28 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



practically the same as that of air-dried wheat. Likewise the clean, 

 dried wheat can be mixed with any garlic-free lot of wet wheat and the 

 grade of the latter improved in this way. For this reason, only the 

 difference between the water content of the wet garlicky wheat and 

 that of Xo. 2 Ked, which averages about 13 per cent during the first 

 few months after harvesting, should be considered as actual loss in 

 weight due to drying. On this basis the loss due to the removal of 

 water was 3.55 per cent for Lot A, 2.08 per cent for Lot B. and 3.20 

 per cent for Lot C. 



The cost of operating the machinery. — The cost of the actual drying 

 and cleaning alone is very small. With the low pressure boilers avail- 

 able for use with the small grain drier in the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 the maximum temperature possible is only 158° F. At this tempera- 

 ture it is necessary to continue the drying for from two and one-half to 

 three hours in order that the weight of the garlic may be sufficiently 

 reduced so that it can be removed. With the high pressure boilers such 

 as are found in most grain elevators and flour mills an air temperature 

 of 170° to 180° F. can be readily maintained, at which temperature the 

 time factor can be greatly reduced. By careful calculation it is be- 

 lieved that the actual cost of operating the machinery for the drying 

 and cleaning should not exceed one-half cent per bushel. 



This factor, however, will vary with the capacity of the drier and 

 the number and size of the other kinds of machinery being operated 

 simultaneously by the same boilers. 



THE XET COST OF REMOVING GARLIC. 



To ascertain the net cost of removing garlic bulblets from wheat in 

 order to bring it up to '^contract " grade, only the following items need 

 be taken into consideration : (1) The cost of operating the machinery; 

 (2) the loss in weight due to the quantity of garlic actualh" removed, 

 and (3) the difference in the amount of water normally contained in 

 good air-dried wheat , which is not far from 13 per cent, and the amount 

 of water in the garlick}^ wheat before it goes into the drier. On this 

 basis the cost of drying and cleaning the garlicky wheat discussed in 

 the foregoing pages was 6.3 per cent, 3.2 per cent, and 5.7 per cent, or 

 an equivalent of 5^ cents, 2f cents, and 4f cents per bushel for lots 

 A, B, and C, respectively, as governed by the prices current at that 

 time. 



THE EFFECT OF THE DRYING ON THE MILLING QUALITIES OF 



THE GRAIN. 



No flour was made from any of the wheat after drying and cleaning; 

 but the consensus of opinion of the majority of the millers to whom 

 samples of the dried wheat were submitted was that the milling quali- 

 ties of the w^heat had not been injured by the drying. Such wheat, 



100— III 



