#grain farming

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"SIX HUNDRED MILE-LONG TRAINS," Winnipeg Tribune. January 27, 1913. Page 1. --- Would be Required to Move the Canadian Pacific's Share of This Year's Crop Down to Saturday Last - Total Figures Are Far in Excess of Last Year's, the Previous Record ---- Six hundred trains, every train a mile long and drawn by three powerful locomotives, would be required to haul from Western Canada the grain shipped over the C.P.R. between September 1, 1912, and last Saturday, January 25.

The total number of cars shipped over the C.P.R. during that time was 71,077 cars as against 48,379 last year, an increase of over 21 per cent. for the period.

Total shipments of grain up to Saturday last in bushels were as follows:

Wheat - - - 81,747,000 Other Grains - - 28,126,000

Grand Total - - - 109,813,000

Figures for last year were as follows:

Wheat - - - 61,740,000 Other Grains - - - 14,388,000

Grand total - - - 76,128,000

Total increase this year over last 33,745,000, Thus it is shown that the Canadian

"THE RUSH OF GRAIN MEANS SWIFT WORK," Toronto Star. October 4, 1913. Page 5. ---- Seven Samples of Grain Taken From Each Carload of Western Wheat. ---- "STABBING" A HARD JOB ---- Each Little Sample Laid Out on a Piece of Canvas - Winnipeg's Great Task. ---- Winnipeg. Oct. 4. - The rush of wheat goes on. The samplers in the railway yards work in groups of 13 and shifts of eight hours each. The men are divided over the work as follows: One man checks the numbers and opens the cars, eight men are employed in stabbing the cars, one man takes the sample bags, another closes and seals the car, and the last man carries the bags to the yard inspection office of the Grain Exchange, and one man is in charge of each group. The men who do the stabbing of the cars have the hardest work, as the cars are being filled to the absolute limit of weight, which leaves very little room, and it is no light undertaking to stab one of these cars to the absolute bottom in seven different places and keep it up for eight hours. Each sample as it is drawn out in the stabber is laid out on a piece of canvas. In this way it is possible to detect instantly if a car has been plugged. After the seven samples have been drawn the whole are mixed together, and from them the five-pound sample taken for the inspection office. The work is so perfectly organized that it is rare for more than six minutes to be taken to

The Busiest Man. Hector J. McLean, who is foreman in charge of sampling, has been with the Dominion Grain Inspection Department for twelve years, and for the past three has had entire supervision of the handling of all grain passing through the Canadian Pacific and Canadian Northern terminals at Winnipeg. He is a qualified grain inspector, but more than that he is a man with a genius for hard work.

One day recently the C. P. R. made a new record in terminal movement, namely, 5,014 cars in and out in one day. This probably is the biggest record of any sorting terminal in the world for the same time. There are yards, which are known as terminal yards, where trains come in and simply change engines and cabooses and go out again, but every train coming into the C. P. R. yards is sorted and remade. In ten hours 38 trains were despatched, a crew being called every 20 minutes. The grain trains coming in from the West run from 50 to 60 cars each, though one train of 68 cars of wheat alone was received, these cars being $3,000 capacity. East of Winnipeg it is not possible to haul such large trains, and trains are made up to capacity of grade, so that they may rush right through to the head of the lakes; and 41 80,000 pounds' capacity cars is the average of the train eastward from Winnipeg. The overhead bridge across the yard was crowded with spectators on Sunday afternoon, watching the cease- less movement of trains over the hump tracks.

The Yardmasters. A yardmaster occupies at once one of the most difficult and important positions in the whole railroad operation. The general yardmaster in a terminal like Winnipeg is a "kingpin," for if he falls down on his job, the steady flow of Western grain is at once checked, and all kinds of complications would follow. Needless to say, there is no falling down on the jib in Winnipeg this year, as the daily movement of cars in and out is abundant testimony.

The public have grown so accustomed to efficient railway service, that the stupendous movement is hardly appreciated, and, in fact, Westerners have grown so accustomed to growling at the railroads that they seldom stop to think that in spite of some imperfections and to high freight tariffs, the Canadian West has one of the most wonderful transportation systems in the world, length and haul and climatic conditions considered. The enormous amount of detail which must necessarily go to the perfect handling of such an immense number of cars (the greater part of which are handled on single tracks) demands not only men of thoroughness and reliability, but also men with "a vision."

"C.C.F. Requests Action On Farm Labor Shortage," Winnipeg Tribune. January 28, 1943. Page 13. ----- A request that something be done to relieve the farm labor shortage has been sent to Prime Minister Mackenzie King by the Manitoba section of the C.C.F.

A letter to Mr. King signed by Ald. Lloyd C. Stinson, provincial secretary, states:

"Food is an essential and it has already been given a priority by you second only to war materials. But food cannot be produced if there are no men available to work on the farms. Thousands of milk COWS, calves, etc., are being slaughtered simply because there is no farm labor to look after them. Meat and milk cannot be produced in the necessary quantities under such conditions.

"Our farmers are being asked to redouble their productive efforts but they are given little or no co-operation by the various boards which have insisted on drafting farm labor for military purposes. More food cannot be produced when local boards ignore the provisions of the order-in-council passed on March 21, 1942, which states that all essential farm labor be granted indefinite postponement of army service.

"The rub comes with the varying interpretations of the word 'essential.' It is obvious that men who know only city conditions can have little conception of what is essential to the farmer. Accordingly the farmers' representative on the board is frequently voted down. Some clarification of the word 'essential' would seem to be imperative."

"Harvesting Nears End," Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. September 19, 1941. Page 5. --- Average Sask. Yield Is Running About 11 Bushels --- Canadian Press REGINA, Sept. 19. - Harvesting operations in Saskatchewan are now on the home stretch with an estimated 75 to 80 per cent of the wheat threshed and nearly the same percentage of coarse grains, according to Department of Agriculture figures.

BETTER THAN EXPECTED It is indicated from reports that the average yield for wheat is running about 11 bushels to the acre for the Province as a whole; 22 bushels for oats and 18 bushels for barley.

It is expected that about 17 per cent of the wheat will grade Number One Northern or better and 68 per cent will grade numbers two and three.