Elbert County tribune and Elbert County banner., 1920-10-22


Grade of
OF prime Importance to the wheat
growing farmer is an understanding of
dockage as the term is used In federal
wheat grades, and how dockage in
wheat Is determined, since in grading
wheat under federal standards one of
the fundamental principles is to deter
mine the numerical grade on a dock
ase-free basis. With a few exceptions
the dockage is first removed from the
samples and the grade determined
with the clean or dockage-free wheat.
Dockage is the foreign material
screened from a sample of wheat to be
graded by the use of appropriate hand
sieves or other cleaning devices, and
consists of sand. dirt, weed seeds, weed
stems, chaff. straw, grain other than
wheat, and any other foreign material.
1t also may contain finely broken or
small, shriveled grains of wheat, in
cases where such material cannot be
separated from dirt and other foreign
material by the use Of appropriate
sleeves
The purpose of the dockage provi-
sion in the federal wheat standards is
to enable the person grading the sam
pie to determine the approximate
amount of easily separated foreign ma
terial that is in the lot of wheat.
Therefore. dockage is approximately
the percentage of foreign material
lob hn ctI ha
lot of wheat by the commercial types
of cleaning machinery commonly found
in grain elevators and mills.
The dockage test is described in
Farmers Bulletin 111S entitled "Dock-
age Under Federal Wheat Grades"
which has recently been issued by the
United States department of agricul-
ture to aid wheat growers and others
in understanding this important fea-
ture of wheat grading as provided in
the revised federal grain standards for
wheat, which became effective July Is,
1918.
Dockage Test Described.
The dockage test is made ordinarily
by weighing 1000 grams of wheat
(about 2A pounds). which constitutes
a representative sample. Grams are
used instead CT other units for ease in
determining percentages.
The dockage is separated from this
1,000-gram sample by screening with
pan sieves of specified types or by
using a cleaning device which has been
officially approved. The dockage so
separated is weighed and the percent
age Is found, based on the total weight
of the sample including the dockage.
If the amount of dockage is below l
per cent 1t is disregarded. For exam
pie, If only one-half of / per cent of
foreign material is separated by the
means described above, no dockage is
assessed. This one-half of ! per cent,
however, should not be returned to the
sample used in determining the grade
If 1h per cent of dockage is separat-
ed, 1 per cent OF dockage would be in
dicated in assigning the grade. Thus
It will be seen that any fraction of a
per cent of dockage is considered as
Tolerance" in the standards.
Indicated in Certificate.
After the iockage is removed the
cledn ustb ~ NNNNi
the grade, save In q few exceptions.
Dockage does not affect the grade as
signed to the wheat. If 1 per cent or
more of separable foreign material Is
found, dockage is assessed. In the In
spection certificate the amount is In
dicated Immediately after the grade
designation, as, for example. No.
northern spring, dockage l per cent
II the wheat seed used is carefully
selected. cleaned, tested and treated
before planting, II care is exercised in
cultivation and crop rotation, and If
the wheat is carefully threshed and
cleaned, there should be, ordinarily,
very little foreign material present
when the crop is marketed.
Apply to Foreign Material.
Two terms in the federal wheat
standard apply to foreign material-
"dockage" and foreign material other
than dockage" The former is foreign
material that is separated from the
sample of wheat by the proper use OF
appropriate hand sleeves. Foreign
material other than dockage" Is the
foreign material not separated In the
screening, and remains In the dockage-
free sample. "Foreign material other
than dockage" on the other hand. is a