BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 153 



be provided at a lesser cost. Probably the most important develop- 

 ment in connection with these investigations is the practicability of 

 using small amounts of salt daring the first two icings in cars with 

 modified bunkers and racks, to accomplish a quick cooling, comparable 

 to precooling in either warehouses or car precooling plants, with 

 practically no extra cost and no delay for precooling. Under this 

 method the packed fruit is subjected to no handling other than that 

 necessary to place it in the car as it is ordinarily loaded. It also 

 makes possible the long shipment of tree-ripened or more fully 

 matured fruit in good condition, thus supplying the consumer with a 

 product possessing its maximum fine quality. 



Muskmelon handling. — Investigations in cooperation with the 

 Bureau of Chemistry were inaugurated in 1916 for the purpose of 

 determining the proper time for picking muskmelons and the best 

 methods of handling the crop. The work in California during 1916 

 demonstrated the necessity of more careful handling. A large per- 

 centage of the deterioration in transit and on the market was traced 

 directly to rough handling in the field and in the packing and loading 

 sheds. When melons are picked before ripening, the deterioration is 

 less than in riper fruit, but a large part of the crop reaches the east- 

 ern market in a condition unfit for consumption. 



Grain grading and handling. — During the year a patent covering 

 the grain and seed sampling device which was invented in 1915 was 

 applied for and granted. This patent was dedicated to the people of 

 the United States. 



One of the principal factors in determining the proper commercial 

 grade of grain, except corn, is its test weight per bushel. A slight va- 

 riation in the method of filling the test kettle and of stroking the ex- 

 cess grain from the top of the kettle, will cause a serious error in the 

 resulting test weight and consequent grade. The investigations having 

 shown that there are many methods of determining the test weight 

 per bushel of grain and that the varying results often give rise to 

 serious disputes as to the true test, a special apparatus with which 

 uniform results can be obtained by any careful worker has been 

 devised and adopted as the standard apparatus and method for 

 making this test. 



Studies of the methods of handling and grading grain and espe- 

 cially of the "dockage of wheat as it is delivered to elevators and mills 

 have shown that there are three principal methods by which the 

 problem is handled commercially and that these methods vary with 

 different localities or sections. The methods are (1) the grain is 

 bought as it is delivered, but the grade and price paid for it are 

 lowered in proportion to the amount of "dockage"; (2) the grain 

 is delivered without cleaning, but the " dockage " is determined from 

 a small sample by means of sieves, and the grade, weight, and price 

 are then based on the clean grain ; and (3) the grain is delivered with- 

 out cleaning, but the elevators or mills remove this " dockage " and 

 return it to the farmers before weighing and grading the grain. 



Investigations relating to the sulphur bleaching of commercial oats 

 have demonstrated that the sulphur not only bleaches the hull of 

 the oat kernel but the berry as well ; that the damaged oats are less 

 apparent in the bleached than in the unbleached grain ; and that the 

 bleaching process materially reduces the germinating qualities of 



