Here, too, the lowest grade is shown to yield about
one-quarter more than the highest. The larger percentage of phosphorus
in the lower grades is suggested by the analyst to indicate their
greater food value in this respect. So it would, were we in the habit of
boiling our wheat and heating it whole, or of using "whole wheat meal."
But, fortunately or unfortunately, the bread reformers have not yet
succeeded in inoculating any considerable portion of the community with
their doctrines, and hence the actual food value of any sample of wheat
must be ascertained, not directly from the composition of the wheat, but
from the composition of the flour made therefrom. Now, as already
stated, phosphorus, like the other mineral components, is found almost
entirely in the bran. Its presence in greater quantity, therefore,
simply adds to the testimony that a larger proportion of the low grade
wheat must be rejected than of the higher grade. It should be evident to
the complaining farmers that the millers were in the right of the
question, on this occasion at least.
It is expected that further analysis will be made, this time of the
flour made from the different grades of wheat. If these investigations
be properly conducted, we have no doubt that they will simply confirm
the evidence of the wheat tests. A chemical analysis alone, however,
will not be sufficient.
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