those which preceded it; but the results obtained are a marked advance over
the 'new process.' The percentage of high-grade flour is increased, several
grades of different degrees of excellence being produced, and the yield
is also greater from a given quantity of wheat. The system consists in
reducing the wheat to flour, not at one operation, as in the old system,
nor in two grindings, as in the 'new process,' but in several successive
reductions, four, five, or six, as the case may be. The wheat is first
passed through a pair of corrugated chilled iron rollers, which merely
split it open along the crease of the berry, liberating the dirt which lies
in the crease so that it can be removed by bolting. A very small percentage
of low-grade flour is also made in this reduction. After passing through
what is technically called a 'scalping reel' to remove the dirt and flour,
the broken wheat is passed through a second set of corrugated rollers, by
which it is further broken up, and then passes through a second separating
reel, which removes the flour and middlings. This operation is repeated
successively until the flour portion of the berry is entirely removed from
the bran, the necessary separation being made after each reduction. The
middlings from the several reductions are passed through the purifiers,
and, after being purified, are reduced to flour by successive reductions
on smooth iron or porcelain rollers. In some cases, as stated above, iron
disks and concave mills are substituted for the roller mill, but the
operation is substantially the same. One of the principal objects sought to
be attained by this high-grinding system is to avoid all abrasion of the
bran, another is to take out the dirt in the crease of the berry at the
beginning of the process, and still another to thoroughly free the bran
from flour, so as to obtain as large a yield as possible. Incidental to the
improved methods of milling, as now practiced in this country, is a marked
improvement in the cleaning of the grain and preparing it for flouring. The
earliest grain-cleaning machine was the 'smutter,' the office of which was
to break the smut balls, and scour the outside of the bran to remove any