Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1913-10-16

l6uCn = G0nN4IlOu Iuat ncANX cudL80S
must he paid on elements which have
10 BE taken i u the food at the
end of the trip before II = be used az
food. One Of the heaviest wasted
freight Items Is the freight paid for
1.-The transportation OF excessive moist
ure in corn. and In potatoes to be
used for stock food or In the manu-
facture of starch. In Germany the
culls and faulty potatoes, which In
this country are thrown away, are
dried SO as to remove all excess water
aid then shipped to various points for
stock feed purposes. This practice
Of dr-sag potatoes for stock feed and
nses in the arts has not gained great
Roadway in this country. As a re-
suit the culls commonly are thrown
away and starch is made from pota-
toes only when there are excess crops
which make them available at cheap
prices which permits of shipment to
the factories. Potatoes in their nat
ural state contain upward of 20 per
cent of water which has no special
nutritive value. Long shipments of
potatoes, therefore, in their natural
state are not practicable, whereas the
Germans who have dried out the ex-
cessive water find it practicable to
ship the dried product.
The waste water now being ship
ped in corn in the United States, ac-
cording to the estimates of the spec
~ialists, has a serious bearing on the
actual cost Of corn, and also is one ex-
PLANTATION for the great shortage of
cars at the orn shipping seasons. The
specialists find, for example, that the
American people are paying freight
on 436,682. tons Of water in shipping
their corn from the producing sections
to the market. This means that at
a time when there is a great shortage
Of cars, there is the equivalent of over
1856 freight cars of 10000 pounds
capacity loaded with water which is
responsible for the losses
resulting from the deterioration of
shelled corn before it is finally con-
sumed. Figuring a car length at
forty feet, this means that each year
a train 5S2,240 feet long, or over Ito
miles, not counting the locomotives,
is engaged in nothing more profitable
than hauling water from a few miles
up to a thousand miles in the case of
corn shipped to the seaboard points
from the central corn producing area.
Exactly how much excess freight this
represents cannot be accurately de-
termined, but as the freight rate on
corn is about one cent per ton mile,
it can be seen that this hauling of
useless water in corn adds materially
to the cost of the product before it
reaches the
A study of the average moisture
content from the receipts of corn for
Baltimore, Chicago, st. Louis, and
New Orleans shows that from June
to October the average moisture con-
tent of corn received ranges from 1873
to 14.1 per cent. This corn, which
has been stored in cribs and allowed
to dry out, is, therefore, below the
moisture content of 1915 per cent, the
maximum moisture permitted by the
new proposed corn grades for No. 2
corn. During the months from Nov
ember to April, however, the moisture
content ranges from 1876 to 20.2 per
cent on an average for corn, so that
all corn received at these great corn
markets during these six months con-
tains an average of from 8 to Is per
cent more water than is permitted
for No. 2 grade corn. This means
and two-thirds pounds to two and one
half pounds of useless water is ship
ped on the railroads. Using the ac-
tual averages of excessive moisture,
and disregarding the special ship
ments where the moisture content
may run as high as II per cent, the
specialists find that the excess water
shipped amounts to the equivalent in
weight for 1885, 800 bushels Of corn.
The presence of this excessive mois-
ture in corn not only adds to the net
cost OF the corn after it is delivered
but prevents the producer who ships
corn over the moisture limit from
having his corn graded as grade 2, and
consequently compels him to accept
grade 3 or lower, with a corresponding
reduction In price for his product.
Moreover corn with an excessive
moisture content is liable to spoil
in storage. Many corn dealers, there
fore, OF receipt of the corn have to.
dry out the excessive water, although
others store the moist corn and do.
not dry 1t out until 1t shows danger
of deterioration. They hope to get
rid of it in its original condition with
out the necessity for drying it.
Many Of the big elevators in the
central corn markets now have ma
chinery for drying out excessive
moisture. Comparatively few of the
smaller SCI have
these drying machines, and the only
method OF drying corn possessed by
most producers is storing it properly
in cribs. Corn hipped during the