226 THE BOOK OF WHEAT 



Wheat taken out of storage is not always of the same quality 

 as that stored. The buyer who purchases in a territory where 

 a low grade of wheat predominates is at a great disadvantage in 

 competing with a buyer who purchases in a territory where 

 the grade varies. Most of the mixing of wheat is done at the 

 primary markets. 1 



The Advantages of Mixing Wheat are great, and perhaps 

 more than counterbalance the evils resulting from the practice. 

 Without the mixing of wheat, the farmer would be at a great 

 disadvantage because the demand for off grades would cease. 

 Legislative efforts have been made to stop the mixing of grain, 

 but supervision by duly authorized inspectors is a more prob- 

 able solution of the difficulty. Some elevators make an ex- 

 clusive business of handling wheat that is shrunken, damp or 

 injured, and work it up a grade by drying, cleaning and mix- 

 ing. Damp wheat is turned over to them by the regular com- 

 panies, who do not care to put it in their elevators. 



Insurance. There was insurance on goods in trust at least 

 as early as 1704. On granary risks of stored grain the rate 

 under the London mercantile tariff in 1877 was 0.76 per cent. 

 After the fire at the King and Queen Wharf of that year, the 

 rate was raised to 1.08 per cent. In recent years in the United 

 States, a few companies are writing insurance on wheat in the 

 stack or granary, upon which they charge a rate of 1 per 

 cent per annum. Wheat in elevators at the local market is 

 insured by most of the large fire insurance companies at a 

 rate depending upon the construction and hazard of the ele- 

 vator, and varying from 1.5 per cent to 3 per cent per annum. 

 Grain in transit is insured under railroad schedule policies 

 written by a syndicate of companies in New York. The rate 

 upon this class of risks is from .60 per cent to 1.5 per cent, 

 for it varies from year to year. The rate of insurance for 

 wheat stored in elevators at the primary or seaboard markets 

 varies from .50 per cent in modern elevators of steel and con- 

 crete construction to 3.15 per cent in elevators of other con- 

 struction, according to type of construction and surroundings. 

 In Canada, the law compels warehousemen to insure stored 

 grain, and the average rate on grain in elevators is nearly 2 

 per cent. 



1 Industrial Commission, 10:cccxxi; cccxxix, 



