MARKETING 229 



THE HOME MARKET THE BEST MARKET 



Roundly speaking, ninety per cent of the corn crop 

 of the United States is wanted for domestic consump- 

 tion. In the states given over so extensively to corn, 

 at lowest cost of production, it is but natural that feed- 

 ing operations on the farm are most largely carried 

 on, and the bulk of the crop never leaves the counties 

 where grown. This, therefore, disposes of most of the 

 product each year to what may be truly characterized a 

 home market of the best sort. The comparatively 

 small, yet important proportion of the maize crop not 

 fed at home, finds ready outlet through the usual mar- 

 ket channels. A considerable amount is used in the 

 domestic mechanic arts, and foreign countries are 

 always interested buyers of any surplus beyond home 

 requirements. 



In the grain trade, corn is the leading cereal in bulk 

 and second only to wheat in speculative interest. Corn 

 forms an important item in rail, lake and canal trans- 

 portation, and also in the cargo of vessels engaged in 

 the ocean-carrying trade. The approved methods of 

 handling corn, producer to consumer, are not neces- 

 sarily perfect, but are the best yet evolved in the econ- 

 omy of distribution. Fortunately for the corn grower 

 who desires to market this product in the form of 

 grain, middlemen's tolls are reduced to a minimum 

 compared with those exacted in the handling of perish- 

 able, and therefore more hazardous products. 



METHODS OF DISTRIBUTION IN VOGUE 



To many farmers in the corn belt, long engaged 

 in growing this crop for market, methods of marketing 

 are an old story. To others, including the vast num- 

 ber of farmers and dairymen in the older middle and 

 eastern states, who depend to some extent upon west- 



