TESTS IN OTHER STATES 199 



The crops of 1899 and 1906 will be noted as very well matured. 

 The crop of 1903 will always be remembered as the "year of the soft 

 corn." 



Tests in Other States. *"Three joint owners of a tract compris- 

 ing 6,000 acres of land, decided to make a careful test and determine 

 exactly how much corn does actually shrink in weight when husked 

 and cribbed under such conditions as are usually found on the ordi- 

 nary farm. To this end, they erected, in the center of the tract men- ' 

 tioned, a double crib, 26 feet wide by 250 feet long and 10 feet high 

 at the eaves, with a driveway 8 feet wide through the center, and a 

 good, tight roof over all. 



Near one end of this crib a small office was built and a set of 

 standard scales put in. Husking began October 22d and ended De- 

 cember 17th. Every day while it was going on, every pound of corn 

 that went into the crib was weighed and recorded. The quantity put 

 in footed exactly 16,155 bushels of 70 pounds each. From November 

 to March, the price offered for corn by local dealers was 38 cents per 

 bushel of 70 pounds. June ist, the price went up to 52 cents and the 

 corn was sold, to be delivered at the elevator, three and one-half miles 

 distant, early in July. When the time for delivery arrived, the corn 

 was weighed as it came out of the crib, and it was again weighed at 

 the elevator, the total weight at the two places varying but a few 

 pounds. The corn weighed 14,896 bushels and 40 pounds when taken 

 out, showing a total shrinkage of 1,259 bushels or a small fraction 

 less than 7 3-4 per cent. 



It will be seen that if these men had sold the corn immediately 

 after husking, it would have netted them $6,138.90. By holding it 

 until it was sufficiently cured to be handled safely in great bulk, and 

 the lakes and other waterways were open to traffic, they realized 

 $7,746.12 or $1,606.22 more than if they had allowed themselves to 

 be frightened by the great "shrinkage bugaboo." 



In 1893, a Farmers' Club in Pennsylvania adopted a resolution ask- 

 ing the members to make a test and find out by actual weight how 

 much corn would shrink or lose weight from husking time until the 

 next June ist. In accordance with that resolution, ten farmers re- 

 ported the shrinkage from November ist to February ist as 8 2-3 per 

 cent; the shrinkage from February ist to June ist as 2 2-3 per cent, 

 or from husking time to June ist next, 162-3 P^r cent. The follow- 

 ing year a similar test showed a shrinkage of 16.5 per cent. 



*¥. D. Cobum, Beport Kansas State Boardof Agriculture. 1896 



