4 BULLETIN 696, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



for the small quantities produced in the irrigated areas. Second 

 onl}^ to those of this region are the high prices prevailing for corn in 

 the Southeast and around the Gulf of Mexico. Very high price 

 levels are as a rule attained near the seacoasts. 



A varying degree of increase may be noted in the upward gradua- 

 tions, moving away from the described pivotal area of minimum 

 price. Due eastward, throughout a large part of the corn States, 

 bounded on the south by the Ohio River, prices are marked by com- 

 parative uniformity and rise only slightly; but when the Eastern 

 States are reached the increases become more pronounced. Toward 

 the West, where regions of scant production are not far distant from 

 the pivotal area, prices ascend rapidly. Likewise the increases are 

 more notable in all directions other than immediately eastward 

 through the corn belt. 



PRICE LEVELS AND COMMERCIAL MOVEMENT OF CORN. 



Practically the entire domestic surplus, as well as nearly all the corn 



entering into general trade channels, originates within the area of 



low prices. 

 The lowest price is found in that part of the surplus-producing region 



which is at greatest expense in reaching foreign and domestic markets. 

 FaTm prices rise in all directions, following the course of corn from the 



territories of surplus to those of deficient production. 



The geographic trend in the price levels of wheat affords an illumi- 

 nating comparison. The general level of American wheat prices is 

 to a considerable degree influenced by the price received for the sur- 

 plus or export wheat, which during the past 10 years constituted 

 from 11 to 37 per cent of the production. Lowest prices for wheat 

 are paid to farmers in the surplus-producing areas most distant from 

 the important foreign and domestic markets — in the Northwest. The 

 highest farm prices are found in the sections of deficient production 

 which are farthest removed from the surplus-growing areas — in the 

 Southeast. Prices rise in the direction of the trade currents to 

 markets or territories of insufficient production; and these currents 

 vary with each crop, according to the location of producing and con- 

 suming region, and according to its uses, characteristics, and distribu- 

 tive movement. 



In like manner the farmers' price of corn may be seen in Map 1 to 

 rise steadily in a broad general relation to the trade channels from 

 exporting to importing sections. Widely diffused east of the Great 

 Plains (see Map 2), and becoming by far the most important 

 crop in acreage and aggregate value, corn production is yet concen- 

 trated within a relativelj^ small area of dense production in the 

 prairie region of the North Central section. This area comprises 

 parts of nine States and forms a triangular section whose base may 

 be seen in the eastern parts of Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota, 



