6 BULLETIN 664, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
give a load of the necessary height is placed on the first row. Then — 
a second row is begun, and the layers added just as in the case of the © 
first row. The building of rows is continued until the car is filled. 
The last row on the open-door side is built from both ends until a | 
space for a stack of single cases only remains in front of the door. , 
Any excess space in the width of the car is left on the loading side. ~ 
If it is more than 2 inches, a “2 by 4” of proper length should be 
wedged between ceiling and floor halfway between the door and the 
bunker in each end of the car, to guard against side shifting. The 
upright should not be nailed, mereiy wedged tightly. The buffing 
and bracing of such a load is described on pages 6 to 7. 
All these methods of placing cases were studied at the shipping 
point, and diagrams were made of the load as it appeared when fin- 
ished, that. accurate information might be available at the terminal. 
BUFFING THE LOAD WITH STRAW. 
During the early part of this work no attempt was made to alter 
the routine buffing used by different shippers. The results of the 
various ways of applying straw or wood was noted when the cars 
reached destination. The study was begun about the time a gen- 
eral interest Was awakened in straw buffing for bunker ends of 
cars, and to fill spaces when they occurred between the cases at the 
middle of the load. It was observed that there were almost as many 
ways of using straw as there were shippers sending cars so buffed. 
In many instances the straw was so loosely placed that it offered no 
resistance to the shifting load, which often showed twisting or even 
a complete overturning of the cases in transit. 
Loading cars from end to center, when placing cases with either 
straight joints or step joints, makes the ramming of the straw be- 
tween the load and the bunkers a difficult matter, even when the cases 
are freely walked over during the work. On the other hand, the 
method of loading from the side permits the operator to stand on 
the floor while placing the straw between the cases and the bunker. 
It is possible in the side-loading method to pack tightly, since the 
operator has the entire row of cases to push against as well as a free- 
dom of action not possible when he works over the tops of the cases, 
which is the more common practice (PI. IT). | 
The cost of straw for buffing is ordinarily from $2 to $3 per car. ~ 
Occasionally the price is so high as to be prohibitive. From 2 to 3_ 
bales of straw per car are required. 
Refrigeration in straw-buffed cars—tIt has been observed that 
many shippers who use straw for buffing against the bunker close 
the lower opening through which the cold air enters the car. The 
1The term applied to lumber cut 2 by 4 inches. 
