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GRANARIES

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 341 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GRANARIES . From See also:

ancient times See also:grain has been stored in greater or lesser bulk. The ancient Egyptians made a practice of preserving grain in years of plenty against years of scarcity, and probably See also:Joseph only carried out on a large See also:scale an habitual practice. The See also:climate of See also:Egypt being very dry, grain could be stored in pits for a See also:long See also:time without sensible loss of quality. The silo See also:pit, as it has been termed, has been a favourite way of storing grain from time immemorial in all See also:oriental lands. Irk See also:Turkey and See also:Persia usurers used to buy up See also:wheat or See also:barley when comparatively cheap, and See also:store it in hidden pits against seasons of dearth. Probably that See also:custom is not yet dead. In See also:Malta a relatively large stock of wheat is always preserved in some hundreds of pits (silos) cut in the See also:rock. A single silo will store from 6o to 8o tons of wheat, which, with proper precautions, will keep in See also:good See also:condition for four years or more. The silos are shaped like a See also:cylinder resting on a truncated See also:cone, andsurmounted by the same figure. The mouth of the pit is See also:round and small and covered by a See also:stone slab, and the inside is lined with barley See also:straw and kept very dry. Samples are occasionally taken from the wheat as from the hold of a See also:ship, and at any signs of See also:fermentation the granary is cleared and the wheat turned over, but such is the dryness of these silos that little trouble of this See also:kind is experienced.

Towards the See also:

close of the 19th See also:century warehouses specially intended for holding grain began to multiply in See also:Great See also:Britain, but See also:America is the See also:home of great granaries, known there as See also:elevators. There are See also:climatic difficulties in the way of storing grain in Great Britain on a large scale, but these difficulties have been largely overcome. To preserve grain in good condition it must be kept as much as possible from moisture and See also:heat. New grain when brought into a warehouse has a tendency to sweat, and in this condition will easily heat. If the See also:heating is allowed to continue the quality of the grain suffers. An effectual remedy is to turn out the grain in layers, not too thick, on a See also:floor, and to keep turning it over so as to aerate it thoroughly. Grain can thus be conditioned for storage in silos. There is See also:reason to think that grain in a See also:sound and dry condition can be better stored in bins or dry pits than in the open See also:air; from a See also:series of experiments carried out on behalf of the See also:French See also:government it would seem that grain exposed to the air is decomposed at 3.1- times the See also:rate of grain stored in silo or other bins. In comparing the grain-storage See also:system of Great Britain with that of See also:North America it must be See also:borne in mind that whereas Great Britain raises a comparatively small amount of See also:grail. which is more or less rapidly consumed, grain-growing is one of the greatest See also:industries of the See also:United States and of See also:Canada. The enormous surplus of wheat and See also:maize produced in America can only be profitably dealt with by such a system of storage as has grown up there since the See also:middle of the 19th century. The See also:American See also:farmer can store his wheat or maize at a moderate rate, and can get an advance on his See also:warrant if he is in need of See also:money. A holder of wheat in See also:Chicago can withdraw a similar grade of wheat from a New See also:York elevator.

See also:

Modern granaries are all built on much the same See also:plan. The See also:mechanical equipment for receiving and discharging grain is very similar in all modern warehouses. A granary is usually erected on a See also:quay at which large vessels can See also:lie and See also:discharge. On the See also:land See also:side railway sidings connect the warehouse with the See also:chief lines in its See also:district; accessibility to a See also:canal is an ad-vantage. See also:Ships are usually cleared by bucket elevators which are dipped into the See also:cargo, though in some cases pneumatic elevators are substituted (see See also:CONVEYORS). A travelling See also:band with throw-off See also:carriage will speedily distribute a heavy load of grain. Band conveyors serve equally well for charging or discharging the bins. Bins are invariably provided with hopper bottoms, and any See also:bin can be effectively cleared by the band, which runs underneath, either in a cellar or in a specially constructed See also:tunnel. All granaries should be provided with a sufficient plant of cleaning machinery to take from the grain impurities as would be likely to be detrimental to its storing qualities. Chief among such See also:machines are the warehouse separators which See also:work by See also:sieves and air currents (see See also:FLOUR AND FLOUR MANUFACTURE). The typical grain warehouse is furnished with a number of See also:chambers for grain storage which are known as silos, and may be built of See also:wood, See also:brick, See also:iron or ferro-See also:concrete. Wood silos are usually square, made of See also:flat strips of wood nailed one on See also:top of the other, and so overlapping each other at the corners that alternately a See also:longitudinal and a transverse See also:batten extends past the corner.

