to English wheat by five per cent.: hence it is said that the London flour is inferior to that of most large towns on the Continent.
“The best wheat is grown in Poland and Pome-rania, and is conveyed down by the rivers on large barges or rafts from the interior of the country. The grain is beautifully white, hard, and thin-skinned; and in consequence of its small quantity of bran, it yields a large proportion of excellent flour. French wheat is in general superior to that of England. The Italians have the superiority over the French in their wheat crops; and perhaps the best wheat of all is raised in Barbary and Egypt. The Sicilian is the finest in Europe. It is of two kinds; one is a long grain, much larger than English, and is generally boiled whole as a substitute for barley or rice; the other is an oval soft wheat, yielding a flour that is remarkably white, and employed only in making the best sort of bread, biscuits, and pastry: but, from government restrictions, very little is imported.”
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“In every climate where wheat can be cultivated it is raised in preference to all other kinds of corn. It contains the greatest quantity of starch, and likewise by far the most gluten; from which it derives the quality that fits it for bread above every other grain. The expense of its cultivation