20 THE COMMERCIAL GRADING OF CORN. 



It should be distinctly understood that the grade limits in the above 

 table are given merely for the purpose of illustrating its use. Just 

 what these standards should be must be determined to suit local con- 

 ditions or to suit the requirements of each market or series of markets 

 handling- the same sort of grain, and they could be changed from year 

 to year as occasion required. 



INSPECTION CERTIFICATES. 



It is difficult to fix the grade limitations in a way to do full justice 

 to all cargoes graded. Were it possible to assign definite relative 

 values to each measured element a score card could bo made by which 

 the cargoes could be rated, but the variety of uses to which any grain 

 is put. results in a sliding scale of relative values, which renders the 

 use of a general score card impossible. Definite grade limitations are 

 absolutely necessary to secure uniform results. To compensate to 

 some extent the injustice sometimes done by drawing sharp grade 

 lines, it would seem desirable to have the inspection certificates show 

 something more than the grade actually given to any cargo of grain. 



Such a certificate could show, in addition to the class and grade 

 number of the cargo, its approximate condition as to moisture, dam- 

 aged grain, broken grains, and. in case of mixture, the proportion of 

 the colors present. A certificate of this kind would enable the pros- 

 pective purchaser to select, in buying cargoes of grain, those which he 

 could mix to advantage to secure certain results, or a seller might use 

 such a certificate in placing his grain to advantage with customers 

 having particular needs or special facilities for remedying certain 

 defects. These certificates would in no way interfere with the main- 

 tenance of the present contract grades and might be of considerable 

 assistance in dispensing with sample dealing. 



THE CAUSE OF DETERIORATION. 



With the exception of the rather infrequent cases of insect damage 

 of one sort or another, the one cause of the deterioration of corn in 

 transit and storage in this country is excessive moisture. 



Corn matures so late in the season over most of the area that pro- 

 duces a surplus, that there is not sufficient warm, dry weather to prop- 

 erly cure it. and the bulk of the crop usually goes into the crib damp 

 and cold. 



If it is shelled in this condition and put into store in large bins the 

 grain has almost no opportunity to dry out properly. As long as the 

 cold weather lasts the damage is slight, unless fermentation is acci- 

 dentally started or the grain is unusually damp, but with the warm 

 weather of spring the trouble begins. In the commercial world this 

 trying time is known as the " germinating season." As a matter of 

 fact, there is little or no actual germination of the stored corn at this 



