WHEAT IN WESTEKX CANADA 89 



In testing for the amount of moisture, the wheat is 

 spread out on the brown paper sheet and felt with the 

 fingers. Dry wheat slips through the fingers more easily 

 than wheat containing a considerable proportion of mois- 

 ture. Tough or damp wheat gives a clammy impression. 

 Most samples of wheat can be classified at once as dry, 

 tough, or damp by the feel. All doubtful samples are 

 tested for amount of moisture in a Brown-Duvel moisture 

 tester. The test is carried out as follows: One hundred 

 grams of wheat are weighed out very carefully and put 

 into a glass retort with 150 cubic centimeters of engine 

 oil. Then a thermometer, passing through the rubber 

 cork of the flask, is inserted into the mixture of wheat and 

 oil. The switch of an electric heater is then turned on, 

 and the temperature of the contents of the flask is raised to 

 180C. The oil and wheat thus come to be raised to a 

 temperature far above the boiling point of water. As 

 a consequence, the moisture in the kernels is turned into 

 steam. The steam is conducted through a glass tube which 

 passes into a tank of running water. Here the steam is 

 all condensed and the water arising from it iTins into a 

 glass tube graduated according to percentages of moisture 

 in 100 grams of wheat. This crop year, 1918-19, wheat 

 having up to 14 per cent, of moisture is passed as dry 

 grain, wheat having over 14 per cent, moisture and up to 

 17 per cent, is graded as tough, and wheat with more than 

 17 per cent, moisture is graded as damp. About ninety 

 tests with the Brown-Duvel apparatus for determining 

 moisture are made every day. 



The grader, as we have seen, has mechanical aids at 

 his disposal in the weighing machine, the sieve, and the 

 moisture tester; but for the rest of his work he must use 

 his sense of sight, his sense of touch, and his sense of smell. 

 The farmer tends to see the good kernels in the grain 



