Under the act Canadian grain is divided into five general classes, viz., "Statutory grade" "Commercial grade,' "Rejected," "Condemned,* and "No grade.' The statutory grade means for each grain the highest grades, as defined in the act. There are four of these grades for western spring wheat, viz., No. 1 Hard and Nos. 1, 2 and 3 Northern. The act prescribes that the first two of these grades shall be "sound and well cleaned, weighing not less than 60 pounds to the bushel and composed of at least 75 per cent for No. 1 Hard and 60 per cent No. 1 Northern of hard Red Fife wheat." No. 2 Northern must be "sound and reasonably clean, of good milling qualities and fit for warehousing, weighing not less than 58 pounds to the bushel and composed of at least 45 per cent of hard Red Fife wheat? No. 3 North ern comprises grain not good enough for No. 2 that is graded No. 3 at the discretion of the in spector.' A variety of other "statutory grades' are established under the act for spring wheat, goose wheat, winter wheat, Indian corn, oats, rye, barley, peas, buckwheat and flax, with distinctions for grain grown in the West. In addition to these statutory grades, other grades are established each year under the authority of the act by the Standards Board consisting of experts appointed by the Grain Commission ers to establish "commercial grades* in addi tion to the statutory grades. These extra com mercial grades vary with the season, whilst the statutory grades remain invariable. The ef fect of these arrangements is that there may be as many as 31 grades of western spring wheat alone, 30 grades of western winter wheat, 30 grades of oats, 15 of barley and 15 of flax. Of the other three classes, i.e., grain not graded, "rejected grain' means all grain that is unsound, musty, dirty, smutty or sprouted or that contains a large admixture of other kinds of grain, seeds or wild oats or that from any other cause is unfit to be classed under any of recognized grades. "Condemned grain' means all grain that is in a heating condition or is badly binburnt, whatever grade it might otherwise be, and "No grade* means all good grain that has an excessive moisture, being tough, damp or wet, or otherwise unfit for warehousing.
All grain in Canada is sold, unless otherwise contracted for, by certain weights per bushel. These were originally fixed by an act
of the Dominion Parliament passed in 1879. At the present time the legal weights per bushel for the principal grains are as follows: Wheat 60 pounds, rye 56 pounds, barley 48 pounds, oats 34 pounds, Indian corn 56 pounds.
Exports of Canadian Grain.— Although the acreage and production of wheat and oats, the two principal grain crops of Canada, are similar in extent and quantity, it is only the wheat that figures very largely in the export returns. Oats are used mainly for the home feeding of live stock, and the surplus for ex port is not considerable except after very abun dant seasons. The following table shows for each of the five years ended 31 March 1916 the quantity and value of the principal grains ex ported to the United Kingdom, to the United States and to other remaining countries: It will be seen front this table that the bulk of the exports of both wheat and oats goes to the United Kingdom. In the case of wheat the percentage proportions for the last fiscal year were for quantities 85 per cent to the Uni ted Kingdom, 5 per cent to the United States and 10 per cent to remaining countries. In Ontario and Quebec, and to a less extent in the Atlantic provinces, there is a large produc tion of all kinds of grain, a considerable pro portion of which enters into commerce, but of which very little is available for export from Canada.
It is estimated that of wheat Canada re quires annually for home consumption about 96,000,000 bushels, of which 48,000,000 bushels or one•half represents food for the population of eight millions, and 48,000,000 bushels are either used for seed or are grain of inferior qualities kept on the farm for the feeding of live stock. Folldwing the great increase df set tlement during the present century the exports of wheat from Canada, especially to the mother country, have, been rapidly expanding; and have reached in recent years a total equiva lent to about 144,000,000 bushels, or about 67 per cent of the total British imports of wheat and flour. After the season of 1915, when high tide was reached by the most abundarit harvest ever reaped in Canada, the Canadian exports of wheat (including flour) for the crop year ended 31 Aug. 1916 were 289,794,162 bushels.