THE TEST WEIGHT OF GRAIN. 3 
or more per bushel by making the test according to different methods, 
as is shown in some of the following tables and figures. 
Table I shows the variations in test weight per bushel obtained by 
filling the test kettle by different methods. These tests were all made 
by the same person, and an attempt was made to make them in 
exactly the same manner as they had been observed to have been 
made by various investigators, grain dealers, and grain inspectors 
while testing grain in commercial work. The tests, with the excep- 
tion of those made with the aid of a hopper, were all made with an 
ordinary quart tester and with commercial oats in a railroad car, and 
so far as possible with the same portion of the grain in the car. The 
tests made with the hopper were made in the laboratory on samples 
of the same oats which had been tested in the car by the other 
methods described. 
TaBLE I.—Test weight per bushel of oats, showing the variation in the results 
obtained by filling the test kettle by different methods. 
Weight per bushel (pounds). 
Method of filling the test kettle. Individual tests. 
No.1. | No. 2.}] No.3. | No. 4. | No. 5. 
Test kettle filled from a bag held 2 to 3 inches 
FI DOW) WO ACR AS cs sae a eee eae eee 37 37.9 | 87.5 | 38.25 | 37 37 38. 25 | 37.45 
Test kettle sunk into the grain and grain pulled 
into the kettle by hand: 
~ (1) By one motion of both hands.......... 36.5 | 86.5 | 36.5 | 36.5 | 36.25 | 36.25 | 36.5 | 36.45 
(2) By 9 to 11 motions of both hands. ..... 37 37 37 36. 75 | 37 36. 75 | 37 36. 95 
Test kettle filled by dipping it into the grain ..| 38.75 | 39.25 | 39 39.5 | 39.5 | 38.75 | 39.5 | 39.20 
Test kettle filled by pulling it through the 
grain by about a 2-foot sweep: 
(1) Through loose, worked-over grain.. 38 38. 25 | 38.25 | 88.25 | 39.5 | 38 39 5 | 38.45 
(2) Through the packed surface of the grain 
ua a car before the grain had been 
IGGL OWOPscesacceess Mar eee eee 39.75 | 40.75 | 39.5 | 39 39. 75 | 39 40.75 | 39.75 
Test kettle filled from a hopper having an out- 
let opening 11 inches in diameter held 2 
inches above the kettle and weighings made 
on the special beam described in this bulletin.| 37.2 | 37:2 | 37.3 | 37.2 | 37.2 | 37.2 | 37.3 | 37.22 
Table I shows that the different methods of filling the test kettle 
resulted in a considerable variation in the test weights that were ob- 
tained. The greatest variation in the results of the five tests of any 
one method was 1.75 pounds; the greatest variation in the averages 
for the different methods was 3.3 pounds; while the greatest differ- 
ence in the results of all the tests was as much as 4.5 pounds. The 
results obtained by the hopper method varied but one-tenth of a 
pound per bushel in the five tests. Had the tests been made by some 
other person or by different persons, or had the grain been in differ- 
ent conditions of dryness or cleanness, the results would, no doubt, 
have varied somewhat from those given in the table. The influence 
