WHEATGROWING IN AUSTRALIA. 33 



Commonwealth. At present, however, bags are in universal use, 

 the grain being thus carried both for local and export trade. 



The settler finds no difficulty in selling his wheat, as grain 

 merchants and millers compete for it. Often sales are made before 

 the crop is ripe.. The large wheat merchants and shippers have 

 their agents in every town, and these men visit the farms, inspect 

 the grain, and make an offer according to the ruling market price. 

 The local millers are also competing for what grain they want for 

 local consumption. The grower is paid on delivery at the mill or 

 the nearest railway station. If he prefers to do so he can store it 

 with the buying firms, giving them the right to purchase when he 

 is prepared to sell, or he can store on the farm. The export values 

 of wheat per bushel for the last six years have been : 



1909 $1.00 



1910 . . . . . . . . . . i.oo 



1911 . . . . . . . . * . . 0.84 



1912 . . . . . . . . . . 0.95 



1913 0-84 



1914 0.82 



Wheat is bought and sold on what is known as the f.a.q. (fair 

 .average quality) system. Samples of wheat are taken from the 

 various districts by the different Chambers of Commerce, and each 

 State fixes its own f.a.q. standard. These samples are mixed to- 

 gether, and by careful testing on a patent scale it is ascertained 

 what an Imperial bushel of weight actually weighs. The idea is to 

 ascertain as equitably as possible what a fair average sample of 

 the season's wheat should weigh. The standard varies a little in 

 different years ; it may be 61, 62, 64, or as low as 58 Ibs. to the 

 bushel. Whatever it is fixed at for the season that is the basis upon 

 which all sales are made. If the market price for wheat, for in- 

 stance, is $1.20 per bushel, it is for wheat up to the f.a.q. standard. 

 Say the latter has been fixed at 62 Ibs., the wheat must show that 

 weight.. Agents have what is called a chrondrometer for the purpose 

 of testing the wheat. If it is below the f.a.q. standard, a lower price 

 is given. This system has been devised to suit the export trade. 

 Samples of the standard wheat are sent to markets abroad, and all 

 cargoes are sold on that basis. When they arrive at the market 

 abroad they must test up to the f,a.q. standard. This system has 

 been in force in Australia for nearly half a century. 



It must be understood that this standard f.a.q. weight has 

 nothing to do with the quantity for which the grower is paid. He 

 is always paid on the Imperial bushel basis, 60 Ibs. Whatever the 



