to the Pacific Coast, thus enabling the Western farmer to compete in the markets of the East.
Along with other improvements came the refrigeration car (1869), which permitted the transportation of meat at all seasons of the year and, by extending the refrigerating system to the ships, fresh meat was exported to Europe in 1876. Also, a system of grading and classifying grain was adopted, which allowed the handling of vast quantities in bulk and promoted the building of elevators both at interior points and on the lakes and seaboard, thus helping to decrease shipping costs and open up the world's markets to the American farmers.
The amount of grain that can be economically grown in any section is limited by the amount that can be harvested, and it was the invention of the twine binders by Appleby that enabled the production of grain to expand to its present magnitude.
Its consequences were quite as important as those that followed the invention of the reaper. The per capita production of wheat increased from 5.6 bushels in 1860 to 9.2 bushels in 1880.
Miller's improvement of the threshing machine and the use of the steam engine also helped in the expansion of the grain industry.
The invention of the roller process of making flour enabled the production of a better grade from spring wheat than had before been made from winter wheat. This immediately made the further North available as a wheat growing region, and Minnesota and the two Dakotas more than doubled their population in the ten years from 1870 to 1880. Further, the center of flour production moved at one jump from Rochester, New York, to Minneapolis, Minnesota.
