24 
Colorado Experiment Station 
DIFFERENCES PERSIST IN PROPERTIES OF FLOURS 
Thfc object in view in this part of onr study has been to show by 
results obtained experimentally that the differences observed in the 
composition of the wheats grown with the different fertilizers per¬ 
sist in the properties of the corresponding flours. These may seem 
to be self evident facts. I was inclined to consider them such to so 
great an extent that I seriously considered the omission of all milling 
and baking experiments in connection with this work, but I was ad¬ 
vised that it would be better to present these features in detail and 
not to assume a complete parallelism between the composition of the 
wheat and flour and a perfect correspondence between the composition 
and the baking qualities of the flours. 
There were two considerations which inclined me to act on this 
advice in addition to my confidence in the advice itself. These were: 
First, that I am persuaded that there are other factors than the com¬ 
position of a flour entering into its properties. Second, because no 
study of Colorado flours has been made previous to this time. What¬ 
ever the millers may know has not been made public. This feature is, 
it is true, only incidental to my main purpose but it seemed that it 
would be better to present it in connection with our work than to 
make it the object of a special investigation. This reason appealed 
more forcefully when we considered that, aside from the study of 
the definite question proposed, this station has no definite policy which 
would call for an extended study of the cereals. The principal reason 
for any hesitancy has been in the question in regard to the extent of 
the experiments, i.e., whether it represents a sufficient number of 
samples from the different sections of the State and has been ex¬ 
tended over a sufficient lenght of time. 
It would undoubtedly have been better from this standpoint if the 
number of general samples had been increased. On the other hana, 
the data presented in other portions of this account of our work show 
clearly that labor spent on a general sample when we know nothing 
of the conditions under which it has been produced is largely in vain 
because this knowledge is absolutely necessarv to a correct interpreta¬ 
tion of the results obtained, and it is very probable that the data ob¬ 
tained by the study of our own samples are of more value than those 
which we might have obtained from the study of any number of gen¬ 
eral samples collected over a period twice as long as we have continued 
this study. 
Another question arises in this connection, i.e.. Should not a 
greater number of varieties have been studied in considerable detail 
before the data presented and the inferences drawn from them should 
be accepted as of general applicability? The answer to this is that 
