SCREENINGS. 
63 
No. 5, composed of bodies larger than the corn-grains, is some¬ 
times known under the name of “ rubble,” and consists of dirt and 
rubbish of all kinds that chance may have brought together. In the 
mass before me are bits of straw, and of ear of Wheat, grains still in the 
chaff, seeds like misshapen peas, a large proportion of stones and hard 
bits of dirt, also some amount of such matters as sticks, string, 
potsherds, leaves, &c. 
From the Islewortli Mills (Messrs. Samuel Kidd and Co., Limited, 
Isleworth, near London), I have been permitted occasionally to have 
samples of the screenings from imported com, and information on the 
subject, both whilst resident in the neighbourhood and since I removed 
to St. Albans, and have recently been favoured by the following letter 
from Mr. Perry, director of the mills :— 
“We are in receipt of your favour, and so far as possible we reply 
to your queries. 
“ The practice of sending foreign Wheat mixed with rubbish has 
certainly increased of late years, and we find it particularly so in that 
coming from Australia, East Indies, and Russia. It would be a great 
advantage to millers to have the Wheat shipped clean, or free from 
admixture of foreign substances other than Wheat. 
“We could not give a reliable estimate of the quantity removed in 
cleaning per ton. It varies considerably, according to the country 
from whence it came, and the particular shipments received. The 
value of the rubbish removed is nil. The value of screenings, which 
includes small defective corn unfit for flour, cockle, seed, &c., is about 
£3 10s. to T4 per ton. 
“It is not in the power of the importers, unless by combination 
together, to insist on getting Wheat shipped free of impurities, and it 
is a well-known practice on the part of foreign shippers to add in 
mixture of Rye with Russian Wheat, and with Indian Wheat to mix 
seeds and dirt. We should be desirous to procure our Wheat clean, as 
it would save us from loss and expense in cleaning; we have in this 
process to use expensive and powerful machinery.” 
One set of samples of refuse (removed from Wheat imported from 
various countries and mixed at the mills), with which I was obliged in 
1886, were of four kinds. One known as “ rubble,” of much the same 
nature as No. 5, above mentioned, consisted of bodies larger than the 
Wheat-grains, as lumps of earth, Maize, Beans, &c.; first and second 
screenings composed of broken corn, bits of straw, chaff, &c., and 
other bodies smaller or of less diameter than the Wheat-grains ; and 
(fourthly), black dust, which consisted almost wholly of mere dust 
driven by a blast from the grain in process of cleaning, and which, 
until the Thames regulations prevented, was formerly got rid of by being 
floated away down the river. 
