INTRINSIC TALUES BASED ON DRY-MATTER CONTENT. 7 
known tendency of damp grain to deteriorate in storage and in 
transit and the accelerated risk from such deterioration as the moisture 
content increases; (3) conditions relative to supply and demand at 
the time the grain is marketed and the relative capacity of the grain 
markets to absorb it or dispose of it in a damp condition at a profit; 
(4) weather conditions at the time of marketing and future weather 
conditions as affecting the condition and carrying capacity of the 
grain; (5) consideration of the fact that when grain must be artifi- 
cially dried after being delivered to market, there is a certain extra 
charge for putting it through the drier and for freight on the water 
that must be handled; and (6) that when grain is artificially dried 
there is always a slight " invisible loss" in weight in the drying 
process. Many of these factors are of equal importance with reference 
to the buying and selling of cottonseed, flour, and other products. 
It will therefore be seen that unless these products are purchased 
for immediate consumption, the relative values as given in Tables 
II to XII, inclusive, can not be literally applied as showing final 
market values, premiums, and discounts; and it was not intended 
that they should be so applied. 
RELATION OF REDUCTION OF MOISTURE CONTENT TO SHRINKAGE IN 
WEIGHT. 
Grain, and especially corn, frequently gets into commerce with a 
moisture content too high to receive one of the higher grades or to 
remain sound while in storage or during transportation. This is 
especially true in a year in which there is more than the usual amount 
of rainfall during the growing and harvest seasons. This condition 
has been partially met by the trade by the introduction of machines 
for artificially removing the excess moisture from the grain. These 
grain driers, as they are termed, are extensively used, and increas- 
ingly large amounts of grain are artificially dried by them each year. 
Whether grain dries naturally or is artificially dried, the percentage 
of shrinkage in weight is always greater than the difference in the 
percentage of moisture content before and after drying, as shown by 
the moisture tester, unless all of the moisture is dried out when the 
shrinkage and the reduction in moisture are equal. For instance, if 
corn having an original moisture content of 23 per cent is dried so 
that it tests only 14 per cent, the moisture content is reduced by 
9 per cent. The shrinkage in weight, however, is 10.46 per cent, 
as is shown in Table I. 
When the original moisture content and the moisture content after 
drying are known, the shrinkage can be determined from Table I. 
The reason for the difference in the percentage of shrinkage and 
the reduction of the moisture content is fully explained in Bureau of 
Plant Industry Circular No. 32. 1 
i See Duvel, J. W. T. Molstur* content and shrinkage in grain. TJ. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Indus. 
Cir. 32, 1909, p. 4-7. 
