HARVESTING WHEAT 



III 



A country elevator. 



moth are likely to be serious pests, windows should be covered 

 with screens, doors made tight, and every precaution taken to 

 keep them from gaining entrance to the granar}'. 



Aside from the losses occasioned by insects and vermin, the 

 loss of weight through storage is a negligible quantity. 



169. Elevators. — The eleva- 

 tor is an American institution 

 which has immensely facilitated 

 the handling of wheat and other 

 grains, due to the fact that 

 "threshed grain can, in large 

 measure, be handled like water." 

 Wheat may be run directly from 

 the threshing machine into tight wagon boxes holding fifty to 

 100 bushels and hauled directly to the elevator, where it is 

 automatically dumped and elevated by power machiner}', so that 

 a pound of grain need not be lifted by hand after it starts into 

 the threshing machine. Or it may be temporarily stored in 

 tw^o-bushel bags and subsequently drawn to the elevator. 



The elevator company will receive, insure and store wheat 

 for fifteen days at a fixed charge, and store indefinitely there- 

 after for a fixed charge, depending upon 

 the length of storage. It will also clean 

 the wheat if desired. The owner receives a 

 certificate of the amount of wheat stored, 

 which he can sell whenever he desires to 

 do so. 



Country elevators are usually built of 



wood and have a capacit}' of 20,000 to 



40,000 bushels ; while elevators at terminal 



points have been built which hold 3,000,- 



000 bushels and are now being made of steel, concrete, or 



tile, thus saving largely in insurance. On the Pacific Coast, 



the wheat is still handled in sacks as in other countries. 



Terminal elevator. 



