82 DEEP FURROWS 



causeforjcomplaint. Lack of color, a trifling number 

 of imperfectly formed kernels or the suspicion of a 

 wrinkle on the bran apparently doomed a sample to 

 low grade no matter how heavy and flinty the wheat 

 might be. 



This seemed scarcely fair to Partridge, who bore in 

 mind that the sunny seasons of past years had been 

 succeeded by cloudier ones, the dry autumns by wet 

 ones and that with stacking discontinued and much of 

 the farmers' wheat left long in stook, bleaching was 

 bound to follow. So that if the Chief Grain Inspector 

 were a " crank on color," he should remember that 

 beauty was only skin deep. 



The fracture and microscopic and weighing tests 

 seemed to be the only reasonable tests which could be 

 applied quickly ; the milling test was the only one which 

 was absolutely correct. Any rapid eye test which 

 pretended to determine whether there was sixty-one 

 per cent, or fifty-nine per cent, of Red Fife wheat in a 

 given sample struck the Farmers' Representative as 

 farcical; yet this was sufficient to make the difference 

 of a grade and sometimes a difference of seven cents 

 per bushel in the price obtained. 



The whim of the Inspector likewise decided how many 

 lean berries in a plump sample would disqualify it for 

 " plump " classification and how many mature or 

 defective berries among sound wheats would disqualify 

 it from being classed as " sound." SWith a single con- 

 cocted sample as a basis of judgment Partridge 

 considered that the grading of the lower grades often 

 was very unjust to the producer, especially to the 

 owners of plump frosted wheat ;\ the process of con- 

 cocting the basic sample was very interesting; but thp 

 result was " a nightmare." 



