16 BULLETIN 980, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
formulating grades which will be fair and just to all and which will 
be simple in form, readily understood, and easily applied by all 
marketing agencies. 
ADVANTAGE TO THE TRADE. 
To the 'producer. — The uniform application of standard hay grades 
will be of the utmost value to the producer, for with them he can, 
if he so desires, learn the true grade of his product. He will realize 
that his old, grassy, wornout meadow should be plowed up and re- 
seeded to proper kind's and mixtures that will sell to advantage on 
the market. The producer who knows grades will be able to market 
intelligently when selling to the country shipper or when shipping 
his own hay. Uniform grades will encourage selling hay by grade 
on the farm. 
To the shipper. — The shipper will be relieved of a vast amount 
of trouble by the uniform application of standard grades, because 
great variation in the interpretation of grades by different receivers 
or in different sections or markets will not occur. They will be 
of great help in his dealings with the intelligent producer and will 
probably result in more profit to the producer because of the lessened 
chances of loss now sustained when an average price per ton is made 
for the producer's entire crop or surplus. With uniform grades it is 
believed that country shippers as a rule will encourage as much as 
possible the buying of hay by grade on the farm. 
To the consumer. — The consumer will be greatly benefited by uni- 
form grades after he has thoroughly learned them. He may find that 
the kind of hay he has been buying for " Choice " and No. 1 is only 
of medium quality. Uniform grades should tend to save the con- 
sumer considerable money, for by their use he will know, first, just 
what kind of hay to purchase ; and second, just what kind or grade 
of hay is to be delivered on his order. 
Effect on certain trade practices. — The uniform application of 
standard grades will make a change in the method of reconsigning 
hay from terminal markets. Instead of invoicing the hay according 
to his own judgment the shipper will invoice it according to the in- 
spection certificate issued by the inspector. This method will result 
in the shipper making less money than formerly when shipping to 
certain receivers in the distributing territory if the distributor's ideas 
as to grade requirements have been lower than those of the shipper 
who has been invoicing hay a little high as regards grades. 
It is obvious that the only way to insure the uniform application 
of grades in all parts of the country is by the maintenance of an 
effective and unbiased inspection service open to all agencies engaged 
in marketing. The time when one agency only has the entire benefit 
of inspection to the detriment of other interested agencies must be 
passed if any progress is to be made in the hay business. 
WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1921 
