Economic essays

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1753623200

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-136107

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Economic essays

Place of publication:: New York

Publisher:: Macmillan

Year of publication:: 1927

Scope:: viii, 368 S.; Ill., graph. Darst.

Digitisation:: 2021

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

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Title:: The holding movement in agriculture / Jesse E. Pope

Collection:: Economics Books

THE HOLDING MOVEMENT IN AGRICULTURE 269 The exigencies of agriculture permit one farmer to thresh out of the shock and so get his grain ready for marketing weeks earlier than his neighbor who threshes out of the stock. In the case of such grains as corn and oats, an important steadying factor in marketing is the fact that in many cases it is only the farmer’s surplus, after the demands of live stock have been met, which is placed on the market, and the amount of this surplus cannot be ascertained since it depends on weather conditions—for example, on the length and severity of the winter and on whether the price of live stock in comparison with the price of grain makes it worth while to have a long or short feeding period. The marketing of wheat will also be materially affected by its price as compared with the prices of the grains usually grown for fodder. For example, it often happens that large quantities of wheat intended for human consumption are fed to stock owing to the relatively high price of corn. The same general statements apply to cotton as to grain. Cotton picking begins in southern Texas in June, while in Georgia it 1s not in full swing until August; and not all the cotton in the same field is ready to harvest at the same time—indeed there are usually three pickings, the first bolls opening in August and the last in December or even in January; and it often happens that while the farmer is preparing the ground for a new crop the last bolls of the past season’s crop are being gathered. Nor is it possible to gin all cotton as soon as picked, and so the ginning period extends over months. Furthermore, the fact should not be lost sight of that there are many conditions in agriculture which make it necessary or economic for certain farmers to hold their products. Landlords, for example, have to wait on the convenience of tenants to deliver their grain to the elevator, and well-to-do farmers who have a surplus of funds and excellent storage facilities may think it worth while to hold their crops. That nature and economic conditions which are largely beyond the control of man force the orderly marketing of crops will be easily seen by a study of the figures for relative average monthly receipts (see Tables I-IV). On the assumption that the monthly movements of wheat to Chicago and Minneapolis are indicative of the movements to all markets, it is seen that the marketing of wheat is fairly well distributed throughout the year. The

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