states]
AGRICULTURE
machines. The threshing season is thus a time of great pressure and of extensively active work. The wheat straw is worse than a waste product—it is a great nuisance upon the bonanza farm. A little of it is used for fuel for the engines and for bedding the stock; but the bulk of it is dragged away from the threshing machine by machinery, and left lying in great heaps until an opportunity is afforded for burning it up. This is usually done immediately before the ploughing in the autumn. The grain falls from the spout of the thresher into the box wagon, which carries it to the elevator. The elevator is placed at the railway station, and is usually owned by the bonanza farmer. From the time the sheaves of wheat are tumbled into the wagon until the flour reaches the hands of the cook, no hand touches the wheat that passes returns. through the great Minneapolis mills. When the box-wagons reach the elevator the loosing of a bolt dumps the grain into the bin, where it remains until the pulling of a lever lets it into the cars. Every pound of it is weighed and accounted for, and entered upon the books, so as to show the exact product of each division of the farm. After the rush of the threshing is over the farmer studies these books carefully to see what his land is doing, and makes his plans for the next year, so as to rest or strengthen those divisions which are failing. It costs about $1.50 an acre to thresh the grain and put it into the elevator. This sum, added to the estimated cost of the other processes mentioned above, makes the total cost of growing an acre of grain about $3.80. This includes the cost of labour, seed, and wear and tear of machinery, but does not include the interest on land or plant. The taxes on land will average 25 cents an acre. The farmers estimate that the other improvements, the water-works, elevators, insurance, horse feed, &c., will make this up to $6 an acre. The best of these farms will yield 20 bushels to the acre. This makes the wheat cost 30 cents a bushel. During the last five years the average farm-selling price of wheat in the North-West has been 58 cents. An acre thus produces $11.60, making a gross profit of $5.60. Still to be jjrovided for is the interest on the operating expenses for eighteen months, which will, at 8 per cent., be 48 cents per acre. Interest on the capital in land, improvements, and machinery, at $30 per acre, make $1.80 more, or a total interest charge of $2.28. When this is deducted from the gross profits of $5.60 prices found above, we have a net profit of $3.32 an acre, not an exorbitant one by any means. This is about 8 per cent, on the capital invested in the land, plant, and operating expenses. But we have described the conditions on one of the best bonanza farms. The average yield per acre in this region is not over 18 bushels, and the average expenses would be higher than those given. Every bonanza farmer’s office is connected by wire with the markets at Minneapolis, Chicago, and Buffalo. QuotaMarketing ^ons arr^ve hourly in the selling season, and the superintendent keeps in close touch with his agents in the wheat-pits of these and other cities. When the instrument tells him of a good price, his agent is instructed to sell immediately. The farmer on the upper waters of the Bed River of the North is kept fully informed as to the drought in India, the hot winds in the Argentine, and the floods of the Danube. Any occurrences in these distant parts of the world are known to him in a surprisingly short time. The world’s great wheat fields almost lie within his sight, so well does he know the conditions that prevail in them. Ten days are allowed for delivery, so that he can usually ship the wheat after it is sold. In the early days of wheat-farming the bonanza farmer often speculated, but experience has taught him that he had
217 better leave this to the men in the cities, and content himself with the profit from the business under his eye. The great elevator centres are in Duluth, and Minneapolis, Chicago, and Buffalo. These elevators have a storage capacity of from 100,000 to 2,500,000 bushels. The new ones are built of steel, operated by steam or electricity, protected from fire by pneumatic water-pipes, and have complete machinery for drying and scouring the wheat whenever it is necessary. The elevators are provided with long spouts containing movable buckets, which can be lowered into the hold of a grain-laden vessel. The wheat is shovelled into the pathway of the huge steam shovels, which draw it up to the ends of these spouts, where the buckets seize it, and carry it upwards into the elevator, and distribute it among the various bins according to grade. A cargo of 200,000 bushels can thus be unloaded in two hours, while spouts on the other side of the elevator reload it into cars, five to ten at a time, filling a car in from five to ten minutes, or the largest canal boat in an hour. The entire work of unloading, storing, and reloading adds only one cent to the price of a bushel of wheat. The great wheat-growing States like Minnesota have established systems of inspecting and grading wheat under State supervision. In Minnesota the system is carried out by the Railway and Warehouse Com- Inspecting mission, which fixes and defines the different grading grades of wheat and directs the work. At present there are 18 grades recognized in this State. The' first is described as “No. 1, hard spring wheat, sound, bright, and well cleaned, composed mainly of hard ‘ ScotchFife,’ weighing not less than 58 lb to the measured bushel.” The second grade is known as “No. 1, northern spring wheat, sound, and well cleaned, composed of the hard and soft varieties of spring wheat.” So the varieties run— “No. 2, northern”; “No. 3, northern,” &c.—down to the 18th, which is “no grade.” The official inspectors examine, grade, and sample the wheat in the cars in which it is received at the great markets or elevators. The cars are sealed at the point of original shipment. The first thing, therefore, is to examine the seals to see that they are unbroken. The inspector then samples and examines the wheat, and enters the grade upon a blank opposite the number and letters of the car. His tag and sample go to the wheat exchange or chamber of commerce, where they are exposed in small tin pans, and form the basis of the trading. A few years ago the wheat received from the North-West was very clean indeed, but since the new land has all been cultivated the fields are growing more weedy, with the result that the wheat brought in is becoming mixed with oats and seeds of weeds, requiring more careful separating and inspection. After the inspector has finished his work the cars are resealed with the State seal, and await the orders of the purchaser. The delay will not ordinarily be more than one day. The Commission keeps complete records and samples of each car until the wheat has passed entirely out of the market. When disputes occur as to the grade they can thus be instantly settled. If the grade is changed after a second examination the State pays the expense of the inspection; if not, it is paid by the agent who raises the objection. Only about 5 per cent, of the samples are ever reinspected, and in less than 2 per cent, of these is the grade changed. The Commission collects the small fee of 20 cents a car for its services as inspector, and later weighs all the wheat as it is distributed into the elevators. This small charge pays all the expenses. The transportation of the wheat from the fields of the North-West to the seaport is a business of tremendous magnitude. Most of this wheat goes by way of the lakes through the Sault de Sainte Marie canal to Buffalo, where S. I. — 28
