FACTORS OF UNCERTAINTY 



17 



Factors of Uncertainty. Is it possible to coordinate production 

 and consumption of farm crops ? It is impossible to forecast 

 demand, and it is clearly impossible to forecast or control the 



700 



187 / -I8QQ IQQI-/890 1801-1900 

 Decade 



1901 - Id 10 



FIG. 5. Forty years' progress, crops and livestock, 1870-1910. Increases or decreases by 

 decades as compared with the population. 



supply. There are too many factors of uncertainty. The chief 

 of these factors, to name but three, are climatic conditions, plant 

 diseases, and insect pests. A great loss to the American wheat 

 crop, as well as to the European, is often caused by " winter- 

 killing." The winter may be too mild, too severe with no snow 

 2 