The gaps are filled by See also:

short pieces of See also:timber securely nailed, and the whole silo See also:wall is thus solid. This type of bin was formerly in great favour, but it has certain draw-backs, such as the possibility of dry rot, while weevils are See also:apt to See also:harbour in the interstices unless See also:lime washing is practised. Bricks and See also:cement are good materials for constructing silos of hexagonal See also:form, but necessitate deep See also:foundations and substantial walls. Iron silos of circular form are used to some extent in Great Britain, but are more See also:common in North and See also:South America. In their See also:case the walls are much thinner than with any other material, but the condensation against the inner wall in wet See also:weather is a See also:drawback in See also:damp climates. Cylindrical tank silos have also been made of See also:fire-See also:proof tiles. Ferro-concrete silos have been built on both the Monier and the Hennebique systems. In the earlier type the bin was made of an iron or See also:steel framework filled in with concrete, but more See also:recent struc- tures are composed entirely of steel rods embedded in cement. Granaries built of this material have the great See also:advantage, if properly constructed, of being See also:free from any See also:risk of failure even in case of uneven expansion of the material. With brick silos collapses through pressure of the stored material are not unknown. One of the largest and most See also:complete grain elevators or See also:ware- houses in the See also:world belongs to the See also:Canadian See also:Northern Railway See also:Company, and was erected at See also:Port See also:Arthur, Canada, in 1901-1904. It has a See also:total storage capacity of 7,000,000 bushels, or 875,000 qrs. of 480 lb.

The range of buildings and bins forms an oblong, and consists of two storage houses, B and C, placed between two working or receiving houses A and D (fig. I). The receiving houses are fed by railway sidings. See also:

House A, for example, has two sidings, one See also:running through it and repaired since they can be removed and replaced without affecting the See also:main bin walls. It is claimed that these facers constitute the best possible See also:protection against fire. A steel framework, covered with tiles, crowns these circular bins and contains the conveyors and spouts which are used to fill the bins. Five tunnels in the concrete bedding that supports the bins carry the See also:belt conveyors which bring back the grain to the working house for cleaning or shipment. There are altogether in each of the storage houses 8o circular bins, each 21 ft. in See also:diameter, and so grouped as to form 63 smaller interspace bins, or 143 bins in all. Each bin will store grain in a See also:column 85 ft. deep, and the whole See also:group has a capacity of 2,500,000 bushels. These bins were all constructed by the See also:Barnett & See also:Record Company of Minneapolis, See also:Minnesota, U.S.A., in accordance with the See also:Johnson & Record patent system of fire-proof See also:tile grain storage construction. In case one of the working houses is attacked by fire the fire-proof storage houses protect not only their own contents but also the other working house, and in the event of its disablement or destruction the remaining one can be easily connected with both the storage houses and handle their contents. Circular tank silos have not been extensively adopted in Great Britain, but a typical silo tank See also:installation exists at the Walmsley & See also:Smith flour See also:mills which stand beside the See also:Devonshire See also:dock at See also:Barrow-in-See also:Furness.

There four circular bins, built of riveted steel Port Arthur, Canada. the other beside it. Each siding serves five receiving pits, and a receiving elevator of 10,000 lb capacity per See also:

minute, or 60,000 bushels per See also:hour; can draw grain from either of two pits. Five elevators of 12,000 bushels per hour on the other side of the house serve five warehouse separators, and all the grain received or discharged is weighed, there being ten sets of automatic scales in the upper See also:part of the house, known as the See also:cupola. The hopper of each weigher can take a See also:charge of 1400 bushels (84,000 lb). Grain can be conveyed either vertically or horizontally to any part of the house, into any of the bins in the annex B, or into any See also:truck or See also:lake steamer. This house is constructed of timber and roofed with corrugated iron. The conveyor belts are 36 in. wide; those at the top of the house are provided with throw-off carriages. The dust from the cleaning machinery is carefully collected and spouted to the See also:furnace under the See also:boiler house, where it is consumed. The cylindrical silo bins in the storage houses consist of hollow tiles of burned See also:clay which, it is claimed, are fire-proof. The tiles are laid on end and are about 12 in. by 12 in. and from 4 in. to 6 in. in thickness according to the See also:size of the bin. Each alternate course consists of grooved blocks of channel tile forming a continuous groove or belt round the bin.

This' groove receives a steel band acting as a tension member and resisting the lateral pressure of the grain. The steel bands once in position, the groove is completely filled with cement grout by which the steel is encased and protected. Usually the bottoms of the bins are furnished with self-discharging hoppers of weak cinder or See also:

gravel concrete finished with cement See also:mortar. For the See also:foundation or supporting floor reinforced concrete is frequently used. The tiles already described are faced with tiles i to 1 in. thick, which are laid solid in cement mortar covering the whole exterior of the bin. Any damage to the facing tiles can easily be 1. plates, stand in a group on a quadrangle close to the See also:mill ware-house. A covered gantry, through which passes a band conveyor, runs from the mill warehouse to the working silo house B~ _ which stands in the central space amid the four steel in tanks. The tanks are 7o ft. high, with a diameter of 45 ft., Furless. and See also:rest on foundations of concrete and steel. Each has a See also:separate conical roof and they are flat-bottomed, the grain resting directly on the steel and concrete foundation See also:bed. As the load of the full tank is very heavy its even See also:distribution on the bed is considered a point of importance. Each tank can hold about 2500 tons of wheat, which gives a total storage capacity for the four bins of over 45,000 qrs. of 48o lb.

