheats, Hudson's Early Purple Straw, Steinwedel and 

 Federation, the other a strong-flour wheat mixture of 

 Manitoba, Bobs and Comeback. These wheats when 

 reduced had the following water absorbing powers and 

 gluten contents. 



Water absorption, m 1 ,-t- OT1 

 quarts per 200 lbs. « mTen - 



Sample A (soft grain) 45*0 8*2 



Sample B (hard grain) 50*8 13*8 



