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skinned wheat; the reason of which is obvious, 
from the larger quantity of gluten and nutritive 
matter it contains. I have made an analysis of 
only one specimen of thin-skinned wheat, so that 
other specimens may possibly contain more nu- 
tritive matter than that in the table ; the Barbary 
and Sicilian wheats, before referred to, were thick- 
skinned wheats. In England, the difficulty of 
grinding thin-skinned wheat is an objection ; but 
this difficulty is easily overcome by moistening 
the corn.* 
* For the following note on this subject I am indebted to the 
kindness of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. K. B. 
Information received from John Jeffrey, Esq . His Majesty's 
Consul-General at Lisbon , in Answer to Queries trans- 
mitted to him , from the Comm, of P. C. for Trade , dated 
Jan . 12. 1812. 
To grind hard corn with the mill-stones used in England, 
the wheat must be well screened, then sprinkled with water at 
the miller’s discretion, and laid in heaps and frequently turned 
and thoroughly mixed, which will soften the husk, so as to make 
it separate from the flour in grinding, and of course give the 
flour a brighter colour ; otherwise the flinty quality of the 
wheat, and the thinness of the skin, will prevent its separation, 
and will render the flour unfit for making into bread. 
I am informed by a miller of considerable experience, and 
who works his mills entirely with the stones from England or 
Ireland, that he frequently prepares the hard Barbary corn by 
immersing it in water in close wicker baskets, and spreading it 
thinly on a floor to dry ; much depends on the judgment and 
skill of the miller in preparing the corn for the mill according 
to its relative quality. I beg to observe, that it is not from this 
previous process of wetting the corn that the weight in the 
flour of hard corn is encreased ; but from its natural quality 
it imbibes considerably more water in making it into breado 
