THE TEST WEIGHT OF GRAIN. 3 



or more per bushel by making the test according to different methods, 

 as,is shown in some of the following tables and figures. 



Table I shows the variations in test weight per bushel obtained by- 

 filling the test kettle by different methods. These tests were all made 

 by the same person, and an attempt was made to make them in 

 exactly the same manner as they had been observed to have been 

 made by various investigators, grain dealers, and grain inspectors 

 while testing grain in commercial work. The tests, with the excep- 

 tion of those made with the aid of a hopper, were all made with an 

 ordinary quart tester and with commercial oats in a railroad car, and 

 so far as possible with the same portion of the grain in the car. The 

 tests made with the hopper were made in the laboratory on samples 

 of the same oats which had been tested in the car by the other 

 methods described. 



Table I. — Test toeight per bushel of oats, showing the variation in the results 

 obtained by filling the test kettle by different methods. 





Weight per bushel (pounds). 



Method of filling the test kettle. 





Individual tests. 















Mini- 

 mum. 



Maxi- 

 mum. 



Aver- 





No. 1. 



No. 2. 



No. 3. 



No. 4. 



No. 5. 



age. 



Test kettle filled from a bag held 2 to 3 inches 



37 



36.5 



37 



38.75 



38 



39.75 



37.2 



37. S 



36.5 



37 



39.25 



38.25 



40.75 



37.2 



37.5 



36.5 



37 



39 



38.25 



39.5 



37.3 



38.25 



36.5 ' 

 36.75 

 39.5 



38.25 



39 



37.2 



37 



36.25 



37 



39.5 



39.5 



39.75 



37.2 



37 



36.25 

 36.75 

 38.75 



38 



39 



37.2 



.38.25 



36.5 



37 



39.5 



39 5 



40.75 



37.3 



37.45 



Test kettle sunk into the grain and grain pulled 

 into the kettle by hand: 



(1) By one motion of both hands 



(2) By 9 to 11 motions of both hands 



Test kettle filled by dipping it into the grain . . 

 Test kettle filled by pulling it through the 



grain by about a 2-foot sweep: 



(1) Through loose, worked-over grain 



(2) Through the packed surface of the grain 



in a car before the grain had been 



36.45 

 36.95 

 39.20 



38.45 



39.75 



Test kettle filled from a hopper having an out- 

 let opening 1J inches in diameter held 2 

 inches above the kettle and weighings made 

 on the special beam described in this bulletin . 



37.22 



Table I shows that the different methods of filling the test kettle 

 resulted in a considerable variation in the test weights that were ob- 

 tained. The greatest variation in the results of the five tests of any 

 one method was 1.75 pounds; the greatest variation in the averages 

 for the different methods was 3.3 pounds ; while the greatest differ- 

 ence in the results of all the tests was as much as 4.5 pounds. The 

 results obtained by the hopper method varied but one-tenth of a 

 pound per bushel in the five tests. Had the tests been made by some 

 other person or by different persons, or had the grain been in differ- 

 ent conditions of dryness or cleanness, the results would, no doubt, 

 have varied somewhat from those given in the table. The influence 



