94 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Appendix 



In connection with the suggestion that it would be to the financial 

 advantage of farmers to have their grain cleaned at time of threshing 

 and use the screenings on their own farms the following statement by 

 Robert B. Sangster, agent for the Duke of Sutherland's Canadian 

 Lands is interesting: 



"Brooks, Alta., Feb. 1, 1916. 

 "The loss of feeding material and the loss on freight of same due to shipping 

 out uncleaned grain had appeared to me capable of being eliminated either by 

 cleaning the grain as it was threshed, or by getting it cleaned as it was passed through 

 the local elevator on to rail. After some discussion, the local elevator company 

 agreed to install a cleaner, and deliver back the screenings at a charge oi 1% cents 

 per bushel, but they expected that, even after their cleaning, the Government 

 Inspector would still put on a small percentage of dockage. Their proposed charge 

 of 1^ cents per bushel seemed too large, as I believed the cleaning could be done 

 cheaper on the farm. I was assured by more than one that cleaning direct from the 

 Separator had never been done in Alberta, and was impracticable. 



"However, in 1913, our average dockage on grain shipped out was about IH 

 per cent, when there was not a weed on the place, and I figured that, with an 80,000 

 bushel crop, IH per cent of broken and small grains would go a good way in paying 

 for a first-class cleaning outfit to work in conjunction with the Separator in the field. 

 I, therefore, bought a Monitor Grain Cleaner with all the latest improvements, 

 viz: — double blower, double opposed screens, with automatic brushes for keeping 

 both screens clean, and self-oiling bearings, and capable of handling up to 400 bushels 

 per hour of wheat, at a cost here of $378. The power required for driving this was 

 2}4 H.P., but I got a 5 H.P. engine suitable also for other work, and mounted both 

 it and the Cleaner on an extra strong wagon gear, with a 15-ft. ordinary separator 

 grain elevator attached to the cleaner spout. The cleaner and engine were covered 

 as in a van, and the cost of the outfit was: 



Cleaner $378 



Engine 200 



Elevator 110 



Wagon Gear 125 



For labour of assembling and boarding in the apparatus 100 



Total $913 



"In operation the cleaner was drawn up so that the Separator spout sent the 

 grain directly into the Cleaner hopper. Then, the elevator attached to the cleaner 

 delivered the cleaned grain into the wagon, or into the field bins, as required. There 

 was no trouble when shifting the separator, as the cleaner was attached by a chain 

 to, and trailed by the separator. An ordinary box wagon stood beside the cleaner, 

 the light and broken grain from which fell by gravity into this wagon. The latter 

 was emptied midday and evening, so that there was no hindrance to the other work. 

 In the Cleaner, the weed seeds were arranged to be taken out by the lower screen, 

 and to fall into a large receptacle underneath the screen and attached to the framing 

 supporting the cleaner and engine. Originally this lower screen was a perforated 

 sheet of zinc, adapted for dealing with mustard seed, and measuring some 5 ft. in 

 length, in halves of 23^ ft. each. I, however, got one of these halves changed to a 



