Chapter I: Preface

I have ventured to write this little book with some diffidence, for it deals with farming, milling and baking, subjects on which everyone has his own opinion. In the earlier chapters I have tried to give a brief sketch of the growing and marketing of wheat. If I have succeeded, the reader will realise that the farmer’s share in the production of the staple food of the people is by no means the simple affair it appears to be. The various operations of farming are so closely interdependent that even the most complex book-keeping may fail to disentangle the accounts so as to decide with certainty whether or not any innovation is profitable. The farmer, especially the small farmer, spends his days in the open air, and does not feel inclined to indulge in analytical book-keeping in the evening. Consequently, the onus of demonstrating the economy of suggested innovations in practice lies with those who make the suggestions. This is one of the many difficulties which confronts everyone who sets out to improve agriculture.

In the third and fourth chapters I have discussed the quality of wheat. I have tried to describe the investigations which are in progress with the object of improving wheat from the point of view of both the farmer and the miller, and to give some account of the success with which they have been attended. Incidentally I have pointed out the difficulties which pursue any investigation which involves the cultivation on the large scale of such a crop as wheat, and the consequent need of adopting due precautions to ensure accuracy before making recommendations to the farmer. Advice based on insufficient evidence is more than likely to be misleading. Every piece of misleading advice is a definite handicap to the progress of agricultural science.

The fifth chapter is devoted to a short outline of the milling industry. In chapter VI the process of baking is described. In the last two chapters the composition of bread is discussed at some length. I have tried to state definitely and without bias which points in this much debated subject are known with some certainty, and which points require further investigation.

Throughout the following pages, but especially in chapters III and IV, I have drawn freely upon the work of my colleagues. I am also much indebted to my friends, Mr A. E. Humphries, the chairman of the Home Grown Wheat Committee, and Mr E. S. Beaven of Warminster, whose advice has always been at my disposal. A list of publications on the various branches of the subject will be found at the end of the volume.

T. B. W.

GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE,
CAMBRIDGE.
_3 December, 1912._

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

Preface v

I. Wheat-growing 1

II. Marketing 15

III. The quality of wheat 27

IV. The quality of wheat from the miller’s point of view 51

V. The milling of wheat 74

VI. Baking 91

VII. The composition of bread 108

VIII. Concerning different kinds of bread 120

Bibliography 136

Index 139

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG. PAGE

1. Typical ears of wheat 30

2. Bird-proof enclosure for variety testing 34

3. A wheat flower to illustrate the method of cross-fertilising 41

4. Parental types and first and second generation 43

5. Parent varieties in bird-proof enclosure 48

6. Testing new varieties in the field 50

7. Loaves made from Manitoba wheat 54

8. Loaves made from English wheat 54

9. Loaves made from Rivet wheat 55

10. Loaves made from Manitoba wheat, English wheat, and
Manitoba-English hybrid, Burgoyne’s Fife 59

11. Gluten in water and acid 69

12. Gluten in water containing both acid and salts 71

13. End view of break rolls 81

14. Break rolls showing gearing 82

15. Reduction rolls 87

16. Baking test: loaves rising in incubator 92

17. Baking test: loaves leaving the oven 93

THE STORY OF A LOAF OF BREAD