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