1 Sepr., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 159 
Seattle. Mr. D. Miller, second Vice-President of the Great Northern Railway, 
Speaking for his road, in the absence of President Hill, said to me that it is 
Intended to deliver in bulk from the Seattle elevator to ships, and the elevator 
1s constructed for that purpose, as the picture shows. The Great Northern is 
putting on a line of steamers to carry in bulk, principally to Japan, China, and 
other parts of the East. Meanwhile the elevator is receiving in bulk, grading, 
and bagging, for which the elevator is specially adapted. ‘Ihe capacity of the 
elevator may be judged from the h.-p. of the engine, which is 125. These 
facts indicate a change on the Pacific Coast from the old system of bagging 
which has hitherto prevailed. The matter has often been agitated by 
Californian farmers, but until now the conservatism of the shipping interests 
has carried the day. 
Bag System. 
The sacks now used for grain in California, Oregon, and Washington are 
calculated to hold about 100 Ib. of wheat. They are of lighter material than 
the New South Wales wheat bag. The price paid on the Pacific Coast in 1899 
averaged 6 cents. ‘They are universally sewn. The Pacific Coast size of bag 
1s, in my opinion, more convenient to handle than the larger “colonial size. I 
ave watched the various loadings and unloadings incidental to the Californian 
wheat traffic, and consider that they are accomplished both more economically 
and more expeditiously than similar operations with the larger Australian bag. 
‘here is no special machinery for handling bagged wheat; it is all done with 
the aid of gangs of men. At the Stockton and San Francisco warehouses for 
Wheat it is customary to shoot the bags of grain from the second story delivery, 
after the manner of many Sydney warehouses, by means of a slanting wooden 
shoot, which delivers, 5 feet from the ground, either on to wagons or on to 
ordinary hand-trucks, which latter receive five bags one above the other, and, 
under the guidance of unskilled labour, are wheeled aboard the boat or train. 
Taking into account the cost of bags, this method of handling grain is much 
More expensive than by means of elevators, except where only very small 
quantities are to be handled. That the Californians are successful exporters 
of wheat is not on account of the use of bags, but in spite of it. Itisa 
andicap they have carried by virtue of their flat areas, peculiar climate, and 
wonderful harvesting machinery. 
Apart from its economy in the handling of grain, the elevator has intro- 
duced accuracy into the grain trade. The element of uncertainty connected 
with such an irregular commodity as wheat bagged on the field is absent from 
elevator grain. It is a disadvantage to trade sen the commodity concerned 
1s irreeular in quality, and the weight of the disadvantage generally rests on 
the seller. It is this fact, I am informed by a good authority, which has led to 
the construction of elevators in England, such as that recently erected on the 
anchester Ship Canal, where wheat is unbagged as received from foreign 
parts other than the United States, and, after being graded in the elevator, is 
actually rebagged in order to be reshipped as required by the railway trucks 
™M use in England, which for the most part do not carry in bulk. 
The handling of grain at seaports, previous to despatch from producing 
Countries and on receipt in consuming countries, has given rise to special 
Machinery adapted to loading und unloading ocean-going vessels, such as 
Portable elevator machinery, grain-barges, and elevator barges; all these are 
appurtenances of the grain wharves or grain-carrying ships, and are so many 
Separate adaptations of the elevator principle. 
An examination of the accompanying illustrations, which the writer has 
Secured at some of the world’s principal grain ports, will reveal the nature and 
reat practical utility of these contrivances. ‘They are, ina word, modifications 
of the elevator bucket and grain-belt, suitable to unloading and trans-shipping, 
and consist of small lightly constructed and therefore portable grain-elevators 
and grain-carriers. 
