16 BULLETIN 980, II. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



formulating grades which will be fair and just to all and which will 

 be simple in form, readily understood, and easily applied by all 

 marketing agencies. 



ADVANTAGE TO THE TRADE. 



To the producer. — The uniform application of standard hay grades 

 will be of the utmost value to the producer, for with them he can, 

 if he so desires, learn the true grade of his product. He will realize 

 that his old, grassy, wornout meadow should be plowed up and re- 

 seeded to proper kinds and mixtures that will sell to advantage on 

 the market. The producer who knows grades will be able to market 

 intelligently when selling to the country shipper or when shipping 

 his own hay. Uniform grades will encourage selling hay by grade 

 on the farm. 



To the shipper. — The shipper will be relieved of a vast amount 

 of trouble by the uniform application of standard grades, because 

 great variation in the interpretation of grades by different receivers 

 or in different sections or markets will not occur. They will be 

 of great help in his dealings with the intelligent producer and will 

 probably result in more profit to the producer because of the lessened 

 chances of loss now sustained when an average price per ton is made 

 for the producer's entire crop or surplus. With uniform grades it is 

 believed that country shippers as a rule will encourage as much as 

 j)ossible the buying of hay by grade on the farm. 



To the consumer. — The consumer will be greatly benefited by uni- 

 form grades after he has thoroughly learned them. He may find that 

 the kind of hay he has been buying for " Choice " and Xo. 1 is only 

 of medium quality. Uniform grades should tend to save the con- 

 sumer considerable money, for by their use he will know, first, just 

 what kind of hay to purchase ; and second, just what kind or grade 

 of hay is to be delivered on his order. 



Effect on certain trade practices. — The uniform application of 

 standard grades will make a change in the method of reconsigning 

 hay from terminal markets. Instead of invoicing the hay according 

 to his own judgment the shipper will invoice it according to the in- 

 spection certificate issued by the inspector. This method will result 

 in the shipper making less money than formerly when shipping to 

 certain receivers in the distributing territory if the distributor's ideas 

 as to grade requirements have been lower than those of the shipper 

 who has been invoicing hay a little high as regards grades. 



It is obvious that the only way to insure the uniform application 

 of grades in all parts of the country is by the maintenance of an 

 effective and unbiased inspection service open to all agencies engaged 

 in marketing. The time when one agency only has the entire benefit 

 of inspection to the detriment of other interested agencies must be 

 passed if any progress is to be made in the hay business. 



WASHINGTON" : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE l 1921 



