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The Cambridge Manuals of Science andLiterature
THE STORY OF A LOAF OF BREAD
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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
London: FETTER LANE, E.C.
C. F. CLAY, Manager
Edinburgh: 100, PRINCES STREET
London: H. K. LEWIS, 136, GOWER STREET, W.C.
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Leipzig: F. A. BROCKHAUS
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Bombay and Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd.
All rights reserved
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THE STORY OFA LOAF OF BREAD
BY
T. B. WOOD, M.A.
Drapers Professor of Agriculture
in the University of Cambridge
Cambridge:
at the University Press
New York:
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
1913
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Cambridge:
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
With the exception of the coat of armsat the foot, the design on the title page is areproduction of one used by the earliest knownCambridge printer, John Siberch, 1521v
PREFACE
I have ventured to write this little book with somediffidence, for it deals with farming, milling andbaking, subjects on which everyone has his ownopinion. In the earlier chapters I have tried to givea brief sketch of the growing and marketing of wheat.If I have succeeded, the reader will realise that thefarmer’s share in the production of the staple food ofthe people is by no means the simple affair it appearsto be. The various operations of farming are soclosely interdependent that even the most complexbook-keeping may fail to disentangle the accounts soas to decide with certainty whether or not any innovationis profitable. The farmer, especially the smallfarmer, spends his days in the open air, and does notfeel inclined to indulge in analytical book-keeping inthe evening. Consequently, the onus of demonstratingthe economy of suggested innovations in practicelies with those who make the suggestions. This isone of the many difficulties which confronts everyonewho sets out to improve agriculture.
In the third and fourth chapters I have discussedthe quality of wheat. I have tried to describe theinvestigations which are in progress with the objectof improving wheat from the point of view of boththe farmer and the miller, and to give some accountof the success with which they have been attended.Incidentally I have pointed out the difficulties whichvipursue any investigation which involves the cultivationon the large scale of such a crop as wheat, andthe consequent need of adopting due precautions t