HOME SCIENCE SCHOOL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3823, 21 June 1927, Page 16

HOME SCIENCE SCHOOL.

LECTURE ON CEREALS. Under the auspices of the Otago Home Economics Association, Mr_ Tennent, Government Instructor in Agriculture, at the Home Science School last night, gave a lecture on “Cereah: their sources and marketing.’' Mr Tennent dealt with the chief cereals in commercial use and with their applicability to the home. It was not generally realised that from a world-wide point of , view rice was the most important cereal I for humar. fooo, over 500,000,000 people using this grain in their daily food supply The production and utilisation of rice was fully gone into, and with the aid of lantern slides the effects of malnutrition from excessive use of polished rice were illustrated. From a European standpoint wheat was undoubtedly the most important cereal in consumption. The antiquity of wheat was undoubted, this cereal being cultivated throughout Europe in prehistoric times. It was also one of the most valuable cereals of ancient Persia, Greece, and Egypt Tn Russia and parts of Northern and Centra. Europa rye was the staple food, as it was until comparatively recent times in Great

Britain and Centra] Europe; but with improvements in the standard of living, wheat was substituted for. rye tn the ■ ■■ people, and its cultivation and consumption were being continually extendedcount of the peculiar physical and chemical qualities of the gluten of its grain, wit. at made a more palatable and better bread than any other cereal. Originating from two or three wild species, through hybridisation mutation, and the effects of selection and cultivation, the races of wheat had become as complex in constitution as the human race, and among the almost endless number of varieties and forms which existed, wheats were to be found suitable to the needs of agriculturalists in all parts of the world. The world’s average harvest of wheat at the present time reached f he enormous total of more than 3,500.000.000 of bushels, and efforts to increase it were continually being made. Its cultivation was being extended into new countries, and in districts where its growth was already established there was unceasing endeavour to increase the yield by improvement in the methods of cultivation, the application of fertilisers, the selection of new varieties better adapted to the climatic and soil conditions, and the use of superior seed. In 1916-17 New Zealand grew 217,000 acres of wheat and 177,000 acres of oats. In 1925-26 only 151.000 acres of wheat were grown. The total yield of wheat grown in New Zealand fell from 5.000,000 bushels in 1916 to 4,000,000 bushels in 1925. Primarily wheat was grown for the production of flour. It was not generally recognised by people that each wheat had its own definite grade of flour, and that a good commercial sample usually contained a blend of the flours of various wheats. Strong wheats contained a higher percentage of gluten than “weak” wheats, and the significance of these terms was fully described. The quality of wheat had to be viewed from the standpoint of the farmer and the miller. While the latter’s point of view was essentially more important, it did not always coincide with the former’s, hence allowances had to be made for this. From the farmer’s point of view a good wheat was one that would give him, year by year, a good monetary return per. acre. This obviously depended upon two factors—the yield per acre and the value per bushel. The miller had constantly to watch the quality of the flour - which he was marketing. _ His was not the straightforward task of simply milling each wheat as it arrived, but rather must , he consider the price which his flour would fetch in relation to the first cost of. the wheat and to the cost of manufacture. A flour was judged largely by its colour, strength, and weight per bushel of wheat. No one wheat satisfied all these requirements; moreover, reliable wheats might vary from season to season. The miller, therefore, by a . system .of blending mixed, say, a strong wheat with one of good colour,- and in this way endeavoured to maintain a sufficiently high standard wherein the best qualities of

each were effectively represented. Illustrations of loaves baked with different strengths of flour were shown, and an indication given of the complicated nature of modern baking. The cereal by-products were dealt with, including the manufacture of macaroni. Oats and rye were dealt with in rotation, and an interesting lecture ended with a plea’ for a fuller utilisation of New Zealand’s natural products, which were second to none. The lecture was fully illustrated with lantern slides.