Attached to the mill warehouse is a skip elevator with a discharging capacity of 75 tons an hour. The grain is cleared by this elevator from the hold or holds of the See also:

vessel to be unloaded, and is delivered to the See also:basement of the warehouse. Thence it is elevated to an upper See also:storey and passed through an automatic weigher capable of taking a charge of I ton. From the weighing See also:machine it can be taken, with or without a preliminary cleaning, to any floor of the warehouse, which has a total storing capacity oP 8000 tons, or it can be carried by the band conveyor through the gantry to the working house of the silo installation and distributed to any one of the four tank silos. There is also a connexion by a band conveyor running through a covered gantry into the mill, which stands immediately in the See also:rear. It is perfectly easy to turn over the contents of any tank into any other tank. The whole intake and wheat handling plant is moved by two electro-See also:motors of 35 H.P. each, one installed in the warehouse and the other in the silo working house. Steel silo tanks have the advantage of storing a heavy stock of wheat at comparatively small See also:capital outlay. On an See also:average an See also:ordinary silo bin will not hold more than 500 to See also:i000 qrs., but each of the bins at Barrow will contain 2500 tons or over f See also:loo qrs. The steel construction also reduces the risk of fire and consequently lessens the fire See also:premium. The important granaries at the See also:Liverpool docks date from 1868, but have since been brought up to modern requirements. The Liverpool. warehouses on the See also:Waterloo docks have an aggregate storage See also:area of 114 acres, while the See also:sister warehouses on the See also:Birkenhead side, which stand on the margin of the great See also:float, have an area of 11 acres.

The total capacity of these warehouses is about 200,000 qrs. The grain warehouse of the See also:

Manchester docks at Trafford See also:wharf is locally known as the grain elevator, because it was built to a See also:Man- great extent on the See also:model of an American elevator. See also:chester. Some of the mechanical equipment was supplied by a Chicago See also:firm. The total capacity is 1,500,000 bushels or 40,000 tons of grain, which is stored in 226 separate bins. The granary proper stands about 340 ft. from the side of the dock, but is directly connected with the receiving See also:tower, which rises at theper hour; weighing in the tower; conveying grain into the ware-house and distributing it into any of the 226 bins; moving grain from bin to bin either for aerating or delivery, and simultaneously weighing in bulk at the rate of 500 tons per hour; sacking grain, weighing and loading the sacks into 40 railway trucks and 10 carts simultaneously; loading grain from the warehouse into See also:barges or See also:coasting See also:craft at the rate of 15o tons per hour in bulk or of 25o sacks per hour. This warehouse is equipped with a dryer of American construction, which can See also:deal with 5o tons of damp grain at one time, and is connected with the ,whole bin system so that grain can be readily moved from any bin to the dryer or conversely. A grain warehouse at the See also:Victoria docks, See also:London, belonging to the London and See also:India Docks Company (fig. 2) has a storing capacity of about 25,000 qrs. or 200,000 bushels. It is over London. 100 ft. high, and is built on the American plan of interlaced timbers resting on iron columns. The walls are externally cased with steel plates.

The grain is stored in 56 silos, most of which are about io ft. square by 50 ft. deep. The intake plant has a capacity iii. ~i~iiirr 5 a . r~iicnyocz;~sza:sCN::m.~~.r;:,i%~i~i~~a u3't 11%1:1 See also:

water's edge, by a band conveyor protected by a gantry. The main See also:building is 448 ft. long by 8o ft. wide; the whole of the super-structure was constructed of wood with an See also:external casing of brick-work and tiles. The receiving tower is fitted with a bucket elevator capable, within fairly wide limits, of See also:adjustment to the level of the hold to be unloaded. The elevator has the large unloading capacity of 350 tons per hour, assuming it to be working in a full hold. It is supplemented by a pneumatic elevator (Duckham system) which can raise 200 tons per hour and is used chiefly in dealing with parcels of grain or in clearing grain out of holds which the ordinary elevator cannot reach. The See also:power required to work the large elevator as well as the various band conveyors is supplied by two sets of horizontalCorliss See also:compound engines of 500 H.P. jointly, which are fed by two See also:Galloway boilers working at 100 lb pressure. The oneumatfc elevator is driven by two sets of triple expansion See also:vertical engines of 600 H.P. fed by three boilers working at a pressure of 16o lb. The grain received in the tower is automatically weighed. From the receiving tower the grain is conveyed into the warehouse where it is at once elevated to the top of a central tower, and is thence distributed to any of the bins by band conveyors in the usual way. The mechanical equipment of this warehouse is very complete, and the following several operations can be simultaneously effected : discharging grain from vessels in the dock at the rate of 350 tons of loo tons of wheat an hour, and includes six automatic grain scales, each of which can weigh off one See also:sack at a time.

