THE HOLDING MOVEMENT IN AGRICULTURE 259 
three of the ten years in which there was no month in which the 
farmer could have sold at a gain from holding, and that in 
from two to eight months of the remaining seven years he could 
have sold at a profit of from one to thirteen cents by holding. 
During all the one hundred and ten months of the ten years, there 
were only thirty-seven months in which a profit could have been 
made from the holding, while in the remaining seventy-three 
months there would have been losses ranging from one to thirty- 
two cents per bushel. The figures for the ten year average show 
no month in which a profit could have been made from the hold- 
ing, and ten months in which there would have been losses ranging 
from one to seven cents per bushel, and two months with neither 
profit nor loss. 
Table VIII shows the actual gain or loss per pound by holding 
cotton. It is apparent that if the farmer had held his cotton 
from November, 1904, to January, 1905, he would have lost 2.8 
cents per pound by holding, and he would also have lost by hold- 
ing if he had sold in any month up to July first, but if he had 
sold then he would have gained one tenth of a cent per pound; 
that is, if he had sold in any one of seven out of the eight months, 
the farmer would have sustained losses by holding ranging from 
1.2 to 2.8 cents per pound. There was one year of the ten during 
which there was no month in which the farmer could have sold 
his cotton without loss from having held it since November. 
During the entire eighty months of the ten years, there were 
twenty-four months in which he could have sold with a profit, 
ranging from one tenth to 2.4 cents, from holding, while had he 
sold in any one of the remaining fifty-six months he would have 
sustained a loss of from one tenth to 2.8 cents per pound by 
holding. The figures for the ten year average show no month 
in which the farmer could have sold without loss from holding. 
A summary of the statistics is shown in table on page 264. 
The results of a study made by the Minneapolis Chamber of 
Commerce of wheat prices as actually recorded on the Min- 
neapolis exchange for the twenty-nine years from 1885-6 to 1913- 
14, so strikingly confirm the above conclusions that it is well 
worth while to summarize them here. This study shows that dur- 
ing the months of light movement to market, viz., May, June,