"WHEAT IN WESTERN CANADA 57 



driven by a gasolene engine. Each country elevator con- 

 tains a number of bins so that the different varieties and 

 grades of grains may retain their identity, and so that a 

 farmer may have his wheat specially binned if he so wishes. 

 One of the bins in the elevator is known as the shipping 

 bin. Its base is about sixteen feet above the railway track 

 and a few feet above the level of the top of a box-car. The 

 storage bins which vary in number from eight to twenty- 

 two, and each of which may hold from 300 to about 4,000 

 bushels, have their bases about five feet above the level of 

 the ground. When the time comes to ship away the wheat 

 contained in one of the storage bins, the wheat is let out 

 through a hole in the bottom of the bin so that it falls into 

 the wheat pit. From this place it is elevated by the 

 buckets on the revolving rubber belt to the top of the ele- 

 vator where it is caused to fall into the shipping bin. The 

 bottom of this bin is connected with a spout which can be 

 opened at will to allow the wheat to pass into a box-car. 



X. Box-Cars 



When it is desired to ship out the grain from a country 

 elevator, a box-car is placed alongside of the elevator just 

 by the spout, the two outer side doors are slid open, and 

 a grain door, from about five to six and a half feet high 

 according to the size of the car, is fixed against each open- 

 ing from within so as to leave a space of about two feet 

 above. The grain, carried by the force of gravity and di- 

 rected by the spout leading from the shipping bin, is then 

 made to flow laterally into the car over the top of the grain 

 door facing the elevator. The roof of a box-car is always 

 a fixture and grain cannot therefore be put into such a car 

 directly from above. Whilst the grain is flowing into the 

 car — a process which occupies about twenty minutes — 



