134 REPORT OP THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



up another spout, automatically weighed into half bushels, and run 

 out in bulk into a waggon placed in a position to receive it, which, 

 when filled, is driven off to the railway station to be despatched 

 to market, or to one or other of the elevators which characterise 

 the landscape at many a lineside in the wheat districts, to be stored 

 pending the arrival of cars, or a rise in price. All this work is done 

 with the minimum of labour. There are only an engineer and a 

 fireman on the mill, and two teemsters fork off their load at the same 

 time. As a rule from 1200 to 1500 and sometimes 2000 bushels are 

 put through in a day. The expense of threshing varies according 

 to the district. In Manitoba, where the millowner provides the mill 

 and its men and four forkers, 4 cents per bushel of wheat are charged. 

 Where, however, he provides all labour save the carting of the wheat 

 to the railway station or elevator, the charge is 7 cents per bushel. 

 In the north-west it is as high as 9 cents per bushel. 



The labour bill per acre for the first crop, in addition to the 

 breaking, discing, and harrowing, above referred to, is as follows : — 



Seeding ..... $0.50 



Harrowing twice . . . . .35 



Seed — 1| bushels @ say 90 cents per bushel . 1.35 



Cutting, say, 19 bushels — ... .40 



Twine ..... .30 



Stooking . . . . . ■ .20 



Board of men and hauling grain . . .5 



Threshing — 19 bushels @ 7 cents per bushel . 1.33 



Together . $4.48 



The above figures have not only been carefully verified, but they 

 were obtained by the Commission from a farm manager once in the 

 employment of one of them, who has been farming in Canada for 

 the past few years, and they may be accepted as the maximum 

 expenditure. It will be seen that the expense of the first crop 

 amounts to $10.43. The expense of the subsequent crop will be 

 $6.33, because instead of having to break up the prairie at a cost 

 of $5.95 per acre, the farmer has only to break up his stubble at a 

 cost of $1.85. The profit depends a good deal on the price of wheat. 

 We shall take it at 80 cents. It has been much lower, and it has 

 been much higher, but as the tendency for a considerable period of 

 years is more likely to be up than down, we think no objection will 

 be taken to the figure. The result is an apparent profit of $4.77 

 per acre the first year, and $8.87 per acre the second year. It is, 

 however, only apparent, for we have not yet deducted interest on 

 the capital invested in land and stock and fencing, nor the keep of 

 men and horses during the period of the year when their labour is 

 not necessary for the production of the wheat crop. Nor have we 

 taken into account the land which must ultimately be fallowed. 

 When, however, all these are taken into consideration, and even the 

 drought and the frost are not forgotten, there is more than a chance 

 for the man of small means, and there is a great opportunity for the 

 man of brains and money. 