The main delivery floor of the warehouse is at a convenient height above the ground level. Portable automatic weighing machines can be placed under any bin. The whole of the plant is driven by electric motors, one being allotted to each machine. The transit silos of the London Grain Elevator Company, also at the Victoria docks, consist of -four complete and in-dependent installations See also:

standing on three See also:tongues of land which project into the water (See also:figs. 2 and 3). Each silo house is furnished with eight bins, each of which, 12 ft. square by 8o ft. deep, has a capacity of moo qrs. of grain. A kind of well in the middle of each silo house contains the necessary elevators, staircases, &c. The silo bins in each granary are erected on a massive See also:cast iron tank forming a sort of cellar, which rests on a concrete foundation 6 ft. thick. The See also:base of the tank is 30 ft. below the water level. The silos are formed of wooden battens nailed one on top of the other, the pieces interlacing. Rolled steel girders resting on cast iron columns support the silos. To ensure a clean discharge the hopper bottoms were designed so as to avoid See also:joints and thus to be free from rivets or similar protuberances.

The exterior of each silo house is covered with corrugated iron, and the same material is used for the roofing. No conveyors serve the silo bins, as the elevators which rise above the tops of the silos can feed any one of them by gravity. There are three delivery elevators to each granary, one with a capacity of 12o tons and the other two of 100 tons each an hour. Each silo house is served by a large elevator with a capacity of 120 tons per hour, which discharges into the elevator well inside the house. The delivery elevators discharge into a receiving See also:

shed in which there is a large hopper feeding six automatic weighing machines. Each charge as it is weighed empties itself automatically into sacks, which are then ready for loading. Each pair of warehouses is provided with a conveyor band 308 ft. long, used either for carrying sacks from the weighing sheds to railway trucks or for carrying grain in bulk to barges or trucks. Each 'silo house has an identical mechanical equipment apart from the delivery band it shares with its See also:fellow warehouse. All operations in connexion with the silo houses are effected under See also:cover. The silos are normally fed by a See also:fleet of twenty-six of See also:Philip's patent self-discharging lighters. These craft are hopper-bottomed and fitted with band conveyors of the ordinary type, running between the See also:double keelson of the lighter and delivering into an elevator erected at the stern of the lighter. By this means little trimming is required after the See also:barge, which holds See also:General Plan of Storage & Transit Silos, Victoria Docks, London.

Scale, 140 feet =1 See also:

inch. about 200 tons of grain, has been cleared. Ocean steamers of such draft as to preclude their entry into any of the up See also:river docks are cleared at Tilbury by these lighters. It is said that grain loaded at Tilbury into these lighters can be delivered from the transit silos to railway trucks or barges in about six See also:hours. The total storage capacity of the silos amounts to 32,000 qrs. The See also:motive power is furnished by 14 See also:gas engines of a total capacity of 366 H.P. Two of the largest granaries on the See also:continent of See also:Europe are situated at the mouth of the See also:Danube, at See also:Braila and See also:Galatz, in See also:Rumania. Rumania, and serve for both the reception and discharge of grain. At the edge of the quay on which these ware-houses are built there are rails with a See also:gauge of ti ft., upon which run two mechanical loading and unloading appliances. The first consists of a telescopic elevator which raises the grain and delivers it to one of the two band conveyors at the See also:head of the apparatus. Each of these bands feeds automatic weighing machines with an hourly capacity of 75 tons. From these weighers the grain is either discharged through a manhole in the ground to a band conveyor running in a tunnel parallel to the quay wall, or it is raised by a second elevator (part of the same unloading apparatus), set at an inclined See also:angle, which delivers at a sufficient height to load railway trucks on the siding running parallel to the quay.

A turning See also:

gear is provided so as to See also:reverse, if required, the operation of the whole apparatus, that the portion overhanging the water can be turned to the land side. The unloading capacity is 150 tons of grain per hour. If it be desired to load a ship the telescopic elevator has only to be turned round and dipped into any one of 15 See also:wells, whichcapacity of the elevators and conveyors is too tons of grain per hour. The mechanical equipment is so complete that four distinct operations are claimed as possible. A ship may be unloaded into silos or into the granary floors, and may simultaneously be loaded either from silos or floors with different kinds of grain. Again, a cargo may be discharged either into silos or upon the floors, and simultaneously the grain may be cleaned. Grain may also be cleared from a vessel, mixed with other grain already received, and then distributed to any desired point. With equal facility grain may be cleaned, blended with other varieties, re-stored ih any See also:section of the granary, and transferred from one ship to another. A granary with See also:special features of See also:interest, erected on the quay at See also:Dortmund, See also:Germany, by a co-operative society, is built of brick on a base of hewn stone, with beams and supports of Dortmund. timber. It is 78 ft. high and consists of seven floors, including basement and See also:attic. Here again there are two sections, the larger being devoted to the storage of grain in See also:low bins, while the smaller section consists of an ordinary silo house. Grain in sacks may be stored in the basement of the larger section which has a capacity of 1675 tons as compared with 825 tons in the silo See also:department.

