Having sold his wheat the farmer now puts it up in sacks of the standard of weight or measure prevailing in his district. If the merchant who bought it happens to be also a miller, as is frequently the case, the wheat is delivered to the mill. Otherwise it is sent to the railway station to the order of the merchant who bought it. Meantime the merchant has probably sold it to a miller in a neighbouring large town, to whom he directs the railway company to forward it. Thus the wheat directly or indirectly finds its way to a mill, where it will be mixed with other wheats and ground into flour.
We have now followed wheat production in England from the ground to the mill. But at the present time home grown wheat can provide only about one-fifth of the bread-stuffs consumed by the population of the United Kingdom, and any account of the growing of wheat cannot be complete without some mention of the methods employed in other countries. The extensive methods of wheat-growing in the more thinly populated countries have already been shortly mentioned. But though their methods of production are of the simplest, the arrangements for marketing their produce are far more advanced in organisation than those already described for the marketing of home grown produce.
For thrashing in Canada and the Western States, travelling machines are commonly used, but they are larger than the machines in use in this country, and the men who travel with them work harder and for longer hours. It is usual for a Canadian travelling “outfit” to thrash 1000 bags of wheat in a day, about ten times as much as is considered a day’s thrashing in England. Harvesting and thrashing machinery has evolved to an extraordinary extent in the West on labour saving lines. On the Bonanza farms of the Western States machines are in use which cut off the heads of the wheat, thrash out the seed, and bag it ready for delivery, as they travel round and round the field. Such machines of course leave the straw standing where it grew, and there it is subsequently burnt. Since wheat is grown every year, few animals are kept beyond the working horses. Very little straw suffices for them and the rest has no value since its great bulk prohibits its profitable carriage to a distance.
After being thrashed the grain is delivered, usually in very large loads drawn by large teams of horses, to the nearest railway station, whence it is despatched to the nearest centre where there is a grain store, or elevator as it is called. Here it is sampled by inspectors under the control, either of the Government or the Board of Trade, as the committee is called which manages the wheat exchange at Chicago or other of the great wheat trading centres. The inspectors examine the sample, and on the result of their examination, assign the wheat to one or other of a definite series of grades. These grades are accurately defined by general agreement of the Board of Trade or by the Government. Each delivery of wheat is kept separate for a certain number of days after it has been graded, in case the owner wishes to appeal against the verdict of the inspector. Such appeals are allowed on the owner forfeiting one dollar per car load of grain if the verdict of the inspector is found to have been correct. At the Chicago wheat exchange 27 grades of wheat are recognised. The following examples show the methods by which they are defined. The definitions are the subject of frequent controversy.
No. 1 Northern Hard Spring Wheat shall be sound, bright, sweet, clean, and shall consist of over 50 per cent. of hard Scotch Fife, and weigh not less than 58 pounds to the measured bushel.
No. 1 Northern Spring Wheat shall be sound, sweet and clean; may consist of hard and soft varieties of spring wheat, but must contain a larger proportion of the hard varieties, and weigh not less than 57 pounds to the measured bushel.
No. 2 Northern Spring Wheat shall be spring wheat not clean enough or sound enough for No. 1, but of good milling quality, and must not weigh less than 56 pounds to the measured bushel.
No. 3 Northern Spring Wheat shall be composed of inferior shrunken spring wheat, and weigh not less than 54 pounds to the measured bushel.
No. 4 Northern Spring Wheat shall include all inferior spring wheat that is badly shrunken or damaged, and shall weigh not less than 49 pounds to the measured bushel.
When sampling wheat for grading, the inspectors also estimate the number of pounds of impurities per bushel, a deduction for which is made under the name of dockage. At the same time the weight of wheat in each car is officially determined. All these points, grade, dockage, and weight, are officially registered, and as soon as the time has elapsed for dealing with any appeal which may arise, the wheat is mixed with all the other wheats of the same grade which may be at the depot, an official receipt for so many bushels of such and such a grade of wheat subject to so much dockage being given to the seller or his agent. These official receipts are as good as cash, and the farmer can realise cash on them at once by paying them into his bank, without waiting for the wheat to be sold.