MARKETING GRAIN AT COUNTRY POINTS. 9 
advantage of one-half pound or more in the test. In an effort to 
ofiset these losses some elevator operators, where the grade of wheat 
used as a Standard calls for a test weight of 59 pounds, purchase the 
wheat on the basis of a test weight of 60 pounds. 
VARIATION IN GRADE. 
Deductions are nearly always made when the grain delivered is 
- not equal to the grade contracted, but out of 163 elevators from 
which data on the subject were obtained only 50 paid a premium to 
the farmer when the grain delivered was of a higher grade than that 
commonly purchased. At the remaining 113 elevators the farmer 
with grain of exceptional quality realized nothing additional for it, 
any premium which the grain should command being either added to 
the profits of the buyer or used in equalizing excessive prices paid 
for inferior grain. 
While some attempt at least is made to buy wheat, oats, and 
other small grains by grade at nearly all points, until recently almost 
no effort has been made to purchase corn in this manner, the same 
price being paid for all corn received, regardless of variation in any 
of the factors contributing to the grade, including color, moisture 
content, and the percentage of dirt and damaged grains. This 
method of paying for grain does not offer many inducements to the 
farmer to handle his grain properly. : 
Yield and other factors being equal the farmer should grow 
corn of the color commanding the best price in his market; of a 
variety showing a low moisture content when properly cared for; 
should harvest and store his crop in a manner insuring a low per- 
centage of moisture and damaged grain; and should insist, in return, 
that the dealer pay him for the superior quality of his grain. Sam- 
ples of corn taken during the fall of 1915 indicated that the dealers 
were paying the same price for corn ranging anywhere from 19.4 
to 25.1 per cent of moisture and containing from a trace to 7 per cent 
of damaged grain. In one instance a dealer in Ohio paid the regular 
price for a load containing 23.4 per cent moisture and 6.5 per cent 
damaged grain, mixing it and other similar loads with other corn of 
the same color. The carload shipments tested from 21 to 22 per cent 
. moisture at a near-by mill, so it is evident that the shipper was ob- 
taining some corn testing close to 19 per cent. On the day that this 
load of corn was bought, the elevator manager was paying 50 cents 
per bushel. He was offered 60 cents on track for cern guaranteed to 
arrive cool and sweet at New England points, but because of the high 
percentage of moisture and damaged grain present, it was sold to a 
near-by mill at 54 cents. It is apparent that if the corn of good qual- 
ity had been kept separate it might have been sold on the New Eng- 
land bid without assuming any great risk. The near-by mill, which 
93179°—Bull. 558—17——2 
