The History of Bread From Pre-historic to Modern Times

we have already seen the rough methods used by primitive man and others to effect this; we have noted the

otted all over the country, by the side of brook or river, with their water-wheels either over or undershot Very picturesque are they mostly, and the drowsy murmur of the wheel and the gentle splashing of the w

as to when they were introduced into Europe; we only know they were in use in the twelfth century. As a rule, in England, windmills have four arms, or 'whips,' but sometimes they104 have six. These arms are generally covered with strong canvas, but occasionally they are covered with thin

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windmill is calle

y to meet it, by means of a long lever. The smock, or frock, windmill is an improvement upon the post mill; the building

o the meanest capacity, are vastly superior. The shutters, or 'vanes,' are connected with spiral springs, which keep them up to the best angle of 'weather, for light winds. If the strength of the wind increases, the vanes give to

rinding, although their days are in all probability numbered, and in a very little time they, with the windmill, will be relegate

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Surface of

hoop, and backed with plaster of Paris. The bed-stone is dressed to a perfectly flat plane surface, and a series of grooves, or shallow depressions, are cut in it, generally in the manner shown, which represents the grinding surface of an upper or running stone. The grooves on both are made to correspond exactly, so that when the one is rotated over the other the sharp edges of the grooves,108 meeting each other, operate like a rough pair of scissors, and thus the effect of the stones on grain submitted to their action is at once that of cutting, squeezing, and crushing. The dressing and groo

tationary, a circular brush revolved, by which the meal was pressed against the wire cloth, and, at the same time, carried gradually towards the lower extremity, sifting out, as it proceeded, the mill products into different grades of fineness, and finally delivering the coarse bran at the extremity of the109 cylinder. For the operation of bolting or dressing, hexagonal or octagonal cylinders, about three feet in diameter, and from 20 to 25 feet long, are now commonly employed. These are mounted horizontally on a

flour in the old-fashioned way; now let us not

which it is turned into flour may be divided into three stages: (1) cleaning, (2) breaking, (3) grinding; but the number and complexity of the operations included in these stages are

it drops into the next storey, to be subjected to the "aspirator," an apparatus by means of which currents of air are blown through the grain as it falls and carry off the lighter and more volatile rubbish mixed with it. In the next floor is an ingenious instrument with a special purpose. Among the wheat is still a quantity of small black seeds, known as "cockle" seeds, and to get rid of these the "cockle cylinder" is employed. It is a revolving metal cylinder, the inner surface of which is fitted with small holes; the grain passes into the interior of the cylinder, and as the latter goes round and round the cockle seeds stick in the small holes

arries the bruising a step further. But this is only half the business. After each set of rollers the grain goes through a "purifier," which is either a sieve of some kind or an aspirator, or both together, and the object is always the same-namely, to separate the solid particles of the broken wheat from the lighter ones. The former are, or rather will eventually be, flour; the latter constitute "offal." And the whole art of milling is merely an extension of this process; first reduction, then separation, repeated over and over again. As the grain passes through each successive set of rollers it is broken up finer and ever finer, and the separating action of the "purifier" accompanies it step by step. The solid particles grow smaller and smaller, the112 "offal" correspondingly finer and finer. Th

the particles of flour fall into a wooden bin. On the floor of the bin is a "worm" which continually works the flour along to one end; on the under surface of the sieve is a travelling brush which brushes off the adhering flour and prevents the meshes from getting clogged. Above the sieve is an apparatus which, with the aid of currents blown by an aspirator, catches the volati

and strength. The former is tested by the eye, the latter only really by baking capacity. There seems to be a general consensus of opinion in favour of flour made from Hungarian wheat. The best English is of sweeter flavour, but lacks "strength." It has been reckoned that 300 sacks