84 ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



the inspection office. As soon as the samplers have fin- 

 ished their work, the car closer pushes the outer door of 

 each car into the closed position and reseals it. As soon 

 as all the cars have been resealed, he puts on each end of 

 the train a ticket which states that the work of sampling 

 has been finished. This gives notice to the locomotive 

 engineers that the train may be taken on to Fort William 

 or Port Arthur. All trains containing grain are sampled 

 immediately on their arrival at Winnipeg whatever may 

 be the time of day or night, and the longest grain trains 

 are finished with in about an hour. The work of sampling 

 therefore does not delay a train at Winnipeg unduly. 



The probe, referred to as being used for obtaining sam- 

 ples from box-cars, is also known as a sampler but perhaps 

 more commonly as a stabber. A stabber consists of a 

 double brass tube which is pointed at its base and closed 

 at both ends. Its length is about 65 inches and its 

 diameter 2 inches. Both tubes are perforated on one side 

 by eleven equidistant coincident apertures each of which 

 is about three and a half inches long and one inch wide. 

 Between each two adjacent apertures are unperf orated 

 portions of the tubes about two inches long. The inner 

 tube is divided into eleven chambers by plugs at intervals 

 so that each aperture leads into a single chamber. The in- 

 ner tube can be revolved within the outer one by means 

 of a handle at the top of the instrument. By turning the 

 handle, and thus revolving the inner tube, the apertures 

 leading into the inner tube can be closed or opened. 



A sampler, when using his stabber in a car of wheat, 

 first closes its apertures by turning the handle. He then 

 pushes his instrument vertically downwards into the grain. 

 The deeper the stabber is pushed into the grain, the 

 greater is the resistance which the grain ofFers. When 

 the point of the stabber is near the car floor, considerable 



