fmge Fourteen 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



DecembeVy 19)1 



Chief of Grain Futures 



Favors Trading Limits 



Aaanal Report Reveals Interesting 



Figures on Grain Exchange 



Operations. 



Coal Is Good Fertilizer 



Gernnan Chemist Rnds 



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RECOMMENDING legislation 

 which would impose "a rational 

 limitation upon the volume of daily 

 purchases or sales and the total futures 

 holdings permitted a trader for specu- 

 lative purposes," in the contract grain 

 markets of the country, J. W. T. Du- 

 vel, chief of the Grain Futures Admin- 

 istration, said in his anni-.al leport to 

 Secretary Hyde that such a limitation 

 "would inure to the direct benefit of 

 til interests using the futures market 

 for proper purposes." 



The report of the activities of the 

 Grain Futures Administration for the 

 year ending June 30, 1930, covered a 

 period of unusual activity in the con- 

 tract markets. The total of transac- 

 tions in grain futures for the year was 

 nearly 2 5 billion bushels, a record which 

 was exceeded only in 1925 when the 

 transactions amounted to more than 31 

 billion bushels. 



Transactions 20 Billion Bu. 



Transactions in wheat futures alone 

 for this period aggregated nearly 20 

 billion bushels and was the greatest of 

 any year for which the Grain Futures 

 Administration has records. The larg- 

 est volume of trading in all grain fu- 

 tures for any one day of tl,e year was 

 on July 15, 1929, when sales on the 

 Chicago Board of Trade totaled 193,- 

 479,000 bushels. Another record was 

 Mt up on October 24, 1929, when 

 sales of Chicago wheat futures alone 

 a'-^egated 156,126,000 bushels, sur- 

 passing the previous record by more 

 than 6,500,000 bushels. 



Heavy trading in wheat, according 

 6o Doctor Duvel, "was not the result 

 of any unusual speculative activity 

 such as is most frequently associated 

 with scarcity and advancing prices." 

 On the declining market "buying sup- 

 port came largely from the so-called 

 general public," and "the large specu- 

 lators as a class operated primarily on 

 the short side of the market." 



Publication Harmless 



Doctor Duvel commented that ex- 

 perience has demonstrated that there 

 have been no undesirable consequences 

 of the publication daily of the open 

 commitments, although some grain in- 

 terests had regarded this as a danger- 

 ous innovation when introduced in 

 August, 1928. The result has been 

 beneficial, he said. Open commitments 

 of wheat futures at Chicago were the 

 ki^hest ever recorded, nearly 250,000,- 

 000 bushels, on October 16, 1929. 



Doctor Duvel reviewed a report to 

 the Senate which analyzed trading op- 

 erations. He corhmented on efforts to 

 relax regulations in regard to the re- 

 porting requirement, and points out 

 that there is no basis to believe that this 

 would encourage speculative buying 

 and result in higher prices for wheat. 

 "It is not known," he says, "by what 

 magical process wheat prices could be 

 boosted if the government were blind- 

 folded," and suggests the same process 

 mieht as reasonably be expected to de- 

 press prices. He reviews a fraud case 

 in which the Administration was active 

 and mentions several special investiga- 

 tions in which the Administration is 

 now engaged. 



German farmers have proved they 

 know more about chemistry than Amer- 

 ica's best scientists, says a recent dis- 

 patch from Berlin. 



For generations the belief has pre- 

 vailed among farmers that coal is a good 

 fertilizer. Now a German professor hat 

 discovered that science is wrong and 

 that the farmer who knew nothing 

 about th^ chemical analysis of coal i» 

 right. 



"Coal is the best fertilizer," Professoi 

 Rudolf Li ske, noted chemist, said 

 "When treated with a solution of am- 

 monia it furthers the growth of plant* 

 to an astonishing degree. 



"Beans, peas and cucumbers," he said, 

 "attained a size three times as large a* 

 those left to grow without special treat- 

 ment on ordinary sand soil." 



Lime Returns Vary 



On Different Soils 



Limestone, when applied with ma- 

 nure, fluctuated in annual acre returns 

 from $16.22 at Ewing in southern Illi- 

 nois, to six cents at Minonk in north 

 central Illinois. 



These two fields represent extremes in 

 soil types, Ewing being an old, gray 

 soil with impervious non-calcareous 

 subsoil. Minonk is a very young, dark- 

 colored soil. Both soils were on state ex- 

 periment fields. In the crop residue sys- 

 tem the limed soil increased in value 

 from 5 5 cents an acre at Antioch to 

 $11.94 at Aledo. 



National Fruit Exchange 



(Continued from page 13) 



the National through an informal re- 

 gional. * 



"It is the objective of the National to 

 establish a co-operative sales agency 

 which will be operated on a nation-wide 

 basis. On terminal markets where the 

 volume of Exchange business is suffi- 

 ciently large, the Exchange will have 

 salaried sales managers. Reliable broker- 

 age representation will be used at other 

 points. The plan of marketing fruits 

 and vegetables also provides for the fur- 

 nishing of shipping point sales service 

 to member units which do not have 

 their own sales personnel. 



"All tonnage of the member units 

 will be under contract to the Exchange. 

 The structure and operation of the Ex- 

 change is such as to permit co-operative 

 associations to affiliate with a minimum 

 of readjustments in their sales policies 

 and changes in personnel." 



Buys Soybean Oilmeal 



Six cars of soybean oil meal hav< 

 been bought co-operatively by Cook 

 County Farm Bureau members, the 

 Farm Bureau reports. Farm Adviser 

 O. G. Barrett says that soybean oil 

 meal, carrying 40 per cent protein, 

 ought to give dairymen some profit 

 when they are buying it at less thaa 

 $1 a sack. 



The marketing committee of the 1. 

 A. A. Board of Directors recommended 

 at the October meeting that Farm Bu- 

 reaus and Farm Bureau subsidiary or- 

 ganizations in feeding districts should 

 be urged to purchase their soybean meal 

 requirements from processors who are 

 co-operating with the Soybean Market- 

 ing Association. 



Marshall-Putnam 4-H 



* Clubs Make Money 



Record books of Marshall-Putnam 

 4-H Club members this year show that 

 they made a profit of more than $3,000 

 from their 206 projects, according to 

 the Marshall-Putnam Farm Bureau. 



They own, or have sold, 87 beef 

 calves, 154 pigs, 39 dairy cattle, 3,5 88 

 chickens, and 48 acres of corn. The 

 total value of all crops and animals 

 owned by members who completed their 

 projects was $17,461. This includes 

 $7,031 for beef calves, $2,701 for pigs, 

 $4,577 for dairy cattle, $2,479 for 

 poultry, and $672 for corn. The total 

 cost of animals and crops grown was 

 $14,050, making a net profit of $3,405 



T' ,* 



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Bureau county with 510 enrolled in 

 4-H Club boys' projects this year has 

 the largest membership of any county. 



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