Probably the most striking difference in the average mineral composition of the grain of wheat is the very much lower proportion of phosphoric acid, and of magnesia also, in the dry substance of the best matured grain; and it is now known that these characteristics point to a less proportion of bran to flour, or, in other words, of a greater accumulation of starch in the process of ripening, and consequently of a whiter and better quality of bakers’ flour.  The study of the chemical composition of wheat and its products in the mill, therefore, and of the amount of fertilizing matters (nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash) removed from the soil by the crop, becomes of direct interest not only to the producer from whose soil these ingredients are removed, but to the consumer of the byproducts as well, who desires to know what proportion of these elements of fertility he is returning to his own soil in the different products he may use as animal food.  It is desirable also to determine what is the average composition of wheats and the flour made from them, in order to see in what direction efforts should be turned, by the selection of seed wheats, to improve the present varieties for the production of the best quality of flour.  This can only be done after we determine what variation there is for different years due to climatic influences and variations of soil, for it has been shown in our former papers that environment very largely influences the quality of wheat grain, and also of the flour.  When these have been determined, than we may hope to be able to determine which factors under our control enter in to permanently improve the better flour-producing quality of wheats.

A mixture, in equal proportions, was made of Clawson, Mediterranean, and early amber wheats, and submitted to the mill, using the Hungarian roller process.  From this mixture for each one bushel of the grain of 60 lb. weight was furnished the following proportion of products: 

Lb. per
Bushel.       Per cent. 
Flour.                          44           73.3
Middlings.                       4            6.7
Shipstuff.                       2            3.3
Bran.                           10           16.7
--          -----
Total.                      60          100.0

These data furnish us a means of estimating the amount of the different ingredients removed in the various products in one bushel of wheat with the foregoing component parts.

FLOUR.

The analysis of the flour shows us that the 44 lb. obtained from the one bushel of grain would contain the following ingredients: 

Lb. per Bushel
of Wheat. 
Water.                                   5.834
Ash.                                     0.167
Albuminoids.                             4.620
Woody fiber.                             0.532
Carbo-hydrates (starchy matters).       33.391
Fat.                                     0.453

WHEAT MIDDLINGS.