24 AMERICAN EXPORT CORN ( MAIZE ) IN EUROPE. 



Wliere the shipments of corn contained a percentage of moisture 

 much above that of thoroughly air-dried com it was found in a large 

 percentage of the holds examined that at least some of the corn was 

 heating, and in some cases that all of it was in that condition. 



In many cases the damage was confined to the com at the top of 

 the cargo, where the grain was loaded under and came in contact with 

 damp cotton, copper, or other heavy or wet freight, and where the 

 corn was located against wet shifting boards or along the sides of 

 the ship, where condensation had taken place, while in other cases 

 the heating grain was apparently protected from boiler heat and had 

 no other freight loaded upon it. 



THE HEAT RADIATED FROM THE SHIP's BOILERS AND ENGINES. 



Where the heating occurred, the temperature as well as the degree 

 of damage in the corn was not uniform in the damaged portions. 

 When the damaged corn w^as located in that section of the ship con- 

 tiguous to the boiler and engine room bulkheads, to the propeller- 

 shaft tunnels, or in the coal-bunker holds, as it was in the greatest 

 number of cases, the greatest heat and the most severe damage were 

 usually found nearest to those bulkheads and shaft tunnels, and less 

 heat and a less degree of damage the farther the distance from them. 

 The usual situation in such cases is indicated in figure 5. 



THE LENGTH OF VOYAGE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON CORN. 



The length of voyage of grain steamships from Argentina to Europe 

 averages about thirty-five days, from the American Atlantic ports 

 about thirteen days, and from ports on the Gulf of ]\Iexico about 

 twenty days. 



The available information and data regarding the length of voy- 

 age of the cargoes examined in Europe seem to warrant the con- 

 clusion that if corn when loaded into ships is sound and dry, the 

 length of the voyage has little or no effect upon its condition, but when 

 it is shipped with a high moisture content and is stowed in such a 

 way as to be subjected to heat from the inside of the ship or is shipped 

 during the warm seasons of the year when it is subjected to con- 

 siderable heat from the outside atmosphere, the length of the voyage 

 is a very important factor, especially if the heating begins early in 

 the voyage, in which case the heat is gradually difl'used with each 

 succeeding day and a higher temperature is developed in the com 

 already heating. Thus with each succeeding day more of the sound 

 corn begins to heat and the com already heating becomes more 

 severely damaged. 



[Cir. 55] 



