54 ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



farmers for storage before it lias been inspected, terminal 

 elevators which receive or ship grain and which are located 

 at points declared to be terminal so far as inspection is con- 

 cerned, hospital elevators which are used for cleaning or 

 specially treating rejected or damaged grain and which 

 are equipped with special machinery for this purpose, and 

 mill elevators which are used or operated as part of a plant 

 engaged in the manufacture of grain products.^'' In the 

 Western Inspection Division of Canada, for the license 

 year 1916-17, there were 1,384 railway stations having 

 elevators, the number of elevators was 3,338, and the total 

 capacity of all the elevators together was 163,144,000 

 bushels.^^ 



VII. The Loading Platform 



A country railway station, in addition to its elevators, 

 is provided with a loading platform, a wooden structure 

 on a siding on to which a farmer can drive his team, and 

 from which he can shovel the grain into a car. When the 

 grain has been loaded, the farmer can either sell it on the 

 spot as track grain, or consign it to a commission firm at 

 Winnipeg or Fort William to be sold for his account, or he 

 may ship it to a terminal elevator to be stored for his ac- 

 couut. By using the platform, he can save the elevator 

 charges which amount to about $17 per car and avoid 

 negotiations with the elevator companies. On the other 

 hand, he has the trouble of securing the car, of making 

 arrangements to sell the grain, and of loading the grain 

 into the car with his own labor. Some farmers therefore 



17 For definitions of elevators vide The Canada Grain Act, 1912, 

 Section 2. 



18 Capacity of elevators by Provinces, license year 1916-17, in 

 Supplement to the Cereal Maps of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Al- 

 berta, Ottawa, 1917, p. 16. 



