Bun TIN. OF THE 
US DEPARTNENT OPAGRICULTURE 
No. 48 
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Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry, Wm. A. Taylor, Chief. 
December 19, 1913. 
THE SHRINKAGE OF SHELLED CORN WHILE IN 
CARS IN TRANSIT. 
By J. W. T. Duvet, Crop Technologist in Charge of Grain Standardization 
Investigations, and LAUREL DuvaL, formerly in Charge of the Grain Stand- 
ardization Laboratory at Baltimore, Md. 
INTRODUCTION. 
In January, 1910, special investigations were begun at Baltimore, 
Md., to determine the amount of natural shrinkage or loss in weight — 
of shelled corn containing various percentages of moisture during | 
transit in cars and while in storage in elevators.! 
The data on shrinkage contained in these pages comprise the results, 
of four special shipments of corn from Baltimore, Md., to Chicago, 
Iil., and return. The first experiment, made April 15, 1910, was in 
- cooperation with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. The second, 
third, and fourth experiments were made in cooperation with the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Co. The second shipment was made on 
December 24, 1910; the third, March 2, 1911; and the fourth, May 
11, 1911. The losses in weight shown for the various shipments de 
not include the losses in loading or unloading, but simply the natural 
shrinkage in the weight of the corn while in the cars. 
METHODS USED IN DETERMINING SHRINKAGE IN CORN. 
Lhe freight cars used in these experiments were especially selected, 
uniform in design and condition, and specially coopered to make them 
grain tight. The cars were held together on the track for several 
days prior to loading, so that there would be no variation in their 
weight due to differences in the condition of the wood. An empty 
box car of the same series and condition was moved in the same train 
with the loaded cars, as a check in determining the variation in 
weight due to the absorption or evaporation of moisture by the cars 
1 The results of the first experiment of the series on the shrinkage of shelled corn in 
storage were published as Circular 81, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of 
Agriculture. 
14901 °—Bull. 48—138——1 
