Prices of different Wheats. 
227 
consequence, during the past year no more than twelve million 
cwt. of foreign meal and flour have been imported from all 
sources. This means that over five million extra cwt. of 
bran, pollard, and middlings have been put upon the market, 
and sold to farmers at a fair price. These five million cwt. 
should have displaced their equivalent in foreign feeding 
cakes, &c. 
Unfortunately it cannot be denied that there is a want of 
proper understanding between farmers and millers on the 
wheat question. Hitherto the former have had a single eye to 
yield of grain and straw, nor can they be blamed. What, 
however, is not so satisfactory is that as a rule the coarsest 
wheat has the best straw yield ; but at the same time that 
wheat only fetches a very poor price and the farmer thinks he 
has cause for grumbling. The miller has, however, to study 
his whole blend when buying. 
English wheat, whether red or white, is always a soft and 
weak wheat. There are degrees in respect of these points 
varying with the sort grown, and it is desirable that the 
farmer should pay attention to this matter and accustom him- 
self to differentiate between the characteristics of the varieties 
of wheat grown. Taking the whole world, there is not enough 
strong wheat grown ; hence the superior price paid for it. On 
the other hand, it is being demonstrated that it is possible for 
the strong sorts to be grown in this country, a fact of which 
full advantage ought to be taken. 
British farmers do not even grow the best coloury sorts 
of wheat, which they might easily do, and thus gain the 
higher values which are always to be obtained for them. I 
advocate, however, nothing less than the growth of the very 
highest class of grain that will materially help in the raising 
of the loaf. For every hundred sacks of wheat used nearly 
forty must contain the nitrogenous property called gluten, and 
we do not at present grow a single sack of it in the British 
Isles ; in fact Canada is the only country in the British 
Empire that is at present capable of supplying it, and that 
not in sufficient quantity. 
Coloury sorts are grown practically everywhere except 
in England, and this of course keeps the price of English 
wheat lower than it ought to be or would be if the case 
were otherwise. At the time of writing English wheat of 
the best quality is 32s. per quarter, delivered in London or 
London district ; whereas Australian, superior colour, is 34s. ; 
Indian, rather whiter and a better water absorber, is 33s. 
Argentina is of about the same quality as ours, and the 
price is ruled accordingly ; this applies also to the New 
Zealand varieties. No. 1, Northern Manitoba, is about 36s. 
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