26 BULLETIN 9T7, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



will reach across the car from one side to the other and four of the 

 bales one on top of the other, flat sides together, will reach to the 

 top of the car. One tier of the large bales will, therefore, gen- 

 erally contain about eight bales. It is sometimes possible to place 

 one row of bales on end and thus get an extra bale into the tier. 

 From 10 to 14 tiers can be loaded into the car, depending upon the 

 length of the car. so that a carload of five-wire bales will contain 

 from 90 to 125 bales. 



Except when shipping new hay loaded very loosely, there should 

 not be much difficulty in loading cars up to the minimum weight re- 

 quired. In sections where hay is baled with power presses, very 

 little trouble is experienced in loading a car to its minimum weight. 

 In the prairie-hay section hay baled from the windrow with horse 

 presses, for shipment to the South, often does not weigh more than 

 70 pounds to the bale. This type of bale makes it difficult to load 

 cars to the minimum weight, especially in some of the smaller, older 

 types of equipment. 



LOADING NEW HAY. 



In shipping new hay the bales should be loaded more loosely than 

 old hay. When new hay is crowded close together (in the bale) 

 it prevents the circulation of the air and heating is likely to occur. 

 It has been found that if bales are loaded on - end and allowed to 

 remain a slight distance apart, they will tend to dry out while in 

 transit and will therefore not heat too much unless the hay has 

 been very inadequately cured. 



The length of time hay will be in transit should always be taken 

 into consideration when loading new hay. If the haul is com- 

 paratively short it is not necessarj^ to allow for circulation between 

 the bales. Hay that will probably be in transit more than a few 

 days should be loaded so as to prevent heating as much as possible. 

 It often happens that hay baled from the windrow, swath, or cock, 

 is apparently cool when loaded, but arrives " hot " in the market. 

 In some such instances shippers question the statement, of the receiver 

 when he reports that the hay has arrived " hot." It is much better 

 to hold newly baled hay in storage for a few weeks so that it will 

 cure thoroughly than to run the risk of its heating and spoiling in 

 transit. 



LOADING CABS UNIFORMLY. 



The uneven loading of cars is a practice that is constantly causing 

 a great deal of trouble in the hay industry in "many parts of the 

 country. The trouble is caused by the fact that shippers fail to 

 invoice cars properly when they are not loaded uniformly. This 

 omission has at least two causes: (1) The shipper is not aware of 



