8 



BULLETIN 979, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Another factor entering into the cost of warehousing hay is the 

 "transit privilege." Some railroads allow dealers owning ware- 

 houses situated on their lines the privilege of unloading hay into 

 their warehouses, of grading it, storing for a period not exceeding 



6 months, reloading 

 and rebilling it upon 

 the through rate. 

 While the stop-off 

 charge is from $2 to 

 $3 per car, this is 

 more than covered 

 in most instances by 

 the difference be- 

 tween the through 

 rate and the combi- 

 nation of local rates 

 which would apply 

 if the hay were 

 shipped only to the 

 warehouse, and after 

 a time reloaded and 

 shipped to a con- 

 suming market. 

 Many roads do not 

 allow transit privi- 

 leges, however, 

 which is probably 

 one of the reasons 

 that practically no 

 hay warehouses are 

 in operation in some 

 sections of the 

 country. 



TV h i 1 e no com- 

 plete data are avail- 

 able as to the costs 

 of marketing hay 

 through a ware- 

 house, studies and 

 observations made 

 indicate that on an 

 average hay that has been classified and graded by being handled 

 through a well-equipped warehouse would have to sell about $1 

 above the price of hay loaded directly into the car. It is asserted 

 that while buyers are frequently dissatisfied with hay that is not of 



Fig. 3. — One of the gates in distributing chutes. When 

 the pieces numbered 1 are in the position indicated the 

 hale is stopped and its weight opens a trap door in the 

 bottom of the chute. This allows the bale to drop into 

 another chute which delivers it to the floor below. 

 When the pieces numbered 1 are pulled down by the 

 levers shown in Fig. 2 the bale shoots over the trap 

 door onto this floor. 



