420 FARM MANAGEMENT 



The shrinkage by evaporation varies greatly. If 

 stored in a warm, dry cellar, the shrinkage from this cause 

 may be as much as 20 per cent. If stored in a cool, moist 

 cellar, the evaporation is much less. When buried in 

 pits, the loss from this source is usually small. 



Farmers and managers of potato exchanges usually 

 expect a loss of 10 per cent when potatoes are stored in 

 quantity and kept till April. Occasionally, the losses are 

 very small, and in a very few instances, potatoes have 

 been stored several months without any loss. On the 

 other hand, the loss may be very much above 10 per cent. 

 With the best storage conditions, a loss of 5 per cent is 

 very good. With fairly good conditions, 10 per cent is 

 to be expected. 



Sound apples in cold storage shrink very little, usually 

 not over 1 to 5 per cent. When stored in a cellar, the 

 loss is usually much more. The loss from rot of apples 

 is usually much more than the loss from evaporation. 



257. Prices of products in different months. Table 

 84 gives the average prices of some farm products by 

 months for ten years. New corn is usually not ready to 

 sell until December. Using the Chicago price of No. 2 

 corn, and the Iowa tables of shrinkage, what will one 

 make by holding corn for the July market, so as to get 

 the higher price? The shrinkage from December 1 to 

 July 1 was 7.6 per cent. If one has 1000 bushels of corn 

 on December 1, he would have 924 bushels on July 1. 

 The comparative receipts at average prices would be : 



December 1, 1000 bushels at 52.9^ $529 



July 1, 924 bushels at 60.5<< 559 



Gain by holding $ 30 



On the average, it appears that one might expect to 

 receive $30 more by holding for the high price. This 



