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15,500 barrels have been ground. The company is now expending $500,000 in enlarging the plant so that it will have a capacity of 17,000 barrels. The maximum milling capacity of the Minneapolis mills aggregates a total of 82,765 barrels daily, and this is to be increased to over 90,000 barrels before the close of 1907. The great progress of the industry is best understood when it is remembered that the first crude mill of the ancients could not produce over 3 bushels of partly ground meal in one day. Later, the Greeks ground from 5 to 10 bushels of meal per day.

The Flour Yield of Wheat.-Soft wheat weighing 64 pounds per bushel has been found to yield about 80 per cent of flour, while that weighing 54 pounds yields about 65 per cent. The heaviest hard wheat yields about 74 per cent of flour, while the lightest yields 67 per cent. McDougall found that India wheat yielded from 77 to 81 per cent of flour, English wheat 65 per cent and American wheat 72 per cent. The flour yield will, of course, vary from season to season, for it is dependent upon the quality of the wheat. In 1905, it required 4 5-6 bushels of wheat to make a barrel of flour in Minneapolis, while in previous years it required only 4 1-3 bushels. According to a miller in Kent, England, 4.2 bushels of wheat made a barrel of flour in 1876. Two centuries ago in New England, it required between 6 and 7 bushels. There has been a continual increase in the amount of the highest grade of flour obtained.

Toll. The first toll dish was the hand of the miller. In England in 1300, the toll was one-twentieth of the wheat ground. During the middle of the seventeenth century, the miller's toll in New England was one-sixteenth of the wheat ground. Of the thirteen original colonies, all but New York and Pennsylvania had laws for regulating tolls, which varied from onefourth to one-sixteenth. The amount of labor required to grind a barrel of flour at the close of the seventeenth century, if expended at the close of the nineteenth century, had a market value approximately equal to the cost of grinding a barrel of flour in the latter period. In 1891, the legal toll in Minnesota was one-eighth. Measured in wheat, this is twice the toll which the miller received in New England 200 years ago. In the cities and large towns, however, where wheat was exchanged for flour on a cash basis, the cost of a barrel of flour would

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THE NEW BUFFALO WASHBURN-CROSBY FLOUR MILL, DAILY CAPACITY 7500 BARRELS

purchase enough of No. 1 hard wheat to make 1.5 barreis of flour. In some places in Minnesota only one-eighth, the legal toll, was taken, and the amount taken varied from this to onethird at Minneapolis. It was stated that 700 years ago the English miller with his small toll made several times the profit that the Minneapolis mills made in 1891.

Geographical Location and Extent of Milling Industry.-The first development of the milling industry in the United States was in New York and in Pennsylvania. These states exported flour to the other colonies and to the West Indies. They long held first rank, and still mill large quantities of wheat, having held fifth and seventh places respectively among the flour producing states of our country in 1900. In the number of establishments and the amount of capital invested, they have always held first rank, at least until after the early nineties. Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Michigan later assumed importance as milling states. Thirty years ago, the flours most sought after in the home and foreign markets were those of St. Louis and the south. St. Louis was then much the largest flour-making center of the United States. The improvements in milling processes changed the whole situation; for the best flour was now made from spring wheat. In the great rush to obtain Minnesota flours, St. Louis and southern flours were for the time forgotten. The first Minnesota mill was erected in 1823. The development of the milling industry in Minneapolis was most remarkable and rapid, chiefly by reason of the cheap water power obtainable from the falls of the Mississippi river. Other factors were the nearness of the wheat fields and the subsequent improvements in the art of milling. Before 1860, the annual output of the Minneapolis mills was about 60,000 barrels. This increased to 98,000 barrels in 1865, 193,000 in 1870, 585,000 in 1873, and over 1,000,000 in 1876. A conflagration then impeded the industry by destroying many mills, and it was not until 1879 that the output again exceeded a million barrels. By the end of the century, the average annual output was approximately 15,000,000 barrels.

As the milling industry developed, it moved toward the wheat fields. From 1877 to 1888, the receipts of flour at Buffalo were 22 per cent of the receipts of both wheat and flour, while from 1889 to 1898 they were 42 per cent. As the freight rates per

hundred pounds were about the same for grain and flour, it was comparatively less expensive to ship flour than wheat, for an equal weight of flour had the greater value. This was true in both the domestic and foreign trade. On the other hand, it has been maintained that transportation companies can ship and handle wheat more easily and cheaply than flour, and that consequently there is a tendency for foreign countries to buy our wheat and manufacture it into flour themselves. Chicago annually grinds between four and five million bushels of wheat, which is about one-seventh of its total receipts.

The rank as to production of flour in 1900 of the twelve chief flour-producing states of the United States was, in decreasing order of importance: Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Kansas, Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky. In portions of the south, it is thought that wheat growing would become more profitable and would increase, if local flour mills were established. There are some roller mills in northwestern Georgia, and even in central Georgia, but an increase in milling capacity would increase the demand for wheat.

In the table below is shown the flour milling industry in the United States as given by the last census. The most rapid increase in the number of establishments was from 1860 to

1870.

From 1880 to 1890 there was a decrease in the number of establishments on account of combinations. From 1890 to 1900 there was again a remarkable increase. The annual milling capacity of the United States is over one billion barrels.

(All figures are in round millions, except the number of establishments,)

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Milling in Foreign Countries.--Excepting for the United States, Hungary leads the world in the manufacture of

flour. Budapest was the star milling city of the world until about 1890, when it was eclipsed by Minneapolis. The mills of Hungary have the best equipment obtainable, and the wheat is carefully graded for milling. Hungarian flour of the first qual ity commands a higher price in the English market than the best Minneapolis flour. Sometimes it sells as much as a dollar per barrel higher than any other flour. The reason for this lies not so much in a superior process of manufacture, as in the fact that this flour is the product of the very best wheat obtained by the close system of grading. American millers find it more profitable to make more flour of a slightly lower grade. It may be that the difference in price is also partly accounted for by English prejudice.

The first roller mills of Great Britain, dating from 1878, were said to be unsuccessful. It was not until the middle eighties that a respectable body of roller millers had sprung up. It is estimated that they numbered 400 to 500 in 1891. Two years later there were 664 complete roller plants, while at the present time 900 is the estimate. These mills have a daily capacity of about 247,000 barrels of flour, and a yearly capacity of 61,715,000 barrels. This is over ten million barrels more than is annually consumed in the Kingdom, and takes no account of the millstone flour production. In 1878 there were 10,000 millstone flour mills in Great Britain. Perhaps 6,000 or 7,000 of these still exist, but few of them grind wheat. There has been active competition between American and British milling interests for the milling of the Kingdom, with the advantage slightly on the British side on account of the freight discriminations between wheat and flour. The flour mills are now being built at the quayside instead of inland, as formerly. Liverpool is one of the largest milling centers of the world.

The modern roller system has been in operation in Russia nearly 30 years. The work of the mills along the Volga and in south Russia compares very favorably with that of mills in the United States or Hungary. Dampening the wheat is an important part of the milling process, for most of the grain is extremely dry, and their softer red wheats are fully as hard as our hard spring wheat from the Red river vally. The flour is of a golden color and highly nutritious. Their product seldom

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