Thus the total storage capacity is 2500 tons. In the silo house the bins, constructed of planks nailed one over the other, are of varying size and arc capable of storing grain to a See also:

depth of 42 to 47 ft. Some of the bins have been specially adapted for receiving damp grain by being provided internally with transverse wooden arms which form square or See also:lozenge-shaped sections. The See also:object of this arrangement is to break up and aerate the stored grain. The A. Barge Elevators B. Receiving Elevators C. Silo Bin. D. Delivery Elevators B. Weigh Houses F. Automatic Shales G.

Sack Band Owing Transit Silos of the London Grain Elevator Co. Ltd., Victoria Docks, London. Longitudinal See also:

Elevation looking towards Barge Elevators. FIG. 3. See also:Cross Section through Transit Silos. can be filled up with grain from the land side. The capacity of each granary is 233,333 qrs. Many large granaries have been built, in which grain is stored on open floors, in bulk or in sacks. A notable instance is the ware-See also:Stuttgart house of the See also:city of Stuttgart. This is a structure of seven floors, including a basement and entresol. An See also:engine house accommodates two gas engines as well as an See also:hydraulic installation for the lifts.

The grain is received by an elevator from the railway trucks, and is delivered to a weighing machine from which it is carried by a second elevator to the top storey, where it is fed to a band running the length of the building. A system of pipes runs from floor to floor, and by means of the band conveyor with its movable throw-off carriage grain can be shot to any floor. A second band conveyor is installed in the entresol floor, and serves to convey grain either to the elevator, if it is desired to elevate it to the top floor, or to the loading shed. A second elevator runs through the centre of the building, and is provided with a spout by means of which grain can be delivered into the hopper feeding the cleaning machine, whence the grain passes into a second hopper under which is an automatic weigher; directly under this weigher the grain is sacked. A good example of a grain warehouse on the combined silo bin and floor storage system is afforded by the granary at See also:

Mannheim Mannheim. on the See also:Rhine, which has the storage capacity of 2100 tons. The building is 370 ft. in length, 78 ft. wide and 78 ft. high, and by means of transverse walls it is divided into three sections; of these one contains silos, in another section grain is stored on open floors, while the third, which is situated between the other two, is the grain-cleaning department. This granary stands by the quay side, and a ship elevator of great capacity, which serves the cleaning department, can rapidly clear any ship or barge beneath. The central or screening house section contains machinery specially designed for cleaning barley as well as wheat. The barley plant has a capacity of 5 tons per hour. There are four main elevators in this warehouse, while two more serve the See also:screen house. The usual band conveyors fitted with throw-off carriages are provided, and are supplemented by an elaborate system of pipes which receive grain from the elevators and bands and distribute it at any required point. The plant is operated by electric motors.

If desired the floors of the non-silo section can be utilized for storing other goods than grain, and to this end a lift with a capacity of i ton runs from the basement to the top storey. The combined arms are of triangular section and are slightly hollowed at the base so as to bring a current of air into See also:

direct contact with the grain. The air can be warmed if necessary. The other and larger section of the granary is provided with 105 bins of moderate height arranged in See also:groups of 21 on the five floors between the basement and attic. On the intermediate floors and the bottom floor each bin lies exactly under the bin above. Grain is not stored in these bins to a greater depth than 5 ft. The bins are fitted with removable side walls, and damp grain is only stored in certain bins aerated for See also:half the area of their side walls through a See also:wire mesh. The arrangements for distributing grain in this warehouse are very complete. The uncleaned grain is taken by the receiving elevator, with a lifting capacity of 20 tons per hour, to a warehouse separator, whence it is passed through an automatic weigher and is then either sacked or spouted to the main elevator (capacity 25 tons per hour) and elevated to the attic. From the head of this main elevator the grain can either be fed to a bin in one or other of the main granary floors, or shot to one of the bins in the silo house. In the attic the grain is carried by a spout and belt conveyor to one or other of the turn-tables, as the appliances may be termed, which serve to distribute through spouts the grain to any one of the floor or silo bins. Alter-natively, the grain may be shot into the basement and there fed back into the main elevator by a band conveyor.

