Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1900-08-01

speetor who had become 50 expert that,
according 10 humorous report. lie could
tell what county in the West car of
wheat came from merely by smiling a
pinch of tho grain.
At present the four great wheat ele-
vator eenters are Minneapolis, Duluth.
Chicago and Buffalo In the last-named
city some of the elevators have stor-
age capacity of from 100000 TO 100
I 900 bushels, some of them built OF steel,
operated by electricity from Niagara
Falls, protected from fire by pneu-
matic water systems, and having com
plete machinery for cleaning, CRYING
ana securing the wheat when that is
necessary.
The elevators are provided with so
called legs" long spouts. ctntaininG
moving bueket-belts, which are lowered
into the hold of a grain-laden vessel.
Here the wheat is shoyeled by Srimy
workmen, toiling in a cloud of dust.
into the pathway of huge 5teaTl sHov-
els, which, In turn. draw The yellow
load-it looks from above like so much
sand-to the ends of the legs" where
the bnckets seize 1t and carry 1t up
wards into the elevator, ana distribute
it among the various bins. cargo OF
10000 bushels can thus be unloaded
in few hours. while legs on the other
side of the elevator will reload it into
cars, six at a time in five minutes or in
an hour fill canal boat.
The cost of all these operations has
been reduced to n ridlcuIously low fig
ufe-the entire work of unloading,
storing and reloading rarely adding
more than one cent to the price OF
bushel of wheat.
Carriage to Scaboard.
The transportation of wheat from the
West to the seaboard is business of
almost inconceiyable magnitude. 1t
means millions of dollars year 10
railroad and ship owners, and during
the rush season of the late fall, so great
is the demand for transportation that
shippers find difficulty in obtaining
enough cars and vessels.
Most of the wheat of the Northwest
now goes by way of the lakes, through
the Sault Ste Marie canal, to Buffalo,
where it is shipped by rail or canal to
New York, Boston, Baltimore and Phil
adelphia.
Few appreciate the magnitude of the
lake shipping interests, which have
been Developed to a considerable extent
by the transportation of wheat. Du-
luth-Superior is the second port in the
United States in point of tonnage. be-
ing exceeded only by New York. The
Sault Ste. Marie Canal passes two and
a half times as much tonnage in eight
mouths as the Suez Canal passes in a
full year Lake shipping furnishes,
moreover, the cheapest transportation
in the world. the rate being approx
mateIy three-quarters of a mill per ton
per mile.
Some of the greater lake vessels car
nv enormous cargoes up to 100000
bushels of wheat in a single load With
out comparisons, it is difficult to form
any conception of the immensely of a
cargo of this size In Duluth, 700 bush
els are estimated as a carload. At that
rate. a cargo of $4,000 bushels, which
has actually been transported from Du-
luth to Buffalo, would fill $50 cars, or
nine trains of forty cars each. At fiji
teen bushels to the acre, this cargo
would represent the yield of 1880
acres of land. In many localities a
| farm of 100 acres is looked upon IS a
! large one 1t would take 105 such farms
! to raise enough wheat to furnish this
| one cargo.
Until recently New York had the
lions share of the wheat export bust
ness; but latterly Boston, Baltimore,
Philadelphia New Orleans, Galveston
and Montreal have been large exporters.
For the fiscal year 1890 New York took
only 2S.S per cent. while New Orleans
and Galveston had 16.9 per cent. EACH
Boston II, Baltimor o., and Philadel-
phia per cent. the remainder being
scattered between Montreal, Portland
Norfolk and Newport News.
To quote again from Mr.. Baker, the
average yield of wheat per acre is grad
ually creeping up. In 1890 il was only
Ill bushels to the acre; in 1895 it was
1877 bushels; while in 1898 it had reach
ed 1913 bushels. BY the use of machin-
cry, combined with cheaper rates of
transportation for supplies, the farmer
can produce a larger yield more cheap
" than ever before, so that, although
the farm prices for wheat do not aver
age higher from year to year, the farm
er's profits are larger.