4 BULLETIN 558, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
may be required to accumulate a car-lot shipment. In such instances 
it is necessary for the country elevator to provide facilities for sepa- 
rate storage of this grain, which makes the cost of handling excessive. 
Often the prospect of a more favorable future market apparently 
warrants the storing of grain for a considerable period. Frequently 
country elevators also store grain for farmers who desire to hold 
their product for a more favorable market. i 
CLEANING AND CONDITIONING GRAIN. 
Some country elevators are provided with equipment for cleaning 
and conditioning grain. While such equipment is expensive, its use 
frequently improves the quality of the grain and increases its market 
value. Sometimes grain comes to the elevator in poor condition, 
often being dirty, dusty, or with high moisture content, and unless 
the quality is improved by cleaning or drying, the grain can not be 
disposed of advantageously. Moreover, grain containing impurities, 
foreign matter, or a high moisture content is quite likely to become 
hot in transit, which greatly reduces its value and frequently results 
in serious financial loss. If the elevator is not provided with suitable 
equipment for this process such grain must be shipped in the con- 
dition in which it is received. The farmer should not place all 
responsibility for cleaning grain on the elevator. It should be 
remembered that elevator managers do not pay grain prices for the 
dirt and water found in a farmer’s grain. Rather they establish the 
price by taking into consideration the necessary expense of placing 
the grain in marketable condition. The farmer who delivers clean, 
dry, sound grain should receive a premium over the price paid to his 
more careless competitor. Farmers who deliver grain of inferior 
quality should be willing to submit to a discount. 
The country elevator in some sections cleans the grain received 
and returns the screenings to the producers. The screenings are 
sometimes of considerable value for feeding purposes, selling for as 
much as $10 to $25 per ton. In sections of the country where wild 
oats are commonly found mixed with the small grains, from 2 to 40 
per cent of the grain delivered at the elevator may consist of screen- 
ings. At several stations in North Dakota the “dockage” for the 
1914 season crop of wheat averaged 6 pounds per bushel. In other 
words, the equivalent of every tenth load of grain delivered at the 
elevator was screenings, for which the farmer received no return 
unless the elevator was provided with cleaning equipment. Some- 
times a charge is made for cleaning, usually from 1 to 2 cents per 
bushel, bulk weight. 
Cleaning equipment is much more important in some sections of 
the country than in others. Houses provided with cleaning machin- 
