10 



MONTANA FARM REVIEW 



How Montana Crops are Shipped. 



Figure VI shows the monthly percentage of seasonal carlot shipments for eight 

 principal Montana crops, and is based on carlot shipments as reported to the Mon- 

 tana State Railroad Commission during the period August 1920 to July 1924. The 

 monthly percentage for each crop is the average moved in that month during this 

 four year period, and the monthly percentage for all crops is the percentage that 

 moved each month of the total (140,425) cars. It will be noted that various crops 

 reach peaks in different months, but that the large ratio of wheat shipments to the 

 total, brings the weighted trend of all crops quite closely to that of wheat. Both 

 apples and potatoes reach a very high peak in October and fall off sharply during 

 the winter months, potatoes recovering to a secondary peak in April, but apples 

 falling off to a minimum. A secondary peak appears in April for potatoes and in 

 May for flax. With the former a cleaning up of pit-stored stocks occurs about this 

 time, and with flax, seed demand appears to be partly responsible for increased 

 spring shipments. Hay shipments reach a peak in March when demand for winter 

 feed appears to reach a maximum, while both corn and oats tend to follow hay, in- 

 dicating the extent to which they supplement hay as feed. 



Farm Prices 1923 and 1924. 



On page 11 is reproduced a table of prices for important farm products in Mon- 

 tana by months for 1923 and 1924. These averages are estimates of the U. S. Bureau 

 of Agricultural Economics, and are made as of date the 15th of each month. They 

 are what are termed farm prices, and seek to show prices at the farm as distin- 

 guished from market prices. 



Figure VI. 



