WHEAT AND MILLING.

Shannon News, 21 December 1926, Page 3

WHEAT AND MILLING.

ADDRESS BY MR J. IRELAND.—, THE MAKING OF FLOUR. (From the Levin Chronicle).. Members of the Levin Chamber of Commerce Lunch Club had the pleasure on Friday of hearing an address on “Wheat and Milling,” by Mr J. Ireland, of Palmerston; North. Mr C. S. Keedwell said it was gratifying to find that the interest of members was being maintained in the luncheon functions. He apologised for the absence of Messrs Matheson, Hammonds, Walkley, Hudson. Donovan, and Goldsmith. He then introduced the speaker. Peculiarities of Wheat. Mr Miller said that wheat had been found with the Egyptian mummies, and it was reported that it could be traced back ten to' fifteen thousand years. It had been bred from .1 wild wheat with a very small grain and a long beard to it, the food valWof which kind was practically ,nil. it "'was from this, however, that there had been developed the wheat of to-day. All wheats were'not suitable to the climatic conditions of different countries, and it was only after years of testing that the right kind was discovered. The varieties were almost innumerable. There was one peculiar point aßcut. wheat, and that was that it would’ net hybridise readily. One variety would i|pt naturally cross with another; this had to be done by hand To give an idea of how true to type wheat was, Mr Ireland stated that if 1000 varieties were-'put in side by side and only a few inches apart, 999 identical Varieties would be produced. He did not think that this could be said of any other kind of seed. Probably the best wheat in the- world came from Canada, and this was partly dub to th 1 variety grown there. was a very strong wheat, and it suited the climatic conditions of Canada —a very cold winter and a very hot summer, it was sown so as to grow to a height of two or three inches in the autumn; then the snew came and covered it to a depth Of. six inches for a few months. After the melting of the snow, the wheat would shoot ahead, and he did not think there was any wheat so hard as the Canadian. %/ Recent Developments. , From some pdutiies there came wheat ton ta ming impurities. , Argentine was noted for t’le \veec(s>,in its wheat, amounting to 33 1-3 per cent. In India the wheat was veiy dirty; and practically all Indian wheat had to be washed before it could be - used for milling purposes. In Canada just recently the .value of laud had gone up to such an extent that it was unprofitable to grow wheat in the southern part, and the wheat belt had been shifted further niorth. 111 consequence, the growers 1 had to cultivate a new wheat, which was Vailed “ Ninety Days”—that being the time it was m the ground from sowing- to harvest. This wheat was going to be a very big thing for Canada. In England’ they had been testing wheats to get one that would be stronger and give a bigger yield. After years cf experimenting they had developed a kind that would give 80 instead of 30 or 40 grains t.o the ear, and which was the strongest wheat ever grown in England. In Canada, after culling out for* the first few years, they had produced from one ear of Marquis in 10 years 270 million bushels of wheat.

Milling Processes. . In describing the qualities of wheat for flour-milling, Mr Ireland stated the grain was provided with outer skins and the flour was contained in little cells within the skins. The germ was at the end of the wheat. The strength of the wheat was.in the gluten contained light in the centre of the grain. It 'was not the “practice in the mills to take one variety cf wheat and put it through the rollers; a number of varieties were used, and it was found that the more varieties used in milling the surer the inillei was of maintaining a regular quality in the flour. If only one variety, was used, an unfavourable sqason might be encountered anil there would be a poor result in the mill. Explaining the processes of milling, Mr Ireland stated.that there was almost as much maehineiy used to clean the wheat as to grind it. . The grain was first passed over a screen tc remove rubbish, after which a heavy blast of air took away the chaff. Then the wheat passed over the scourer, in which there were steel beaters and an emerj suiface to take off the outer skin. It next passed to a machine which brushed it and took off any loose particles of dust. An electrical plate, or magnet removed any iron particles, after which the wheat was ready for the first roll. The, grinding was not all done in cue operation, and it was not done severely. In the first roll the wheat was merely cracked, so, that the bran might be_ retained in as large flakes as possible and not reduced to the fineness of flour. The grain next went to a machine called a plan sifter, composed of a number of sieves iu a box. There it received 52 separate dressings. Mr’ Ireland described the operations resulting in the removal of bran and semolina and the purification of the flour. Some of the wheat, particularly grown m Australia, was so hard that as soon as H went into the rollers it broke to pieces. To prevent this it had to bo damped. The -wheat grown ,in Neu Zealand was very soft and would not absorb moisture, the skin being vei ♦ oueh The climatic conditions from, year to year had an important bearing on the milling. In a hot, dry summer the grain would yield 72 per cent, flom and 28 per cent, bran and pollaid. In a. wet year the wheat had a v ciytougi skin and would only give 68 r 69 pe i cent of flour. Unless the miller could get something over 70 per cent, of flour to-day, lie could not mill m competition with others at ,a profit. In extending an invitation to the members of the Chamber to visit the mill in Palmerston, Mr Ireland mentioned that it was the fourth biggest mill in New Zealand. A hearty vote of thanks to Mr Ireland for his interesting address was passed on the motion of Mr T. F. Gibsor (president of the Chamber), seconded by Mr B. Magee. Before the gathering dispersed, Mr

Gibson wished all present a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. '