Flotow, Fried Rich

VON, BARON, an eminent German operatic composer, was born at Teutendorf, in Mecklenburg, April 12, 1872. Seeking Paris at the age of 16, he engaged in study under Reicha, and while quite young entered the field as composer, producing operas which were at first refused by the managers of the Paris theaters, he first winning a hearing in 1839 by his La Naufrage de la Méduse, which achieved great succe . It was followed by Str a dell a in 1844, and the highly popular Martha in 1847. In 1856 he was appointed superintendent of the theater at Schewerin, which position he resigned in 1863, returning to Paris. In 1864 he was elected a corresponding member of the of grinding and separating, as well as from the different varieties of wheat used. As intimated above, until very recently stones were universally employed in crushing the grain, and are still found in small establishments. The ordinary buhr-stones are a little over 4 ft. in diameter and one foot in thickne , the surface being grooved; the grooves of the upper exactly corresponding with those of the lower, so that when the upper is rotated over the lower-which is fixed-the sharp edges of the grooves meet and the grain is cut, squeezed and powdered. Formerly the product of this grinding was at once separated by bolting into flour, middlings and bran. But some time in the early part of this century what was called high-milling began to be practiced in Germany and Hungary, which was then the center of the flour manufacture of the world. This consists in putting the ground product through a proce of several reductions and separations, avoiding the rasping of the bran-particles of which, mingled with the flour, gives it a dark color-and at the same time securing a larger proportion of fine white flour from the middlings. About 1840, at Budapest, Count Szechenyi invented the roller-mill, which was destined to revolutionize the busine of flour-making. For some time it was kept a secret, but when once introduced to public notice, about 1879, it came rapidly into favor and has in large establishments already banished the use of stones. The rollers of this modern mill are made, some of por celain, some of steel, but mostly of chilled iron; and are smooth or corrugated according to the use required of each kind. There are commonly two pairs to each machine, fed from opposite sides of the same double hopper. The wheat as it comes to the mill often has foreign substances mixed with it, as well as impurities on the surface of the grains, both of which must be gotten rid of; and therefore it is first subjected to a proce of cleaning. This is commonly done by pa ing it through a cylindrical sieve of wire cloth, having internal partitions, and mounted in a sloping position; when this is set in motion, the grain tumbles from one division to another, losing through the meshes particles of sand or small seeds, and is exposed to a blast of air from a fan for removing dust and all light substances. It is then subjected to some kind of a scouring proce , either by a decorticator for removing a portion of the outer covering, or by a brush machine, which scrubs and polishes the surface, when it is ready to be ground. Here it should be noted that a berry of wheat consists of an outer layer of epidermal cells, then two or three layers of cells enclosing a layer of larger cells containing the gluten or nitrogenous matter-the most nutritive por tion of the wheat-within which is the perisperm or albumen, constituting the great ma of the berry, composed of numerous cells filled with grains of starch, and having at its lower end the minute embryo or germ of the plant which the seed is designed to produce. It is the object of the miller to grind all these inner portions of the grain in such a manner as not to break the minute granules, and to separate from them all the integumentary and flinty particles and produce a pure white powder, or one only slightly shaded or tinged with yellow, containing all the nutritive and none of the indigestible substance of the wheat. To effect this it is first slightly broken between a pair of corrugated rollers one of which revolves at a speed about three times as great as that of the other and the product is conveyed to a bolter, or dre er, for removing a portion of the flour mixed with small wheat or middlings. This proce is repeated several times until as much as po ible of the flour has been disengaged from the bran, which is removed, and the flour and middlings are sifted to separate the flour, which is then ready for use. The middlings, or granules, are then pa ed to a "purifier," a reciprocating sieve with an air current, which removes the undesirable particles, and the purified granules are then crushed through a series of smooth rollers (one revolving about twice as fast as the other) and succe ively sifted, the resulting product being a fine-sometimes called "patent"-flour, and a portion of screenings. The bolters, or dre ers, are cylinders of considerable length and usually about three feet in diameter, mounted horizontally on spindles for revolving, and covered with silk of different degrees of finene . Brushes on the outside, either fixed or rotating, prevent the silk from being clogged, and in some there are frames that revolve inside to throw the material against the circumference. The flour and other products are conveyed through spouts to the packing room and emptied into barrels or bags as desired. A large part of