WHEAT IN WESTERN CANADA 87 



pie. The car is then marked for inspection at Fort Wil- 

 liam or Port Arthur. The samples are then taken during 

 unloading as the grain is pouring out of the car into the 

 grain pit just prior to its passing into a terminal elevator,^ 



Ten gTaders usually work side by side at the long 

 window table in the grading room. Standard samples of 

 the six grades, No. 1 to ISTo. 6, are kept in boxes in front of 

 each grader, so that he may refer to them for compari- 

 son whenever he so desires. A handful of wheat from 

 the sample of each car inspected is put into a pail by each 

 grader, the grades being kept separate. The pails are 

 emptied monthly. Thus monthly averages can be com- 

 pared for the information of the inspectors. 



The first operation in the work of grading is to deter- 

 mine the weight of the gl-ain per measured bushel. A 

 piece of brown paper about eighteen inches square is 

 spread out on the grading table, and upon it is set an 

 imperial quart measure, made of brass and attached to 

 a beam balance. The sample to be graded is then poured 

 from its bag into the quart measure until the latter over- 

 flows. The grain is then stroked off level at the top. 

 The balance is then suspended from the hand and the 

 weight moved along the beam until equilibrium has been 

 established. The number of pounds weight the wheat 

 weighs per bushel is then read off directly from the scale 

 on the beam. As we have seen, No. 1 Hard and No. 1 ^ 

 Northern must weigh not less than 60 pounds to the 

 bushel, and No. 2 Northern not less than 58 pounds to the 

 bushel. Weight per bushel is also taken into account in 

 connection with other grades, and its determination is j 

 therefore an important feature of grading. When the 

 weight per bushel has been taken, the wheat in the quart 

 measure is poured out on to the sheet of brown paper. 



