6 BULLETIN 764, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
lian and Italian law in corn to be consumed for human food is 80 e.¢. 
and this is also the maximum limit allowed by the pure food board 
of South Carolina in corn entering that State. Corn testing over 
30 c. c. in acidity is such that no reputable grain man in this country 
would class it in any of the numerical grades. In several hundred 
samples of corn tested by the department, corn on the farms averaged 
18.1 ¢. c., corn received at terminal markets 20.4 c. c.,! and the corn 
discharged at foreign ports averaged 30.4 c.c. in acidity. It will be 
of interest to note that of these samples, those taken from the farm 
tested 76.5 per cent in germination, samples received at terminal mar- 
kets tested 58.8 per cent in germination, and samples taken at foreign 
ports tested 31 per cent in germination, showing that there is a close 
relation between the soundness of corn as determined by the acidity 
test and its viability.” 
THE KEEPING QUALITIES OF EXPORT CORN INFLUENCED BY ITS POSITION OF STOWAGE 
IN THE STEAMSHIP. 
Practically all of the corn that is exported to Europe from the 
United States is carried in bulk, with the exception of small quanti- 
ties placed in sacks, which are used for trimming the cargo in order to 
prevent the bulk grain from shiftmg with the rolling and pitching 
of the ship. When the corn is thoroughly air-dried, it is not a matter 
of great importance where or how it is stowed, as long as it does not 
come in contact with the sea water, green or wet shifting boards, 
or damp or wet freight or wet lumber, etc. Where the shipments of 
corn contained a percentage of moisture much above that of thoroughly 
air-dried corn, it was found that at least some of the corn was often 
in a heating condition at the time of discharge. Where the heating 
occurred in positions of stowage free from the engine and boiler-room 
bulkheads and the shaft tunnels, the greatest heat and the most 
severe damage were found at the surface, the less heat and the less 
degree of damage the farther the distance down in the hold. When 
the damaged corn was located in that section of the ship contiguous 
to the boiler and engine-room bulkheads or to the propeller shaft 
tunnels, the greatest heat and the most severe damage were found 
nearest to those bulkheads and shaft tunnels, and the less heat and 
less degree of damage the farther the distance from them. The usual 
situation in such cases is clearly indicated in figures 17 and 54. 
LENGTH OF THE VOYAGE AND SEASON OF THE YEAR WHEN SHIPPED, IN RELATION TO 
THE CARRYING QUALITIES OF CORN. 
It appears from these investigations that if the corn when loaded 
in the ships is sound and dry, the length of the voyage has little or no 
1 The method of determining the acidity of corn is given in Department of Agriculture, Bulletin 102, 
entitled “‘ Acidity as a factor in determining the degree of soundness of corn.” 
2 The germination tests given in this report were made by the Seed Laborator7 of the Department of 
Agriculture. 
