1 Sepr., 1902. ] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 171 
5. That company monopolies in grain freight will be encouraged. 
6. That the grain would heat, rot, mould, shrink, and get weevily, and be 
attacked by rats, mice, and moths. 
7. That no restrictions have been placed in the way of the large buyer 
putting up elevators, and yet he has not put them up; hence they 
cannot be a good thing. 
8. Elevators encourage wheat corners. 
All objections that are raised to the expenditure of alarge sum of money in 
the construction of elevators in Australia should be carefully considered. The 
subject is too important to be treated in a hasty manner. Let us, therefore, 
discuss each of the above, and determine what weight should be attached 
to it :— 
1. Alterations in our methods of harvesting—Much of our grain is 
harvested with the reaper and binder, and is afterwards threshed and bagged. 
No difliculty should be experienced by farmers who work in this manner. 
Unless they choose, they need make no material change. They may reap, thresh, 
and bag as usual, and deliver to the elevator, where they can unbag as easily as 
they could unload in any other manner and receive back their bags. 
If they wish, however, they may allow the threshing machine to deliver 
into a grain-box on a dray or wagon, instead of into bags as at present. This 
is an alteration in method only so far as cartage is concerned. It is an 
alteration calling for no great outlay. Indeed, the cost of bags for two or three 
seasons under the present system would more than pay for the boxes which 
would have to be substituted. Should the farmer prefer to buy a special 
wagon for his grain, such as is described elsewhere, it is necessary to remember 
that these wagons are general purpose wagons, and the expense need not be all 
charged up against the carriage of grain in bulk. 
It is interesting and sometimes laughable to consider our readiness to raise 
objections to proposed changes. The man who would draw a load of sand to 
the station without ever thinking of bagging it immediately raises objections 
to doing the same thing with grain—largely, it may be suspected, because 
neither he nor his forefathers ever handled grain in this manner. Handling in 
bulk, or in boxes as we may say, is really a simpler matter than handling in 
bags. There are no bags to buy, and there is no bagging to do. There is, 
however, a box to provide, and the threshing machine or cleaning machine to so 
set as to deliver into the box so placed on the wagon or dray. If we set these 
two things the one over against the other, it seems to me that the balance is in 
favour of the box, both as to expense and convenience. In any case, no farmer 
is obliged to make the change against his will simply because elevators are 
adopted ; he can still go on in the old way and simply unbag at the elevator, get 
his bags back, and be somuch in. And this is not unfrequently done by small 
ee an the north-western part of the United States, as I have repeatedly 
observed. 
Much the same may be said of the Jarge number of farmers who use the 
stripper. ‘I'hey need make no change unless they prefer. If they do make a 
change, it is a minor change in the cleaner. : 
Where headers are used the changes required are the same as where 
reapers and binders are used. 
The few combined harvesters in use would naturally go on as usual, and 
the wheat would have to be unbagged, unless the owner could contrive a 
bulking arrangement as an attachment to his harvesting machine. 
In any of these cases no farmer could avoid the benefit that would come to 
the wheat industry, because of the accuracy and speed that would be introduced 
into the wheat trade. 
2. Insufficiency of our Grain Crop.—It must be borne in mind that 
eleyators handle all kinds of grain, and that we must not consider wheat alone. 
