MARKETING AND RETURNti 183 



is a difference of 1 or 2 cents a bushel between any particular 

 grade and the one next below of the same color. White 

 oats ordinarily sell higher than mixed or red oats. Grades 

 are also provided for white and mixed clipped oats. Grain 

 which comes under this classification has been run through a 

 machine which clips off the long tip of the hull. Clipped 

 oats weigh about 3 pounds to the bushel more than undipped 

 oats otherwise of the same grade. The legal weight of a 

 bushel of oats in most states is 32 pounds; in Canada it is 34 

 pounds. The weight of a measured bushel is extremely 

 variable, ranging from as low as 20 pounds or.less in unfavor- 

 able years in the South to 40 pounds or more in Montana, 

 Washington, and other Northwestern states. 



225. Exports and Imports. Only about 2 per cent of the 

 oat crop is normally exported, and in some years the export 

 trade falls to almost nothing. Very small quantities are 

 imported. The imports usually consist of grain from Canada 

 or northern Europe for seed purposes, though importations 

 have been made from Argentina in seasons when there was 

 an unusual shortage of milling oats in this country. 



226. Prices. The price of oats per bushel depends on the 

 supply not only of this crop but of other grains, and on the 

 local demand. The average price of oats on the farm on 

 December 1st for the ten years from 1908 to 1917, for the 

 entire United States, was 43.7 cents per bushel, ranging from 

 31.9 cents in 1912 to 66.9 cents in 1917. The highest aver- 

 age price is to be found in the Pacific and Southern states, 

 from 45 to 75 cents a bushel. In New England the price is 

 but little lower, while in the upper Mississippi Valley where 

 the bulk of the crop is raised, the average price in recent 

 years has been around 40 cents. 



The value of an acre of oats depends naturally on the 

 yield and the value per bushel. The highest values are 

 found in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific states, where high 

 yield and high price are combined; but as most of this grain 



