14 BULLETIN 980, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the quality of hay whereby an honest settlement could be made be- 

 tween receiver and shipper. With a strictly unbiased inspection 

 service the universal use of certificates of grade would obviously tend 

 to place the marketing of hay on a good business foundation. 



However, in many markets " in " certificates are used only occasion- 

 ally at the present time. Some markets allow the inspection of hay 

 only upon the request of the receiver, and under certain conditions 

 inspection certificates are used unfairly. When a market has a good 

 demand for hay and the prices are advancing from day to day the 

 hay bought " to arrive " is accepted as invoiced without giving atten- 

 tion to the grade, unless it is obviously of such a quality that notwith- 

 standing the advancing market it will show a loss. 



For example, hay bought to be No. 2 timothy or better will often 

 be accepted on contract at contract price, even if it actually grades 

 No. 3. Since with the advancing market the dealer has a profit any- 

 way, he does not have the hay graded but accepts it as of the grade 

 bought. But if the market has declined it is customary to have an 

 official inspection made and if the hay is not of the grade bought it 

 is rejected or the shipper is notified of the discount at which it will 

 be accepted. Receivers say that they are obliged to call for inspec- 

 tion on a declining market because they are obliged to protect them- 

 selves and accept only the grade contracted for. They claim that 

 when the market is advancing they pay the shipper more than the 

 hay is really worth and therefore the shipper should not complain 

 against inspection on a declining market. 



USE OF " OUT " CERTIFICATES. 



Except in rare instances, outbound shipments are not now graded. 

 It is claimed by some dealers who do a shipping business from the 

 distributing markets that there is at present such a difference of 

 opinion among consumers and dealers located in consuming terri- 

 tories as to what constitutes the qualifications for the different grades 

 that it would be impossible to sell hay on the same grades on which 

 it is bought in these distributing markets. In other words, this 

 means that dealers will not use an outbound inspection certificate, 

 especially for hay shipped into the South. If the dealers will not 

 reconsign hay according to an official inspection it is evidently be- 

 cause they are not willing to use the grade as determined by their 

 own inspector. There is evidence that grades are sometimes raised 

 on hay shipped into consuming territories, especially on shipments 

 into the South. This is one reason why outbound inspection certifi- 

 cates are not in general use to-day. 



It has been found that in some instances if the southern receiver 

 insists on an outbound certificate, the price first quoted will be 

 raised at least $2 or more per ton over the price quoted when no 

 certificate was to be sent. Many dealers in consuming territories 

 know present grades of hay, but are not able to obtain the kind of 



