MARKETING HAY THROUGH TERMINAL MARKETS. 7 



for other purposes when not needed for handling hay the expense 

 would probably be slightly lower. Practically all the handling of 

 hay at warehouses is done by laborers and no machinery other than 

 hand trucks is used. A few warehouses in the country are equipped 

 with machinery for handling the hay and a considerable part of the 

 work is done mechanically. In a warehouse located at Saginaw, 

 Mich., the hay is unloaded from the car onto chain conveyers which 

 carry it to the top floor and over to a grading floor located above the 

 central part of the warehouse. An experienced grader stands at the 

 end of the conveyor and classifies the hay. When classified it is 

 pushed into one of three chutes which lead from this floor to three 

 different locations on each of three floors beloAv. Switches or gates 



Fig. 2. — Grading floor in Michigan warehouse. The bales are graded as they are de- 

 livered by the chain conveyor. When graded the bales are placed in one of three 

 chutes which delivers them to the floors below. The entrance to one of the chutes 

 is shown at the left. The levers control the gates on the floors below. 



in these chutes may be set so that the hay can "be placed in the desired 

 location on any of the three lower floors. It is then piled with other 

 hay of similar quality (Figs. 2 and 3). When the hay is to be re- 

 loaded it is placed in the same distributing chutes with the switches 

 set so as to discharge the hay onto a conveyer on the ground floor, 

 fhich delivers it to the car. By this method a carload of hay can be 

 mloaded, graded, and stored quickly or reloaded into another car. 

 r ith 10 men this complete operation, with the exception of the re- 

 loading, can be accomplished in 15 minutes. Six men, usually are 

 employed, however, and it takes about an hour to unload, classify, and 

 store the hay in the warehouse. It is estimated that the cost of han- 

 dling hay through such a warehouse is about $1.50 per ton. 



