WHEAT IN WESTEEN CANADA 53 



of the cargo could be observed by instruments on deck. 

 One of the experimenters accompanied the boat from Van- 

 couver down the Pacific Coast, through the Panama Canal, 

 and across the Atlantic to London, the voyage occupying 

 three and a half months. The shipment of the wheat was 

 successfully made, for the Superintendent who supervised 

 the discharge of the wheat at London reported that only 

 160 bushels, or less than 0.2 per cent, of the total cargo, 

 had been damaged. It is evident, therefore, that bulk 

 wheat, although subjected to a much higher temperature 

 and to a much longer voyage when transported to England 

 by the Panama route than when transported by the usual 

 routes from the Atlantic coast, can yet be safely brought 

 to its destination. Whether or not the new route for ship- 

 ping wheat will be much used in the future is uncertain ; 

 but it seems not unlikely that a portion of the wheat pro- 

 duced in northern Alberta may be more cheaply trans- 

 ported by this route than by any other. 



VI. Elevators 



To store the grain produced on the farm before it can 

 be exported or otherwise used, special warehouses, known 

 as elevators, are provided. The wheat is elevated into 

 these buildings by machinery and deposited in bins. The 

 bottom of the shipping bin is always situated at some dis- 

 tance above the level of the ground and opens into a mov- 

 able spout on the exterior of the elevator. When it is de- 

 sired to ship wheat away from an elevator, advantage is 

 taken of the flowing property of the grain in bulk: the 

 spout is opened and the grain falls through it by gravity 

 and passes into a box-car or the hold of a steamer. 



Elevators are of several kinds. There are country ele- 

 vators along the railways for receiving grain from the 



