Baltimore and flour 1831 ... and garlick flour

The port of Baltimore handled about 600,000 barrels of flour and 70,000 bushels of wheat mostly shipped to England - more than any US port except NYC.  Ellicott's mills supplied flour to Baltimore.  Wild garlic was probably a problem in the wheat from Howard County.  Oliver Evans' book (who visited Ellicotts mills, book was co-written by a brother of the Ellicott founders) contained an entire section on the wild garlic problem.

An early way to improve grinding at the mill was to "dress" the stones; "to grind garlicky wheat, they must be cracked roughly all over the face; and dressed more open about the eye, that they may-not break the grains of garlic too suddenly, but gradually, giving the glutinous substance of the garlic more time to incorporate itself with the meal, that it may not adhere to the stone. The rougher the face, the longer will the stones grind, because the longer will the garlic be in filling all the edges."

Photo montage of dressing the two mill stones at a mill HERE

1831 a traveler's writing
"More flour is annually inspected at Baltimore, than at any other port in the United States excepting New York. The amount for the year 1830, was 597,804 barrels; but by the returns made since the first of January, 1831, it is supposed that the quantity in this year will exceed 600,000 barrels. The wheat that is shipped, is sent almost exclusively to England; but it bears a very small proportion to the flour, although it sells better in the English market—about 70,000 bushels of wheat were shipped this year for England.

The quantity in general is good, excepting that a portion of it is sometimes tainted with garlick; a nuisance that is almost unavoidable, because the plant grows spontaneously in the wheat districts. It is said to have been first introduced by the Hessians, during the revolutionary war, and it has since increased so much, that it cannot be got rid of. The wheat exported from Baltimore is grown in the State of Maryland, and in many parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Money had been plentiful for the last two years, and investments that would produce five per cent, were not easily to be met with. A market over-stocked with imports from Europe and India, was the assignable cause: trade was comparatively less brisk, and many capitalists withdrew their funds from active business, for the purpose of investment in the stock of bank, insurance, and rail-road companies. A great quantity of money was likewise lying in the market in consequence of the national debt being in a course of reduction by the payment of government loans. However, when I was there, money was more scarce, and worth more than six per cent.; the exchange on England had risen as high as eleven per cent., and a large quantity of specie had been exported to that country."

Vigne, Godfrey.  Six Months in America [1831].  Phila: 1833

1826  Oliver Evans   The Young Mill-Wright and Miller's Guide

"OF GARLIC, WITH DIRECTIONS FOR GRINDING WHEAT MIXED THEREWITH; AND FOR DRESSING THE STONES. SUITABLE THERETO.

IN many parts of America there is a species of onion called garlic, that grows spontaneously with the wheat. It bears a head resembling a seed onion, which contains a number of "rains about the size of a grain of wheat, but somewhat lighter.*    

It is of a glutinous texture, and very soon adheres to the stone (in grinding) in such a manner as apparently to blunt the edges, so that they will not grind to any degree of perfection. We are therefore obliged to take the runner up, and wash the glaze off with water, scrubbing the faces with stiff brushes, and drying up the water with cloths or sponges; this laborious operation must be repeated twice, or perhaps four times, in 24 hours; if there be about 40 grains of garlic in a handful of Wheat.

To put the stones in the best order to grind garlicky wheat, they must be cracked roughly all over the face; and dressed more open about the eye, that they may - not break the grains of garlic too suddenly, but gradually, giving the glutinous substance of the garlic more time to incorporate itself with the meal, that it may not adhere to the stone. The rougher the face, the longer will the stones grind, because the longer will the garlic be in filling all the edges.

The best method that I have yet discovered for manufacturing garlicky wheat, is as follows, viz.

First, clean it over several times, in order to take out all the garlic that can be got out by the machinery, (which is easily done if you have a wheat elevator well fixed, as directed in art. 94, plate IX.) then chop or half grind it, which will break the garlic, (it being softer than the wheat) the moisture will so diffuse itself through the chopped wheat, that it will not injure the stones so much, in the second grinding. By this means a considerable quantity can be ground, without taking up the stones. The chopping may be done at the rate of 15 or 20 bushels in an hour; and with but little trouble or loss of time; provided there be a meal-elevator that will hoist it up to the meal-loft, from whence it may descend to the hopper by spouts, to be ground a second time, when it will grind faster than if it had not been chopped. Great care should be taken, that it be not chopped so fine that it will not feed by the knocking of the shoe; (which would make it very troublesome) as likewise, that it be not too coarse, lest the garlic be not sufficiently broken. If the chopped grain could lay a considerable time, that the garlic might dry, it would grind much better.

But although every precaution be taken, if there be much garlic in the wheat, the bran will not be well cleaned; besides, there will be much coarse meal made; such as middlings, and stuff, which will require to be ground over again, in order to make the most profit of the grain: this I shall treat of in the next chapter.

* The complete separation of this garlic from the wheat, is so difficult, that it has hitherto baffled all our art. Those grains that are larger, and those that are smaller than the grain can be separated by screens; and those that are much lighter, may be blown out by fans; but those that are of the same size, and nearly of the same weight, can not be separated without putting the wheat in water, where the wheat will sink, and the garlic swim. But this method is too tedious for the miller to practise, except it be once a year, to clean up the headings, rather than lose the wheat that is mixed with the garlic, which can not be otherwise sufficiently separated: Great care should be taken by the farmers to prevent this troublesome thing from getting root in their farms, which, if it does, it will be almost impossible ever to root it out again; because it propagates by both seed and root, and is very hardy."

Evans, Oliver.  The Young Mill-Wright and Miller's Guide ... Fifth Edition. With Additions.  Phila: 1826

©2019 Patricia Bixler Reber
Forgotten history of Ellicott City & Howard County MD