114 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



quantities used in each case were 280 pounds of flour, 30 pounds of liquid potato 

 ferment, one pound of French yeast, and 3£ pounds of salt. The table is as follows : 







a 

 o 

 A 



Percentages. 



Color, taste, and texture. 



Wheat. 



co 

 ? 



if bread 

 cold. 



tage of 

 to flour. 



tage of 

 to llour. 



o 



•n 

 +-> 

 g 



nteiior. 





«5 



Mi 





6 



'd 



rcen 

 read 



rcen 

 ater 





lor, i 



*vor 



3 



M 



nera 















o 

 O 



m 



© 



O 





Pounds. 



Pounds. 

















• 



141. 4 



364.0 



130.0 



50.5 



10 



11 



7 



8 



11 





149. 6 



367.5 



131.2 



53.4 



13 



13 



9 



9 



12 





141. C 



372.0 



133.0 



50.6 



8 



10 



7 



9 



10 





148. 



362.0 



129.3 



52.3 



12 



13 



9 



10 



11 





141. 



370. 5 



132.4 



50.8 



6 



7 



7 



10 



7 





149. 6 



365.0 



130.3 



53.4 



10 



9 



9 



10 



9 





145. 2 



376.6 



134.5 



51.8 



5 



7 



7 



10 



6 





147. 4 



365.0 



130.3 



52.2 



9 



9 



8 



10 



8 





130. 



352.0 



125.7 



46.4 



13 



12 



13 



10 



10 



Australian 



134.2 



355.4 



126.9 



48.0 



12 



12 



12 



10 



11 





132. 



349.0 



124.6 



47.1 



12 



12 



12 



9 



10 



California 



136.8 



364.0 



130.0 



48.9 



12 



12 



12 



9 



10 



American : 























130.0 



346.0 



123.5 



46.4 



13 



12 



12 



10 



11 





130.0 



354.0 



126.4 



46.4 



8 



10 



10 



12 



9 



Russian: 























130.0 



356.0 



127.1 



46.4 



8 



9 



9 



13 



9 





145.4 



354.5 



126.6 



51.9 



10 



11 



9 



12 



9 



Egyptian : 



Buhi 



136.8 



362.0 



129.3 



48.9 



7 



6 



6 



7 



5 





144.4 



558.0 



127. 7 



51.6 



6 



4 



4 



6 



4 



"Whether the Indian wheats were average samples of the product of that country, 

 or a little better through the unconscious partiality of the secretary, may be ques- 

 tionable. They make a good showing for quantity of product, but the quality of the 

 soft wheats is quite inferior to that of samples from this country. In the United 

 States California appears to take the lead in quantity of bread, while the spring 

 wheats of the Northwest not only surpass other American samples in quality, but are 

 unequaled in that respect by any wheats included in this experiment, the Russian 

 only excepted, which excel in gluten. 



The following statement relative to the effect of dryness of the grain upon the yield 

 of bread is extracted from this report : 



" It is generally believed that upon the percentage of gluten in flour depends the 

 yield of bread that may be obtained from it, as illustrated by the Hungarian flours, 

 which are almost unequaled for yield of bread, and rank high in gluten ; but this 

 is erroneous, as proved by the experimental workings now under review. It would 

 be found that the flours high in gluten do not produce the most bread, unless, at the 

 same time, they possess a high degree of dryness, for it is upon the dryness of the flour 

 that the yield of bread mainly depends, and not upon the gluten. The two lots of 

 flour from Russian wheats (Nos. 11 and 12) are those which are highest in gluten, yet 

 they do not yield as much bread as any of the four Indian wheats (Nos. 1 to 4), and 

 the difference in yield from the latter would have been still further increased had 

 they not been previously mellowed with water, as noted, before milling; confirming 

 that it is the dryness of a flour that determines the yield of .bread." 



There being considerable doubt as to whether the samples of Amer- 

 ican wheats in the preceding experiments were representative, a series 

 of baking experiments with flours of various grades from different 

 parts of this country have been carried on in our laboratory with the 

 results which are presented. 



The McDougall Brothers found, and it has been confirmed by us, 

 that upon the dryness of a flour, or upon the amount of water which it 

 is possible to add to the dough, depends chiefly the amount of bread 

 which it will yield. Unfortunately no determination of the amount of 

 moisture in the flours used was made in the English tests. 



In our experiments, using the same flour under various conditions, it 

 was found possible to vary the yield of bread per 100 pounds of flour as 



