EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS 279 



SHRINKAGE OF FARM PRODUCTS. 



C. D. SMITH. 



Bulletin 191. — Farm Department. 



INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY. 



This bulletin is issued to place on permanent record some of the observations made 

 from time to time at this Station and elsewhere on the subject of the gain or loss 

 in weight of field crops between harvest and sale. The plan of the work was laid out by 

 the late Professor A. A. Crozier, and the bulk of the observations reported below were 

 made by him. 



Wheat fluctuates in weight according to the dryness of the air. The extent of this 

 variation, under ordinarj^ conditions, does not exceed six per cent, but where the 

 grain is taken from an intensely dry climate to a comparatively damp one the gain may 

 amount to twenty-five per cent. 



Oats, stored in the fall, lost in one instance over three per cent by the following 

 May, less than two per cent in the second instance, and exactly two per cent in the 

 third, and in a fourth lost but seven pounds in a hundred bushels. 



Corn, when the entire plant is stored in the silo, sufi'ers a very considerable loss 

 in weight. As an average of four tests, this loss amounted to 8.32 per cent. In other 

 cases the loss varied from 14.57 to 20.36 per cent. 



When the entire plant is cured in the field, subsequent variations in weight are 

 determined by the dryness of the air. At the Connecticut Station, where 27.36 tons 

 of corn were cut September 1 into shocks, hauled to the barn later and stored for 

 fodder, the gross weight was but 4.8 tons; on the 8th of February following the 

 weight was 7.5 tons. In a duplicate test, 25.5 tons of green corn weighed but 5.2 tons 

 on November 11, and gained to 8.5 tons by February 8. 



When the corn is husked in the field the loss of weight suffered by the ears depends 

 on their condition when hauled to the crib. Very damp corn cribbed early in October 

 shrunk in weight 30 per cent by the middle of February, while dry corn cribbed 

 October 21 had shrunk by tlie last of January 11 per cent. In another case corn 

 very dry when hauled slirunk by New Years less than 3 per cent. At the Iowa 

 Station the loss in an entire year was 20 per cent in one case, and 9 per cent in 

 another. 



The relation between the Aveights of kernels and cob does not stay constant as the 

 ears dry. When first husked, fully 25 per cent of the weight of the ears lies in the cob. 

 By spring, less than 20 per cent of the weight of the ear is in the cob. An elaborate 

 set of experiments at Houghton Farm showed that the shelled corn lost in weight but 

 about 7.45 per cent from October to March, while the cobs lost fully 36 per cent. 



Two tons of fairly dry Hungarian grass seed lost 90 poimds in weight when stored 

 in a fairly tight bin from November until the following July. 



Hay, very dry timothy, stored in the mow June 27, as hauled from the field, lost 

 but 7 per cent in six months. In another case, timothy hay lost 13.8 per cent; in a 

 third case, the loss was 21.7 per cent, and in still anotlier a little over 15 per cent. 

 In the dry climate of Utah a ton of timothy hay lost a little over 15 per cent be- 

 tween July and April, while a stack built the same day actually gained slightly in 

 weight. In Pennsylvania early cut timothy hay lost in the barn 29 per cent and late 

 cut timothy hay 21.5 per cent between fall and spring. 



Clover hay loses about GO per cent from its weight when mown to the perfectly 

 cured article. Well cured clover hay shrank, in one instance, 9 per cent by November, 

 and in another, well cured clover hay weighed into the barn from the windrow, 

 weighed but 3.6 per cent less in November; in still another case the loss in weight 