In this way the grain may be turned over as often as it is deemed necessary. At the bottom of each bin are four apertures connected by spouts, both with the bin below and with the central vertical See also:

pipe which passes down through the centre of each group of bins. To regulate the course of the grain from bin to bin or from bin to central pipe, the connecting spouts are fitted with valves of ingenious yet See also:simple construction which deflect the grain in any desired direction, so that the contents of two or more bins may be blended, or grain may be transferred from a bin on one floor to a bin on a See also:lower floor, missing the bin on the floor between. The valves are See also:con-trolled by chains from the basement. With reference to the floor bins used at Dortmund, it may be observed that there are granaries built on a similar principle in the United See also:Kingdom. It is probable that bins of moderate height are more suitable for storing grain containing a considerable amount of moisture than deep silos, whether made of wood, ferro-concrete or other material. For one thing floor bins of the Dortmund See also:pattern can be more effectually aerated than deep silos. See also:German wheat has many characteristics in common with See also:British, and, especially in north Germany, is not infrequently harvested in a more or less damp condition. In the United Kingdom, Messrs See also:Spencer & Co., of See also:Melksham, have erected several granaries on the floor-bin principle, and have adopted an ingenious system of " telescopic " spouting, by means of which grain may be discharged from one bin to another or at any desired point. This spouting can be applied to bins either with level floors or with hoppered bottoms, if they are arranged one above the other on the different floors, and is so constructed that an opening can be effected at certain points by simply sliding upwards a section of the spout. See also:National Granaries.—Wheat forms the See also:staple See also:food of a large proportion of the See also:population of the British Isles, and of the total amount consumed about four-fifths is See also:sea-borne. The See also:stocks normally held in the See also:country being limited, serious consequences might result from any interruption of the See also:supply, such as might occur were Great Britain involved in See also:war with a power or See also:powers commanding a strong fleet.

To meet this contingency it has been suggested that the See also:

State should establish granaries containing a national reserve of wheat for use in emergency, or should adopt See also:measures calculated to induce merchants, millers, &c., to hold larger stocks than at See also:present and to stimulate the See also:production of home-grown wheat. Stocks of wheat (and of flour expressed in its See also:equivalent See also:weight of wheat) are held by merchants, millers and farmers. Merchants' stocks are kept in granaries at ports of importation Amount of and are known as first-See also:hand stocks. Stocks of wheat stocks. and flour in the hands of millers and of flour held by bakers are termed second-hand stocks, while farmers' stocks only consist of native wheat. Periodical returns are generally made of first-hand or port stocks, nor should a wide margin of See also:error be possible in the case of farmers' stocks, but second-hand stocks are more difficult to gauge. Since the last See also:decade of the 19th century the storage capacity of British mills has considerably increased. As the number of small mills has diminished the capacity of the bigger ones has increased, and proportionately their warehousing See also:accommodation has been enlarged. At the present time first-hand stocks tend to diminish because a larger proportion of millers' holdings are in mill granaries and silo houses. The immense preponderance of steamers over sailing vessels in the grain See also:trade has also had the effect of greatly diminishing stocks. With his cargo or See also:parcel on a steamer a See also:corn See also:merchant can tell almost to a See also:day when it will be due. In fact See also:foreign wheat owned by British merchants is to a great extent stored in foreign granaries in preference to British warehouses.

The merchant's risk is thereby lessened to a certain extent. When his wheat has been brought into a British port, to send it farther afield means extra expense. But wheat in an American or See also:

Argentine elevator may he ordered wherever the best See also:price can be obtained for it. Options or " See also:futures," too, have helped to restrict the size of wheat stocks in the United Kingdom. A merchant See also:buys a cargo of wheat on passage for arrival at a definite time, and, lest the See also:market value of grain should have depreciated by the time it arrives, he sells an See also:option against it. In this way he hedges his deal, the option serving as See also:insurance against loss. This is why the British corn trade finds it less risky to limit purchases to See also:bare needs, protecting itself by option deals, than to store large quantities which may depreciate and involve their owners in loss. Varying estimates have been made of the number of See also:weeks' supply of breadstuffs (wheat and flour) held by millers at various seasons of the See also:year. A table compiled by the secretary of the National Association of British and Irish Millers from returns for 1902 made by 170 milling firms showed 4.7, 4'9, 4'9 and 5 weeks' supply at the end of See also:March, See also:June, See also:September and See also:December respectively. These 1 70 mills were said to represent 46 % of the milling capacity of the United Kingdom, and claimed to have ground 12,000,000 qrs. out of 25,349,000 qrs. milled in 190¢. These were obviously large mills; it is probable that the 'other mills would not have shown anything like such a proportion of stock of either raw or finished material. A See also:fair estimate of the stocks normally held by millers and bakers throughout the United Kingdom would be about four weeks' supply.

