2 BULLETIN 48, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



under varying; weather conditions. A standard scale test car was 

 also attached to each shipment, and all scales were carefully tested 

 prior to weighing the cars. Each shipment was accompanied by a 

 representative of the United States Department of Agriculture, for 

 the purpose of making weighings en route at certain division points 

 and of keeping a complete record of the changes in the temperature 

 of the corn. The temperature records were taken by means of elec- 

 trical resistance thermometers, which were placed in the corn at the 

 time of loading, as shown in figure 1. In all of the shipments, with 

 the exception of the first, two cars were loaded from each lot of corn. 

 In the second, third, and fourth shipments one car from each lot of 



r 



j STOP OF GRAIN | 



Fig. 1. — Sectional view through tbe center of a freight car, showing the position of the 

 six electrical resistance thermometers in the stored corn. 



corn was shipped from Baltimore to Chicago and return, while the 

 duplicate cars of corn from each lot, together with an empty box car 

 of the same type, were held on the track in the yards at Baltimore. 



FIRST EXPERIMENT, APRIL 14 TO MAY 11, 1910. 



CORN LOADED INTO CARS. 



On April 14, 1910, five cars were loaded with shelled corn from 

 the Locust Point elevators of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co., 

 Baltimore, Md. The amount of corn contained in each car varied 

 from 05,920 to 07,100 pounds, wdth an average of 60,832 pounds, or 

 slightly more than 1,193 bushels. The different lots of corn used in 

 this experiment were taken from the regular stock in the elevators 

 and were selected primarily with the view to having corn with a 

 relatively wide range in moisture content. Before loading, each lot 

 was thoroughly mixed by handling in the elevator, so that the quality 

 and condition of the corn would be uniform throughout the car. At 

 the time of loading, each car was equipped with six electrical resist- 

 ance thermometers, as shown in figure 1. These thermometers were 



