56 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



corn to one-fifth or one-sixth of its bulk and weight, and re- 

 ducing the cost of transportation in something like a similar 

 proportion, the possibility is secured of raising corn in regions 

 situated thousands of miles from the market at which the corn 

 products, or, what is practically the same, the pork and beef, 

 are consumed." 



Indian corn is largely consumed on the farms where it is 

 produced. Four out of five of the corn producers of the United 

 States feed their entire crop. From 80 to 82 per cent of the 

 corn is consumed on the farms where produced, and much of 

 that sold is consumed on other farms. About one-fourth of 

 the oats is sold from the farms where grown, and nearly nine- 

 tenths of the hay and coarse food is consumed on the farms where 

 grown. The percentages of these crops sold varies greatly in 

 the different parts of the country. Illinois leads in the sale of 

 both oats and corn. The relative importance of Illinois as a 

 region from which feedable crops are sold is shown in the Thir- 

 teenth Census, Vol. V, map before page 561, which shows the 

 receipts from sales of feedable crops in 1909. Twenty-one 

 counties in east central Illinois show receipts from feedable 

 crops representing 46.7 per cent of the total value of all cereals 

 produced. Corn and oats are the principal crops produced 

 in this region. There is no other region in the United States 

 where feedable crops are so largely sold. In the state of Iowa, 

 Illinois's closest competitor as a corn and oat state, the value of 

 feedable crops sold represents 25 per cent of the value of all 

 cereals produced. 



There are several reasons for this difference in the type of 

 farming in central Illinois and the remainder of the corn-oats 

 belt, but distance from the market is certainly a very important 

 factor. Chicago is the greatest corn market in the United 

 States, and Milwaukee and Peoria rank high among the minor 

 markets. 



The following table shows the prominence of Chicago as a 

 market for both corn and oats for the year 1914. It will be 

 seen that the receipts at Chicago were three and one half times 

 that of Omaha, the closest competitor. 



