152 



LEGAL WEIGHTS OP AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS 



n. Canada. — Section 90 of the Inspection and Sale Act 

 of the Department of Agriculture for the Dominion 

 of Canada, dealing with the legal weights of farm 

 products, reads as follows : 



" In contracts for the sale and delivery of any 

 of the undermentioned articles a bushel shall be 

 determined by weighing, unless a bushel by measure 

 is specially agreed upon, and the weight equiv- 

 alent to a bushel shall, except as hereinafter pro- 

 vided, be as follows : 



Pounds 



Barley 48 



Buckwheat 48 



Flaxseed 56 



Indian corn 56 



Oats 34 



Pease 60 



Eye 56 



Wheat 60 , 



Section 337 reads as follows : 



" In contracts for the sale and delivery of any 

 of the undermentioned articles the bushel shall be 

 determined by weighing, unless a bushel by meas- 

 ure is specially agreed upon, and the weight 

 "•Xuivalent to a bushel shall be as follows : 



Pounds 



Beans 60 



Beets 60 



Blue-grass seed 14 



Carrots 60 



Castor-beans 40 



Clover seed 60 



Hemp seed 44 



Malt 36 



Onions 50 



Parsnips 60 



Potatoes 60 



Timothy seed 48 



Turnips 60 



"In the province of Quebec when potatoes are 

 sold or offered for sale by the bag, the bag shall 

 contain at least 80 pounds." 



Fruit packages. 



Sub-section I, Section -325 : The minimum legal 

 limit of apple barrel is a barrel having a dimension 

 of not less than twenty-six inches and one-quarter 

 between the heads, inside measure, and a head 

 diameter of seventeen inches and a middle diameter 

 of eighteen inches and one-half, representing as 

 nearly as possible ninety-six quarts. 



Sub-section 3, Section 325 : " When apples are 

 packed in Canada for export, for sale by the box, 

 they shall be packed in good strong boxes, of 

 seasoned wood, the inside dimensions of which 

 shall not be less than ten inches in depth, eleven 

 inches in width and twenty inches in length, repre- 

 senting as nearly as possible two thousand two 

 hundred cubic inches." 



Sub-section 2, Section 326, of the Inspection and 

 Sale Act, dealing with fruit baskets, now (May, 

 1907) reads as follows : 



"2. Every basket of fruit offered for sale in 

 Canada unless stamped on the side plainly in black 

 letters at least three-quarters of an inch deep and 

 wide, with the woKd ' Quart ' in full, preceded with 



the minimum number of quarts, omitting ttaetions, 

 which the basket will hold when level-full, shall 

 contain, when level-full, one or other of the fol- 

 lowing quantities : 



"(a) Fifteen quarts or more. 



"(6) Eleven quarts, and be five and three-fourths 

 inches deep perpendicularly, eighteen and three- 

 fourths inches in length and eight inches in widih 

 at the top of the basket, sixteen and three-fourth i 

 inches in length and six and seven-eighths inches 

 in width at the bottom of the basket, as nearly 

 exactly as practicable, all measurements to be 

 inside of the veneer proper, and not to include the 

 top band. 



" (c) Six quarts, and be four and one-half inches 

 deep perpendicularly, fifteen and three-eighths 

 inches in length and seven inches in width at the 

 top of the basket, thirteen and one-half inches in 

 length and five and seven-eighths inches in width 

 at the bottom of the basket, as nearly exactly as 

 practicable, all measurements to be inside of the 

 veneer proper, and not to include the top band : 

 Provided that the Governor in Council may by 

 proclamation exempt any province from the opera- 

 tion of this section. 



"(d) Two and two-fifths quarts, as nearly exactly 

 as practicable." 



YIELDS OF FARM CROPS. 



The yields of farm crops in any given locality 

 are influenced by a multitude of factors, — seed, 

 weather, soil preparation and management, care, 

 harvesting, and the like. Any effort, therefore, to 

 tabulate yields of widely grown crops must be 

 considered as suggestive and provisional rather 

 than definite and constant. Yet, when an exten- 

 sive area is considered, as a continent, a fairly 

 accurate determination can be arrived at, and the 

 effort will be of value in measuring up the adapta- 

 bilities and possibilities of any area for a given 

 crop grown in that region. 



In the tables that follow, the average and best 

 yields of the more important field crops of the 

 United States and Canada, as reported by good 

 observers in several parts of the continent, are 

 recorded. In some cases census figures have been 

 available ; in others, the reporter has had to deter- 

 mine the yields for his state or province from such 

 figures and estimates as he was able to secure. It 

 is not improbable, therefore, that some error has 

 been made in certain cases, especially in reporting 

 the best yields. If the best yields, as reported in 

 these tables, have any significance, it is to show 

 what has been accomplished, and, therefore, what 

 can be accomplished again, even though in 

 special cases the best reported yields may seem 

 to be very exceptional. Unfortunately, the aver- 

 age yields of all crops are greatly lowered from 

 the average yields attained by successful and 

 painstaking growers by the small yields of the 

 careless and indifferent growers, and the small 

 figures of poor crop years. Hence, no progressive 

 farmer will be satisfied to attain, merely the 

 average. 