First-hand stocks vary considerably, but the limits are definite, ranging from 1,000,000 to 3,500,000 qrs., the latter being a high figure. Thetendency is for first-hand stocks to decline, but two weeks' supply must be a minimum. Farmers' stocks necessarily vary with the size of the See also:

crop and the See also:period of the year; they will range from 9 or 10 weeks on the 1st of September to a half See also:week on the 1st of See also:August. Taking all the stocks together, it is very exceptional for the stock of breadstuffs to fall below 7 weeks' supply. Between the cereal years 1893–1894 and 1903–1904, a period of 57o weeks, the stocks of all kinds See also:fell below 7 weeks' supply in only 9 weeks; of these 9 weeks 7 were between the beginning of June and the end of August 1898. This was immediately after the Leiter collapse. In seven of these eleven years there is no instance of stocks falling below 8 weeks' supply. In 21 out of these 570 weeks and in 39 weeks during the same period stocks dropped below 71 and 8 weeks' supply respectively. Roughly speaking the stock of wheat available for See also:bread-making varies from a two to four months' supply and is at times well above the latter figure. The formation of a national reserve of wheat, to be held at the disposal of the state in case of urgent need during war, is beset by many See also:practical difficulties. The See also:father of the See also:scheme was probably The See also:Miller, a well-known resery Naeone. . trade See also:journal.

In March and See also:

April 1886 two articles appeared in that See also:paper under the heading " Years of Plenty and State Granaries," in which it was urged that to meet the risk of hostile cruisers interrupting the supplies it would be desirable to See also:lay up in granaries on British See also:soil and under government See also:control a stock of wheat sufficient for 12 or alternatively 6 months' See also:consumption. This was to be national See also:property, not to be touched except when the See also:fortune of war sent up the price of wheat to a See also:famine level or caused severe See also:distress. The State holding this large stock—a year's supply of foreign grain would have meant at least 15,000,000 qrs., and have cost about £25,000,000 exclusive of warehousing—was in See also:peace time to sell no wheat except when it became necessary to part with stock as a precautionary measure. In that case the wheat sold was to be replaced by the same amount of new grain. The See also:idea was to provide the country with a supply of wheat until sufficient wheat-growing soil could be broken up to make it practically self-sufficing in respect of wheat. The See also:original See also:suggestion fell quite flat. Two years later See also:Captain See also:Warren, R.N., read a paper on " Great Britain's Corn Supplies in War," before the London Chamber of See also:Commerce, and accepted national granaries as the only practicable safeguard against what appeared to him a great peril. The representatives of the See also:shipping interest opposed the scheme, probably because it appeared to them likely to divert the public from insisting on an all-powerful See also:navy. The corn trade opposed the project on See also:account of its great practical difficulties. But See also:constant contraction of the British wheat acreage kept the question alive, and during the earlier half of the 'nineties it was a favourite theme with agriculturists. Some influential members of See also:parliament pressed the See also:matter on the government, who, acting, no doubt, on the See also:advice of their military and See also:naval experts, refused either a royal See also:commission or a depart-See also:mental See also:committee. While the then technical advisers of the government were divided on the advisability of establishing national granaries as a defensive measure, the See also:balance of See also:expert See also:opinion was adverse to the scheme.

See also:

Lord See also:Wolseley, then See also:commander-in-chief, publicly stigmatized the theory that Great Britain might in war be starved into submission as " unmitigated See also:humbug." In spite of See also:official discouragement the agitation continued, and See also:early in 1897 the See also:council of the Central and Associated Chambers of See also:Agriculture, at the suggestion to a great extent of Mr R. A. Yerburgh, M.P., nominated a committee to examine the question of national wheat stores. This committee held thirteen sittings and examined fifty-four witnesses. Its See also:report, which was published (L. G. See also:Newman & Co., 12 See also:Finsbury Square, London, E.C.) with minutes of the See also:evidence taken, practically recommended that a national reserve of wheat on the lines already sketched should be formed and administered by the State, and that the government should be strongly urged to obtain the Yerburgh committee. See also:appointment of a royal commission, comprising representatives of agriculture, the corn trade, shipping, and the See also:army and navy, to conduct an exhaustive inquiry into the whole subject of the national food-supply in case of war. This recommendation was ultimately carried into effect, but not till nearly five years had elapsed. Of two schemes for national granaries put before the Yerburgh committee, one was formulated by Mr See also:Seth See also:Taylor, a London miller and corn merchant, who reckoned that a store of ro,000,000 qrs. of wheat might be accumulated at an average cost of 405. per qr.—this was in the Leiter year of high prices—and distributed in six specially constructed granaries to be erected at London, Liverpool, See also:Hull, See also:Bristol, See also:Glasgow and See also:Dublin. The cost of the granaries was put at £7,500,000. Mr Taylor's scheme, all charges included, such as 21% interest on capital, cost of storage (at 6d. per qr.), and 2S. per qr. for cost of replacing wheat, involved an See also:annual See also:expenditure of £1,250,000.

