[HAMES] AN HISTORICAL WAR CROP 101 
I have stated that the computed yield of 28-98 bushels to the 
acre is not an over-estimate. Yields of 45, 50, 60, and even more 
bushels to the acre were so commonly reported that one is apt to con- 
clude that the West must have produced a crop well in advance of 30 
bushels. However, it must be remembered that high yields are apt 
to be well advertised and low yields are ignored. 
The next point, and it is one of very great importance, is that the 
quality was high. The crop of 1915 graded away above the crop 
of 1914. The best proof of this is in the statement of inspection at 
Winnipeg, kindly furnished by the Dominion Grain Commissioners 
for the purpose of this article. The full statement showing shipments 
up to January 31st, 1916, will be found appended to this paper. From 
this, which shows the elaborate and thorough inspection carried on by 
the Grain Commission, we make the following deductions: 
No. 1 Hard and No. 1 Northern formed 54 per cent of the 1915 
crop, and only 19 per cent of the 1914 crop. 
Over 90,000,000 bushels of grades No. 1 Hard and Nos. 1, 2, and 
3 Northern of the 1915 crop more than of the crop of 1914 were shipped 
east up to January 31st. 
Winter wheat (Alberta Red), which forms only a very small por- 
tion of the western wheat crop, graded low in 1915. 
The total grain hauled in 1915-16 was over three times that of 
1914-15, clearly showing extraordinary preparation and efficiency on 
the part of the Canadian railways. One can readily understand why 
piles of grain were still to be found along some branch lines when 
winter set in. 
Canada had produced a crop at least 100,000,000 bushels in excess 
of the expectations of the Departments of Agriculture, of the transpor- 
tation companies, and of the farmers themselves; the United States 
had produced a crop of 1,011,000,000 bushels, 120,000,000 bushels 
in excess of the previous year, and 248,000,000 in excess of the crop of 
1913; and the world’s crop ‘was about 4,000,000,000 bushels, or 
900,000,000 in excess of 1914. The question at once arose in the minds 
of many, and publicity was given to it—Has Canada overdone it? 
Can it be marketed at a profit? The answer has already been given. 
As fast as farmers could deliver it, and the railroads, with their in- 
creased equipment, could handle it, the crop was going forward at a 
rate never known before; and the market prices, while, naturally, 
not as highas in the first war year, were from 15 to 20 cents a bushel 
in advance of the years 1910 to 1913. How can this be explained in 
view of the fact that ocean rates had increased from 6-3, 6-9, and 7:6 
cents per bushel in the three fall months of 1914 to 24-3, 28-9, and 
