The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1879-10-30
How Grain is Handled.

a Baltimore paper gives an account OF
the manner in which immense quanti-
tics Of grain are handled at that port,
which ranks IS n Of the great grain
centers OF the country. The grain bust
ness Of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad
has increased fifty per cent. over last
year. Three or four hundred cars OF
an average run in daily, loaded princi-
pally with grain. Two hundred and
fifty men are employed in the elevators,
and from $50 to 800 around the wharves
as ~stevedores. The two elevators have
a capacity Of ove 2, 1000, 600 bushels.-
They contain 331 storage bins, twenty
n receiving aud eleven shipping ele.
vators. which are furnished with every
facility for the rapid transfer Of grain.
Between the elevators is the railroad
ferry TO carry freight to the Canton side,
where connection is made with the Phil
adelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore
railroad, forming q continuous through
freight line from New York and the East
to the South and West. AT the Balti
more and Ohio wharves, one day re-
Gently, there were eight steamships and
seventeen ships and barks discharging
and loading. AS the cars arrive an in
spector from the corn and -four exchange
inspects the grain and marks the grade
on the side of each car, which is then
run into the elevator and its contents
distributed in the bins according to its
grade.
The superintendent OF the elevators
issues a receipt to the consignee of each
car, which receipts are afterward sold on
change. The receipts when bought are
taken to the superintendent again, and
il the grain is to be shipped to a Eu.
ropean market he issues an order on the
elevator TO deliver the kind and amount
specified in the receipt. II is not known
at the elevators to whom the grain be.
longs, as a record Of this is kept at the
upper office. For instance, A. and d.
each ship a carload Of grain of the same
quality at the same time. 1t is first in.
spected, and il found TO be Of the same
grade is emptied into the same bin.-
Thus A, may sell his carload to c., and
b. sell his to D.; the one may get the
others purchase, which, however, mat.
ters little, as the grade is the same. 1t
is like pouring half q dozen glasses of
water into a pitcher and then pouring
them out again into the GLASSES. The
identity of each glass is of course lost.
The bins are from fifty to sixty feet
high aud ten feet square, holding about
5000 bushels per bin.
After the car has been run into the
elevator, two men, with the aid of steam
shovels, can unload il in five minutes.
Sixteen cars can be unloaded in one ele.
vator at n time, and five in the other.
AS it is unloaded the grain is elevated
to the upper floor and dumped into the
scales. Each car is weighed separately.
Before the grain is shipped il is drawn
out Of the bins through a spout a. the
lower end, is again elevated to the top
of the house, weighed and then spouted
into the vessels.
The two elevators can load five or six
vessels a day. AS the grain runs through
the spout into the hold of the vessel it
is shoveled and packed by the steve
dores. There are six piers, which hold
two steamships each, besides which
there are enough open piers to accom-.
modate ten or twelve more.