GRAIN GRADING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 958, 1 June 1883, Page 4

GRAIN GRADING.

A correspondent writes as follows to the Morning Hera/d month I arrived ini ?fot- thdfirst time, commissioned by several firms in another colony to purchase oats here; and now I must confess > thaf ( in, ,my :/ mUsioh,. .not . being inclined to engage m transactions having too much affinity^,tjp, of chance. I have failed in finding a collection of the cereals of the country put up in small samples yearly, correctly labelled, such as is to be found in every town in America doing grain business. In Dunedin, Invercargill, and Oamaru, the grain merchants, ;;s a rule, seem to be unacquainted; with the quality of the.gpdp hjave fpr ..sale, sampled for me, the grain being praised during the process of sampling' somethfeg invtbe style i by Street vendors of trifles in large towns. Now, Mr Editor, I beg to point out to farmers and grain merph,an(s thpt.experienced buyers will not care to buy by sample drawn at raWdcmvfrom a few bags, when the guarantee, the YouY J s"alesT see T have adopted. tan.old AmencSufTiSSTrmwfdrtuhatelyunknown amongst respectab-ks; sellers*, mix-, ing good, medium, and bad gram in one small sample. The initiated- in the grain trade need not be told what the result 'seller/ At' 'Pdrt -Chalmers and the Dunedin wharves are no facilities for a grain viewer to examine lines of grain coming directly from the country to the ship. And in a country having such a climate as this part of New Zealand is blessed with, the sacks used for grain are far f too big—lohlbs fiPquiterenough in ohe bag. Farmers and grain merchants would find their respective labor bills much less if they »used spaller bags, nnri their grain % dition, and loss from use ofhooks ? etc., on railway, in store, and on ships would be done away ,vpth v As Dunedin has got a splendid GhaiAber of Commerce, I would beg 4<r t suggest.,tp, those interested to invest ifl a few gross ■ glass sample jars, to contain say 61hs-of graipj fP3J s el M e ?k /I*! l .he; Chamber; let grain merchants sampjp and classify correctly all the grain for . make two samples, one for exhibitionand the away for reference if inquired ; and have some, de-, finite hours for buyers to attend at' the" Chamber and examine the grain on exhibition, the^yen<|(gs ? payjpg asmallfee for each sample exhibited, buyers to pay a weekly fee for 'admittance to exithirte. !, T thinksellersand buyers would find this plan answer thdr mimose very. much , better . than plannPW in porters would be in a , position—tooperate with confidence .largely,jind speedily. I venture to say that many exporters from this port this season will very much regret, this season’s operations. Last week I saw lines of oats shipped direct from the railway trucks which brought tIH from , the country sidings, and no one in. charge on behalf of the shipper. It wks 'only too evident that the lines had not. been examined Well, as I know something of the Australian markets, I can pretty well foresee the result; the grain will be „Bjpred under bond, unclassed, the bad -•wiH-spofl -the-good, and the-lot will be almost unsaleable. Men acquainted' r ’ with this market this year’s is. ■in unusual bad condition. lam not in a 1 position to .say, but I say unhesitatingly that I am very much astonished gtaff th« wasliliated mthe‘stack, and grain heated in the sack, and grain that patches, all' stacked ,together. I, am at a, loss to Wd#fitan’d why ’ btago farmers' persist together different varieties of oats. , •. , *