THE MARKETING OF WHEAT 221 



The Weighing of Wheat. A few years ago the average 

 weight of the loads weighed at Minneapolis was 20 tons. Now 

 monstrous weighing machines weigh 50 tons at a time. Some 

 states have a state weighing department. That of Minnesota, 

 located at Minneapolis, has given service which steadily grows 

 in public confidence and favor. In 1902, it employed 68 

 and supervised weighing at 42 elevators and 17 flour 

 sides 4 feed mills, 5 oil mills, and 3 railroad yards. It weighed 

 233,127 car loads and 5,564 wagon loads, which included 152,- 

 810,383 bushels of wheat. The revenue was nearly $60,000, and 

 the disbursements were about $4,000 more. It is the intention 

 of the law that the service shall be self-sustaining. The de- 

 partment has also removed from the field a notorious class of 

 men known as grain thieves. Only 81 errors were made in 

 weighing 259,996 cars of grain, and 6,000,000 bushels of grain 

 have been weighed with an average shortage of only 40 pounds 

 per car. 



The Commercial Grading of Wheat. The value of wheat 

 varies with its quality, and with the purpose for which it is to 

 be used. In the school of competition, manufacturers of cereal 

 products and large consumers of raw cereals learned that it is 

 essential to know the relative values of different lots of grain. 

 The experience of these men, aided by science, determined the 

 kinds of wheat that are best adapted for various purposes, and 

 the methods of distinguishing them. This was the origin of 

 the commercial grades of wheat. The grading of wheat con- 

 sists in examining the various lots or cargoes to determine their 

 quality and uniformity, and in assigning them to the proper 

 grades. The principal characteristics which aid in fixing the 

 grade are weight per bushel; plumpness; soundness; color; and 

 freedom from smut, foreign seeds and other matter, and from 

 mixture with a different type of wheat. These characteristics 

 vary so in degree and combination that they are not reasonably 

 distinct, and consequently they are difficult of measurement and 

 definition. Gradations are continuous, and if lines are drawn 

 to mark the limits of the grades, it is difficult to determine the 

 grades in cases close to the lines. Consequently, grade require- 

 ments have been couched in obscure and indefinite terms and 

 phrases, and the responsibility for their interpretation has been 

 left largely with the grain inspectors. 



