CHAPTER VIII 



THE FORCES AND CONDITIONS WHICH DETER- 

 MINE THE PRICES OF AGRICULTURAL 

 PRODUCTS. 



It has been seen that one of the most important 

 factors in determining which crops should be se- 

 lected for the field-system and the degree of inten- 

 sity with which these crops should be cultivated, is 

 the price for which the produce can be sold. The 

 question arises, therefore: What are the forces 

 and conditions which determine the prices of agri- 

 cultural products? 



The business man explains prices in terms of 

 demand and supply; and while it will be impos- 

 sible in a work of this kind to enter into the 

 philosophy of value, it may be worth while to de- 

 vote a few lines to the significance of demand and 

 of supply. Behind the fact of demand is the more 

 fundamental fact of human wants. The desire to 

 satisfy wants impels men to produce supplies of 

 utilities. The effort which man must put forth in 

 order to gain the means of satisfying his wants sets 

 a limit to the supply of valuable utilities or economic 

 goods as they are sometimes called. It usually 

 happens that long before all of the wants of a man 

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