REPORT OF TEE DIRECTOR 19 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



Portions of the crop of 1904 were damaged by rust. Some of this when threshed 

 was of so little value and weight that it corcfpared only with elevator cleanings; such 

 grain is graded as ' screenings.' 



Any wheat that is injured by smut is classed as * No. 1 rejected.' If very smutty, 

 ns * No. 2 rejected.' 



Where wheat contains a large proportion of weed seeds such as wild oats, the seeds 

 of rag-weed, &c., it is classed as ' rejected,' without using any number. 



Such low grades of wheat as cannot be used profitably for flour are ground and 

 sold as feed for stock. Wheat rejected on account of smut or weeds is usually sent to 

 Fort William to an elevator provided with special cleaning apparatus, and after it is 

 cleaned and dried it may be given a grade, and can then be raarketed in the Tisual way. 



VISIT TO THE INSPECTOR S OFFICE AND RAILWAY YARDS. 



Being desirous of seeing the actual working of the methods adopted for the in- 

 spection and grading of wheat, I called on Mr. David Horn, Chief Inspector at Winni- 

 peg, on the morning of September 23, 1905, who showed me much courtesy. I was 

 first taken through his own office where the work of inspection and grading was in 

 progress. Then provided with a note to one of his deputies, I visited the railway yard 

 where some 200 cars of wheat which had just arrived were being inspected and graded. 



As the train comes into the yard the conductor goes to the railway office with his 

 bills to report his train. The inspector makes a list of the grain cars on these bills 

 from which he learns where each car is from, where it is going, the name of the 

 shipper and of the party to whom it is consigned. With this information he goes with 

 his men at once to the train. The inspector has usually three men with him. 



One man opens the doors of each car and closes them again after the inspection 

 is over. When the doors are opened the other two men enter the car. A car laden with 

 wheat is usually filled to a depth of about 5 feet. This leaves room between the wheat 

 and the roof of the car for these men to work. One man carries with him a cotton 

 sheet about a yard long and three-quarters of a yard wide, which he spreads on top of 

 the wheat. The other carries what is known as a ' stabber,' a cylindrical brass in- 

 strument, reminding one of a large syringe. This is about 6 feet long and 2^ inches 

 in diameter and pointed at the lower end. The instrument is hollow and consists of 

 an interior and exterior tube which by a turn of the handle at the end can be made to 

 slide one on the other. Each tube has openings at intervals, about 5 inches long and 

 an inch wide which are alike in each tube. By turning the outer tube these openings 

 are closed. The stabber is then thrust through the grain in a somewhat slanting direc- 

 tion until the pointed end reaches the floor, then, with a turn of the handle the openings 

 in the tube are brought opposite each other, when the grain immediately flows into and 

 fills the instrument. By reversing the handle the holes are closed so that the grain 

 cannot fall out, and when the ' stabber ' is brought up it brings with it a complete 

 section of the wheat which that part of the car contains. The grain is let out of the 

 instrument at the top and placed on the sheet in the form of an irregular band from 

 4 to 6 inches wide, 2^ feet long, and about half an inch deep, showing the character of 

 the wheat from the top to the bottom of the car. This is done from seven to ten or 

 twelve times in different parts of the car, and spread each time on the sheet as de- 

 scribed. When the car has been ' stabbed ' a sufficient number of times and the grain 

 j'roperly spread on the sheet, the inspector has before him a complete display of the 

 character and quality of the contents of the car from the bottom to the top. He then 

 examines this and writes on a card the number of the car, the date of inspection, and 

 his opinion of the grade. He also puts about two pounds of the mixed grain on the 

 sheet into a cotton bag which closes by a draw-string, the card is placed inside the bag 

 and the bag hung on a point of the car outside, to be taken from thence to the in- 

 spector's office. 



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