1 Sepr., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL 145 
The country elevators, such as are used in the principal wheat areas of the 
United States, have a capacity of 20,000 to 40,000 bushels, and are constructed 
at from 15 cents to 20 cents per bushel, according to size—20 cents for the 
smaller size and 15 cents for the larger size. ‘These are now often fitted with 
gasoline motors instead of steam. These elevators, as a rule, do not admit 
cars. Those of older construction do not even admit teams. An outside 
latform (often roofed over) receives the grain-wagon upon a platform scales, 
and the load and the wagon are weighed. Without moving, a slide in the side 
of the wagon is pulled, and the grain runs from the wagon into the receiving 
hopper. When the wagon is empty it is weighed, and this weight subtracted 
from the first weighing equals the delivery. In the more newly-constructed 
country elevators provision is made for driving grain-teams through the 
eleyator. The illustration on page 143 shows admirably the general form of an 
up-to-date American country elevator. 
The elevating and cleaning machinery are the same as for the larger 
elevators already described, only on a smaller scale. According to my observa- 
tions, there are betwéen 15,000 and 20,000 of these elevators in the United 
States, some single States containing nearly 2,000. These elevators are owned 
by various elevator companies, which compete with each other in the liveliest 
fashion. The country elevators are the main feature of the American elevator 
system. ‘They handle all the wheat raised east of the Rocky Mountains, and 
some of that raised on the Pacific Slope, while the ter: 1inal elevators of large 
size handle only the grain that is exported. Very much more capital is 
invested in these country elevators than in the large terminal elevators. I 
have seen scores of small towns having three to four of these small country 
elevators each—in fact, this is about the average number per railway depot in 
North Dakota and North Minnesota. Plenty of country towns contain six or 
seven, and I am informed that the little town of Eureka, South Dakota, 
possesses no less than thirteen. Of course, each elevator under such 
circumstances represents a different owner, except where, as is not seldom the 
case in larger country towns, one company has two or more elevators in the 
same town. 
Grain-wagons, 
Many small producers in the more thickly populated parts of Minnesota 
and other North-western States carry their grain to the elevator in bags on any 
suitable wagon. They have, of course, to unbag it themselves at the elevator. 
Fig. 8.—Typical grain-wagon as used in Minnesota, Dakota, and other middle United States 
where wheat and maize are the chief products. The side-boards of this wagon are easily removed. 
The top halves of the sside-boards are removable separately. That part above the line a, }, ¢, 
can be so removed, thus converting the wagon into a kind of express wagon. The back end of 
this wagon is provided with a small slide door, through which the grain in the wagon will run out 
when required. 
