Inspection tests and methods.—In order to be most efficient, grain inspection must be exact and uni form, and every effort is made by those in control of this work to secure the greatest accuracy and uniformity possible. Many attempts have been made to provide for more accurate methods of inspection and grading than those now in use. A chondrometer, or apparatus for determining the weight per bushel of grain, has been in common use with inspectors for many years. More recently, the inspection of flax has been greatly improved by a system of percentage grading, by which the foreign material and imperfect grains are sepa rated from a sample and their percentage deter mined by weight. Still more recently, various at tempts have been made to determine accurately the percentage of moisture in corn, since it has been fonnd that moist cern deteriorates rapidly in transit aid storage, and it is difficult to estimate its mois t are content accurately when it is either frozen or very cold, which is often the case. In grading bar ley for brewing purposes, attempts have been made to determine the percentage and uniformity of germination of samples, since this is one of the most important factors in determining its value to brewers. Owing to the fact that the grain trade demands rapid inspection and grading, so that the grades of the previous day's receipts may be available in time for the day's business, it has not been practicable to use many of the more accu rate tests that are known for determining quality in grain.
in the Pacific coast grain is handled almost entirely in bags, instead of in loose bulk. This necessitates some differ ent methods of work in inspection and grading and different types of storehouses and ways of handling grain. For pur poses of inspection, it is customary to draw a sample from each hag and base the classifica tion on the composite sample resulting. The term "grading," as ap plied to grain, has a diff erent meaning on the Pacific coast from what it has in the eastern part of the country. In the West it is applied to the practice of mixing together grain of different qualities to produce a mixture that will meet a certain prescribed standard. This practice has also given rise to other trade customs.
particularly to the use of type samples, which are furnished by traders who have grain to sell, and serve as a basis for transactions, instead of the commercial grades, as used elsewhere. A type sam ple in very common use is what is known as the " F. A. Q. sam ple," which means Fair Average Qual ity sample, which is made up early each season after the crop is ready for the mar ket by getting repre sentative samples of grain from the differ ent parts of the pro ducing regions, and this sample or grade is used as a basis for price quotations and future delivery sales, very much as the so-called con tract grade is used in the prevailing eastern markets.
Storing and storehouses.
The storehouses used for grain on the Pacific coast have not been so highly specialized as those in the Mississippi valley and eastward. The sacked grain is stored in cheaply constructed warehouses and moved from place to place or loaded and unloaded by hand trucks. (Fig. 511.) The warehouse, or elevator, as it is called, in which loose bulk grain is ordinarily stored east of the Rocky mountains, is a highly specialized type of builling. (Figs. 512-514.) It consists essen tially of a series of bins set close together, with hoisting, weighing and distributing machinery located above, and with cleaning machinery and loading devices below. Formerly these elevators
were built almost entirely of wood, often covered with corrugated metal. More recently they are being built of steel, of concrete and of tile, so as to render them more nearly fireproof.
When grain is received at an elevator it is hoisted at once to the top, usually by means of long belts which carry iron buckets or scoops. These buckets dump the grain into receiving bins, from which it is drawn into the hoppers of scales for weighing. The weighing of grain in elevators has been developed to a very high degree of accu racy, so that it is possible to weigh a thousand bushels at a time with an error of less than one tenth of one per cent. After the grain is weighed, it is drawn from the scale hoppers into the storage bins, which stand below the scales ; or, in some of the modern storehouses, as, for example, the one shown in Fig. 513, it is drawn out onto a broad transfer belt, which is simply a rubber-coated can vas belt, from three to four feet in width, which runs over concave pulleys in such a way as to carry grain on its upper surface. When it is desired to clean grain or to load it out of an elevator, it may be drawn out of the storage bins from the bottom ; if it is desired to move it from one part of the elevator, it is drawn out on the transfer belt, which runs below the bins, and is carried from one point to another, to be hoisted again and emptied into another bin at the top. In this way bulk grain is handled very rapidly and very cheaply. It is pos sible, for instance, to move 15,000 to 20,000 bushels of grain in an hour over a single transfer belt fifty inches wide.
From the standpoint of their relations to the public, there are two general types of elevators,— the so-called public warehouses and the private warehouses. In view of the fact that grain in storage represents an investment of capital that is not active or bearing interest, it is often desirable to use it as a basis for loans of money. In order that the amount and quality of the grain thus stored may be given an official guarantee, there are, in the larger grain markets, registered or public warehouses in which any person may store grain of any grade that will not deteriorate during a reasonable period of time. The grower, owner or broker may receive from the elevator manager a certificate of storage which states the amount and quality of grain stored, and this may be certified to by an official, representing the local grain trade organization or, in some cases, the state grain commission, and when so certified this certificate serves as collateral for loans. In this way, stored grain is relieved from bearing at least a part of the interest on the investment which it represents. Elevators in which the grain is stored merely for cleaning purposes or for immediate transfer are not registered and they are known as private warehouses.
terature.
The reader should consult Lyon and Montgomery, Examining and Grading Grains (1907), Ginn & Co., for student laboratory methods ; Hunt, Cereals in America (1904), Orange Judd Co.; Cobb, Grain Elevators, Department of Agriculture, Sidney, New South Wales, Miscellaneous Publications, 452 ; Bul letin No. 41, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, The Commercial Grading of Corn, by the author. See also references to literature under the specific grain crops.