90 



ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



which lie hauls to the country elevator, but it is the business 

 of the government grader to find the poor kernels in each 

 sample and to estimate their number and nature relatively 

 to the good ones. He has to take note of the proportion of 

 shriveled grains, immature grains, smutted grains, pink 

 grains, soft grains, frosted grains, etc., and in forming 

 his judgment must rely on his own keen senses, his ex- 

 pert knowledge, and his experience. 



The charge for inspecting a ear of wheat is 60 cents, 

 and this, added to 40 cents for weighing, makes a total 

 inspection and weighing charge to the farmer of one 

 dollar per car. 



An inspector, after grading a sample, at once writes 

 down his report on his sheet containing car numbers. 

 This sheet eventually goes to the clerical stafE who prepare 

 the certificates of grade. 



The wheat composing any sample, after being graded, 

 is put into a tin box which is nine inches long, three inches 

 high, and three inches wide. The box is filled, and, when 

 full,, holds about two pounds of grain. Each box is 

 labeled outside with the car number, date, etc., and con- 

 tains within the original sample ticket which now sets 

 forth the car number, the initials of the sampler, the name 

 of the yard foreman who put the sample in the bag, the 

 depth of the wheat in the car, the grade, the amount of 

 dockage, the grader's name, and the dates of taking the 

 sample and grading. The boxes are carefully filed on 

 shelves in the sample room. The sample room, which 

 adjoins the grading room, at any one time contains about 

 60,000 tin boxes which are kept filled for as long as 

 they are likely to be needed for reference and are then 

 emptied. An official goes through the sample room and 

 empties a certain number of boxes each day and thus 

 makes room for new ones coming daily from the grading 



