38 



OUTLINES OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



5. Fig. 2 presents a profit-and-loss chart prepared by Wallace's 

 Farmer after the plan of the Babson charts of general business con- 

 ditions. "As an average of the last ten years, in April, butter sold 

 at Elgin for 27.68 cents per pound, while corn was selling for 61 .1 

 cents per bushel. It took, therefore, the value of .4528 of a bushel of 

 corn to equal the value of a pound of butter. But during April, 19 16, 

 butter sold at Elgin for 34 cents, and No. 2 corn in Chicago for 76 

 cents. Butter therefore sold for .41 of a cent less than the price of 



Fig. i . Prices and acreage of potatoes 



corn would indicate. In May, butter has sold on the average for 

 .3871 of the price of No. 2 corn per bushel in Chicago." In Novem- 

 ber, 1916, they wrote, "The long-delayed gain area H seems farther 

 off than ever. The price of corn has increased so much faster than 

 butter that the loss per pound for October reached a little over 7 cents. 

 It begins to look as though the rather numerous dairy cattle sales 

 which have taken place in certain localities were justified." In 

 February, 191 7, they add: "The slough of despond is becoming 

 deeper. Consumers' boycott leagues and oleomargarine substitution 

 have held down the prices of butter. The ten-year corn-butter ratio 



