18 



BULLETIN" 558, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Frequently premium prices are paid by exporters who need grain 

 to fill out a cargo destined for shipment upon a certain date. Also, 

 as noted in the foregoing illustration, early in the crop year, the first 

 cars of new grain to arrive in the markets are frequently sold at a 

 large premium over prices offered for similar grain to arrive several 

 weeks later. These premium prices are often published without ex- 

 planation as " cash prices." Dealers forward representative samples 

 of their grain to commission houses or other central market dealers 

 early in the season and are advised that " if your grain were here to- 

 day " it would be worth a certain price. If the country dealer bases 

 his purchasing price on such information he is quite likely to discover 

 that these early premiums have disappeared by the time his grain 

 arrives, with resultant financial loss to him. 



Sometimes a knowledge of discounts is as important as a knowl- 

 edge of premiums. As a general rule, premiums are paid for grain 

 of superior quality, while discounts are made for grain of " off " 

 grade or inferior quality. When a large amount of high-grade 

 grain is on the market usually little, if any, premium is received. 

 Likewise if but little low-grade grain is on the market it may be dis- 

 posed of at a slight discount under prevailing prices for good grain. 

 If, however, a large amount of grain is of poor quality the dis- 

 count is much more severe. Thus grain that under favorable cir- 

 cumstances would sell for 2 or 3 cents discount under the standard 

 grade may be sold at a discount of from 10 to 15 cents when a large 

 amount of grain of the same quality is on the market. 



UNRELIABILITY OF PUBLISHED PRICE QUOTATIONS. 



Local market news, particularly in cities where there is no gen- 

 eral market, is sometimes inaccurate. In one instance, in a city of 

 65,000 inhabitants, under the general head " Grain, hay, and straw 

 (wholesale)," a paper published a mill's price to farmers for wheat 

 and a jobber's quotations to retailers and large consumers for corn, 

 oats, hay, and mill feed. These latter prices were far from accurate, 

 as the following parallel will indicate : 





Commodity. 





As pub- 

 lished. 



As actually 

 quoted. 







bushel. . 



$0.80 

 .38 

 10.00 

 10.00 

 10.00 

 10.00 

 24.00 

 28.00 

 28.00 

 30.00 



$0.55 







do.... 



.46 







ton 



13.00 







do.... 



12.00 







do.... 



11.00 







do.... 



15.00 







do.... 



22.00 







do.... 



25.00 







do.... 



29.00 







do.... 



27.00 







