70 MAINE AGRICULTURAL LXP^RIMLNT STATION, I914. 



tester. "So far as the Bureau has any knowledge on the mat- 

 ter, the!re is very little care or uniformity of method used in 

 filling the bucket with grain, although without doubt, it is a 

 matter to which greater attention should be given as there is a 

 d'ecided difference in the amount of grain that may be contained 

 in a measure according to which it is struck off level as it falls 

 into the bucket or is first shaken down. The most common 

 practice in the matter is, probably, to merely dip the bucket into 

 the grain to fill and then strike off the grain as it lies." With 

 the aim of obtaining data relative to the methods of handling 

 this device a series of weighings of one variety of oats, namely- 

 the Lincoln, were made. It should be said that the Lincoln oat 

 is medium in size, plump and generally free from awns. 



The lot of oats amounting to five bushels from which the 

 data presented in this paper were collected was contained in a 

 bin 3 ft. 10 in. long by 2|- ft. wide and 2^ ft. deep. Before 

 beginning to take weight records the oats were thoroughly 

 stirred and piled in one end of the bin. For each weighing the 

 bucket was filled with the grain in one end of the bin. Aftec 

 recording the weight the grain was emptied in the opposite end 

 of the bin. Hence the bucket was filled' for each determination 

 with grain from one end only of the bin until all the grain in 

 that end was removed to the opposite end. Then the grain was 

 again thoroughly stirred or mixCd and piled in one end of the 

 bin as in the beginning. One hundred weighings, the distribu- 

 tion of which is shown in table i, were made according to each 

 of four methods. All weighings were obtained during one day 

 by one person. 



The procedure in the different methods was as follows : 

 Method L The grain was poured into the bucket filling the 

 same rounding full and was not settled in any way. Then the 

 top was levelled off as follows : In each method a beveled 

 straight edge laid flat on the rim of the bucket was used to 

 smooth off the top grains in order to ensure the surface of the 

 grain being in the same plane wilth the rim. The straight edge 

 should be moved in a zigzag movement across the surface and 

 should not be drawn directly across, for such a force drags out 

 many grains beneath the plane of the rim leaving the bucket 

 incompletely filled. 



