AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



great in comparison to the stores of feed, many 

 farmers find it necessary to sell some of their 

 cattle rather prematurely and at a very low price. 

 Under these circumstances the prices of "stock 

 cattle" are likely to show a greater rise or fall 

 inversely to the prices of the feed stuffs, than are 

 the prices of fat cattle and dairy products. 



While it is true that the prices of hogs and of 

 maize reach their highest level in the same month 

 and likewise their lowest level in the same month, 

 it is also true that the prices of hogs tend for a 

 time to fall when the price of maize rises. In 

 1901, a year when the maize crop was short, the 

 average monthly price of maize rose from 56 re- 

 cents per bushel in September, to 65 cents in De- 

 cember, during which time the average monthly 

 price of hogs fell from $6.60 per 100 Ibs., in Sep- 

 tember, to $6.27^4 in October, to $5.65 in Novem- 

 ber, but rose to $6.00 again in December, so that 

 in the five months the price of hogs fell 60 cents 

 per 100 Ibs., while the price of maize rose 8}^ cents 

 per bushel. 1 This situation is doubtless to be 

 explained in part by the fact that the number of 

 hogs to be fed was relatively great when com- 

 pared with the amount of maize available for feed- 

 ing purposes, and as a result the hogs were rushed 



1 See the high and low monthly prices for Indian corn and 

 for hogs for the whole year 1901, as given in table appended 

 to this chapter. 



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