2 BULLETIN 904, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
corn, has a tendency to become rancid when ailowed to remain in 
the corn product, especially in the presence of moisture. It became 
desirable therefore to remove the germ in order that these manu- 
factured products might retain their quality after leaving the mill, 
and this fact has led to the scientific development of the dry corn- 
milling process and the starch and glucose manufacturing processes. 
The practice of grinding the whole kernel into meal without 
previously removing the germ is confined largely to the South, and 
the product is sometimes referred to as ‘“‘water-ground”’ meal. There 
is considerable difference of opinion as to the relative nutritive value 
and flavor of the products from the whole and the degerminated corn, 
but if the products are to be shipped extensively the removal of the 
germ minimizes the loss from spoilage in transit and in storage. 
Fic. 1.—Corn huller or degerminator. This type of machineis quite generally usedin the dry 
degerminating process. 
The percentage of moisture present is of vital importance, and 
millers aim to reduce the moisture in their products to 12 per cent 
or less, in which ease it is claimed that under normal conditions little 
difficulty is likely to be experienced in keeping the products. Cereal 
products are liable, of course, to infestation with weevils, and it is 
not probable that the removal of the germ from the corn will lessen 
this trouble to any considerable extent. ; } 
METHODS OF DEGERMINATION USED. 
The methods of manufacturing cern products fall into two classes: 
The dry milling process, used for making hominy products, such as 
orits, flakes, meal, flour, and hominy feeds; and the wet process, 
used in the manufacture of starch, glucose, and related products. 
The methods of degerminating differ materially in these two processes, 
and they will therefore be considered separately. 
