State Convention—What Wheat to Raise. 341 
grade for this kind of wheat, to be known as ‘Extra No. 1.’ The 
variety of wheat known as ‘ hard wheat ’ in this market, is the best 
adapted for making flour by the new process. 
“ Our inspection-rules state that,‘No. 1, hard spring wheat, shall 
be composed mostly of hard Fife or Black-Sea wheat, which must 
be sound, well-cleaned, and weigh not less than fifty-eight pounds 
to the measured bushel.’ ” 
It will be noticed that the varieties of wheat which are mentioned 
as coming under the rule for “No. 1, hard,” are the Fife and the 
Black Sea. Of the latter variety I have seen none in several years. 
Those who have raised it speak of it as a soft-strawed variety which 
is liable to fall down. It has not been very extensively culti¬ 
vated of late years. It might prove a desirable variety in some lo¬ 
calities, if the seed could be procured. The Fife wheat is a well- 
known variety which has been very reputable in years past, and 
still remains so. It is emphatically the wheat of Minnesota. It 
has been a profitable variety with Wisconsin farmers in the past, 
and has given way of late more because of the general mismanage¬ 
ment of our wheat-growing, than through any failure in itself. We 
have sought, by changing seed and hunting for new varieties, to 
remedy evils which lie too deep to be cured by such means. It has 
been mixed largely with softer-strawed varieties, in order to assist 
them in standing up, so that it is now difficult to find it in a desira¬ 
ble degree of purity. 
The question naturally arises, why is this flour superior to that 
made from soft or amber-colored wheat? As nearly as I can find 
out, it is because it contains a greater percentage of gluten. Gluten 
is that portion of the wheat which children call gum, when they 
have chewed it until the starch and bran have been separated from 
it. It is a plastic mass, insoluble in water, forming a hard, flinty 
substance when thoroughly dried, and it is this same hardness 
which gives character to the grade of “No. 1, hard wheat.” This 
gluten contains nitrogen and is in its composition nearly the same 
as the muscles of animals. It is the active, fermenting principle 
in making bread. Its abundance makes what is called a strong 
flour. In the baker’s hands it is made to carry more water and so 
makes a greater quantity of bread of standard weight, and then, 
again, it is more nutritious and makes better food for the human 
family. 
