12 



BULLETIN" 980, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



constitutes the various grades of hay, and they must know what their 

 buyers want. When a ear of hay reaches the plug tracks it is opened 

 and 30 or more bales are placed on the ground in front of the car. It 

 is officially inspected only when it has been bought " to arrive " and 



does not seem to be of 

 the grade bought, or 

 when the market has 

 declined and the re- 

 ceiver hopes that by 

 having it officially in- 

 spected he can refuse 

 the shipment. Many 

 unfair practices have 

 grown from this situa- 

 tion, the most common 

 of which is the double 

 standard of grades, 

 one for inbound ship- 

 ments and the other for 

 outbound shipments. 



While the plug 

 method is much better 

 than the car-door 

 method, most dealers 

 are of the opinion that 

 it still does not really 

 give the grade of all 

 of the hay in the car. 

 Consequently, inspec- 

 tion certificates based 

 on plug inspection are 

 not entirely satisfac- 

 tory, since they do 

 not furnish complete 

 information regarding 

 the amounts of different grades upon which to base accurately the 

 returns to the shipper. 



WAREHOUSE INSPECTION. 



Warehouse inspection usually consists of inspecting hay after it 

 has been placed in the warehouse. The value of this method de- 

 pends directly upon how the hay is piled. It is obvious that the 

 longer and narrower the pile the more hay will be exposed for in- 

 spection. When a carload of hay is piled high in a square pile the 

 inspector will be able to see only the outside of the stack, and if 



Fig. 3. — Inspecting hay by plug method. 



