28 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



dry and cool, and hermetically seals them in tin cans. This also is a common process to pre- 

 vent goods from being damaged at sea. 



"There can be no doubt that if we were to put dry wheat in an hermetically sealed tinned 

 case, it might be kept as long as the famed 'mummy wheat' of Egypt. This will readily be 

 admitted, but the expense would be queried. Let us examine into this. A canister is a 

 metallic reservoir; so is a gasometer; so is an iron water-tank in a ship, at a railway station, 

 or elsewhere ; and a cubic foot of water-tank on a very large scale will be found to v cost very 

 much less than a cubic foot of canister on a small scale. And if a bushel of wheat be more 

 valuable than a bushel of water, it will clearly pay to put wheat in huge canisters of iron. 

 The wheat canister, in short, should be a wrought or cast metal tank of greater or less 

 size, according to the wants of the owner, whether for the farmer's crop or the grain-mer- 

 chant's stock. 



"This tank should be constructed of small parts, connected by screw-bolts, and conse- 

 quently easily transported from place to place. The internal parts should be galvanized, to 

 prevent rust, and the external part also, if desired. It should be hermetically tight at all the 

 points, and the only opening should be what is called a man-hole ; that is to say, a canister- 

 top, where the lid goes on, large enough to admit a man. When filled with grain, the top 

 should be put on, the fitting of the edge forming an air-tight joint. Wheat put dry into such 

 a vessel, and without any vermin, would remain wheat any number of years. But an addi- 

 tional advantage to such a reservoir would be an air-pump, by the application of which, for 

 the purpose of exhaustion, any casual vermin would be killed. If the grain were moist, the 

 same air-pump might be used to draw or force a current of warm air through it, to carry off 

 the moisture. By this process, and subsequently keeping out the air, the grain might be pre- 

 served for any length of time. As the reservoir would be perfectly air-tight and water-tight, 

 it might be buried in the ground with perfect safety ; and thus cellars might be rendered 

 available for granaries, economizing space of comparatively little value. The grain would be 

 easily poured in from the surface ; and to discharge it, an Archimedean screw should be used. 

 The size of the reservoir should be proportioned to the locality, and it should hold a specified 

 number of quarters, so as to serve as a measure of quantity, and prevent the expense of 

 meterage. * * * If constructed above the ground, a stair or ladder must communicate with 

 the upper part, and the lower part must be formed like a hopper, for the purpose of discharge. 

 For many farm localities this arrangement might be best, and wheat might be thrashed into 

 grain direct from the field and stored. * * * Granaries of this description would occupy less 

 than one-third the cubic space of those of the ordinary description, and their cost would be 

 less than one-fifth. * * * With this security for storing safely, a farmer would have less 

 hesitation in sowing great breadths of land. He would not be driven to market under an 

 average value, and might choose his own time for selling. The fear of loss being dispelled, 

 people would buy with less hesitation, and the great food stores of the community would, by 

 a wholesome competition, insure the great mass of the community against a short supply. 

 But as long as uncertainty shall prevail in the storage of grain, so long will it be a perilous 

 trade to those engaged in it, and so long will the food of the community be subject to a very 

 irregular fluctuation of prices. There is nothing difficult in this proposition. It is merely 

 applying existing arrangements to unusual cases. There needs but the practical example to 

 be set by influential people, and the great mass will travel in the same track. To the wealthy 

 agriculturist it will be but the amplification of the principle of the tin-lined corn-bin, that 

 keeps out the rat from the oats of the stable. * * * Were this mode of preserving grain to 

 become general, the facility of ascertaining stocks and crops after reaping would be very 

 great. The granaries being measures of quantity, no hand-measuring would be needed, and 

 the effects of wet harvest-weather might be obviated." 



Immense Grain Warehouse. 



THE Chicago Journal thus describes an immense grain warehouse recently erected in that 

 city by Messrs. Gibbs, Griffith & Co. : 



The structure extends from the dock to the railroad track, a distance of 190 feet. The 



