398 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



No. I, but it had been cut on the green side, and 

 the grain was not sufficiently uniform. But when 

 I heard that Mr. Hockly of Wideawake was getting 

 the same price net for sHghtly frozen grain grading 

 No. 4 Northern, which he had shipped to Fort 

 William via Winnipeg, I sent samples to Thompson 

 and Co. of Winnipeg, who advised me that its 

 value was from ninety-five to ninety-seven cents 

 per bushel — that is, allowing for freight to the 

 East, eighty-four to eighty-six cents per bushel. 

 So that, after allowing for freight, elevator storage 

 and commission, I lost over a hundred dollars on 

 the sale of thirteen hundred bushels of my cleaner 

 grain, whilst that infested with wild oats was docked 

 at the rate of 12 per cent, against the average 

 standard of 2 per cent. 



The farmer — the producer — is the indispensable 

 factor in the development of Canada, but he is at 

 the mercy of every wave of every ill-tide. There 

 are times and seasons when the beginner, or the 

 farmer without a sufficient margin of capital for 

 defence, must sell on the street. Even if she or he 

 has sufficient grain to fill a car, there may be a 

 blockade at the elevators, or cars may run short, 

 and in any case, when living at a distance of over 

 ten miles from a railway-station, it is by far the 

 easier matter to take in a load at one's convenience 

 and dump it into an elevator than to haul in twenty 

 loads within twenty days when wheat may be daily 

 dropping in the market. It is to be remembered 

 that the small farmer is invariably pressed for small 

 money. The load goes in and the elevator man 

 knows that it has to be sold ; it is a case of leave it 

 at the price or take it back. Wherever an elevator 



