544 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXIII, No. 7 
Table XXIV. —Correlation between dry gluten content and water absorption in Ohio 
winter wheats of commercial varieties 
Table XXV .—Correlation coefficients for dry gluten content and water absorption 
Kind of wheat. 
Number of 
samples. 
Coefficient of cor¬ 
relation. 
Commercial varieties: 
North Dakota spring wheats. 
37 
63 
T 9 
0. 1406 ±0. 1087 
. 22iii . 0808 
Ohio winter wheats. 
Pure strains: 
Ohio winter wheats. 
-. 13191b . 1520 
The data in Tables XXIV and XXV do not bear out this expecta¬ 
tion, since they indicate hardly any significant correlation. An inter¬ 
pretation of these data would lead to the conclusion that flours with 
high gluten content behave indifferently in regard to water absorptive 
capacity. It is only fair, however, to note the small number of samples 
from which these correlation coefficients have been computed. Caution 
should be exercised in interpreting the value of the correlation coeffi¬ 
cients as indicated by the probable errors in cases where the number of 
samples is small. 
quality of gluten and loaf volume 
Practical experience in the bakehouse shows that strength in wheat 
flour is best reflected by the quality of its gluten. The measuring of 
the intensity of the association between these two characters can not be 
effected by computing the coefficient of correlation, since one of these 
variables, quality, can not be numerically defined but is only estimated 
in descriptive terms. Accordingly, as a measure of the degree of asso¬ 
ciation between gluten quality and loaf volume the correlation ratio. 