The Yerburgh committee also considered a proposal to stimulate the home supply of wheat by offering a See also:

bounty to farmers for every See also:quarter of wheat grown. This proposal has taken different shapes; some have suggested that a bounty should be given on every See also:acre of land covered with wheat, while others would only allow the bounty on wheat raised and kept in good condition up to a certain date, say the beginning of the following See also:harvest. It is obvious that a bounty on the area of land covered by wheat, irrespective of yield, would be a premium on poor farming, and might divert to wheat-growing land unsuitable for that purpose. The suggestion to pay a bounty of say 3s. to 5s. per qr. for all wheat grown and stacked for a certain time stands on a different basis; it is conceivable that a bounty of 5s. might expand the British production of wheat from say 7,000,000 to 9,000,000 qrs., which would mean that a bounty of £2,250,000 per annum, plus See also:costs of See also:administration, had secured an extra home production of 2,000,000 qrs. Whether such a price would be See also:worth paying is another matter; the Yerburgh committee's conclusion was decidedly in the negative. It has also been suggested that the State might subsidize millers to the extent of 2S. 6d. per sack of 28o lb. per annum on condition that each maintained a minimum supply of two months' flour. This may be taken to mean that for keeping a special stock of flour over and above his usual output a miller would be entitled to an annual See also:subsidy of 2S. 6d. per sack. An extra stock of ro,000,000 sacks might be thus kept up at an annual cost of £1,250,000, plus the expenditure of administration, which would probably be heavy. With regard to this suggestion, it is very probable that a few large mills which have plenty of warehouse accommodation and depots all over the country would be ready to keep up a permanent extra stock of 1oo,000 sacks. Thus a mill of ro,000 sacks' capacity per week, which habitually maintains a total stock of 50,000 sacks, might bring up its stock to 150,000 sacks.

Such a mill, being a good customer to See also:

railways, could get from them the storage it required for little or nothing. But the bulk of the mills have no such advantages. They have little or no spare warehousing See also:room, and are not accustomed to keep any stock, sending their flour out almost as fast as it is milled. It is doubtful therefore if a bounty of 2S. 6d. per sack would have the desired effect of keeping up a stock of ro,000,000 sacks, sufficient for two to three months' bread consumption. The controversy reached a See also:climax in the royal commission appointed in 1903, to which was also referred the importation of raw material in war time. Its report appeared in Royal corn- 1905. 1905. To the question whether the unquestioned See also:mission, 1903-1905. dependence of the United Kingdom on an uninterrupted supply of sea-borne breadstuffs renders it advisable or not to maintain at all times a six months' stock of wheat and flour, it returned no decided See also:answer, or perhaps it would be more correct to say that the commission was hopelessly divided. The main report was distinctly optimistic so far as the liability of the country to harass and distress at the hands of a hostile naval power or See also:combination of powers was concerned. But there were several dissentients, and there was hardly any portion of the report in chief which did not provoke some See also:reservation or another. That a maritime war would cause freights and insurance to rise in a high degree was freely admitted, and it was also admitted that the price of bread must also rise very appreciably.

But, provided the navy did not break down, the risk of See also:

starvation was dismissed. Therefore all the proposals for providing national granaries or inducing merchants and millers to carry bigger stocks were put aside as unpractical and unnecessary. The commission was, however, inclined to consider more favourably a suggestion for providing free storage for wheat at the expense of the State. The idea was that if the State would subsidize any large granary company to the extent of 6d. or 5d. per qr., grain now warehoused in foreign lands would be attracted to the British Isles. But on the whole the commission held that the main effect of the scheme would be to See also:saddle the government with the See also:rent of all grain stored in public warehouses in the United Kingdom without materially increasing stocks. The proposal to offer bounties to farmers to hold stocks for a longer period and to grow more wheat met with equally little favour. To sum up the advantages of national granaries, assuming any sort of disaster to the navy, the See also:possession of a reserve of even six months' wheat-supply in addition to ordinary stocks would prevent panic prices. On the other hand, the difficulties in the way of forming and administering such a reserve are very great. The world grows no great surplus of wheat, and to form a six months', much more a twelve months', stock would be the work of years. The government in buying up the wheat would have- to go carefully if they would avoid sending up prices with a See also:rush. They would have to buy dearly, and when they let go a certain amount of stock they would be See also:bound to sell cheaply. A stock once formed might be held by the State with little or no disturbance of the corn market, although the existence of such an emergency stock would hardly encourage British farmers to grow more wheat.

The cost of erecting, equipping and keeping in good See also:

order the necessary warehouses would be, probably, much heavier than the most liberal estimate hitherto made by See also:advocates of national granaries. (G. F.

End of Article: GRANARIES

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