Preparation for Marhet 211 



oring to do the same thing with their early Triumph. 



After the fancy prices of the early crop are lowered 

 by the regular harvest, many growers prefer to store 

 their crop and wait for better prices. This storage busi- 

 ness has been highly developed in certain districts, the 

 storage-house owners buying thousands of bushels and 

 keeping until the bulk of the crop has been marketed 

 and prices again go up. In some sections the operation 

 of these storage plants is financed by the local banks, 

 and in such cases no difficulty has been experienced in 

 getting their warehouse receipts rediscounted by the 

 Federal Reserve Banks. Whether or not storage for 

 higher prices will pay depends entirely on the loss from 

 rot, the shrinkage and increased expense of handling, as 

 against the increased price received the following spring. 

 Individual and local conditions will largely be the 

 influencing factors. 



Sweet potatoes on the extra early and on the mid- 

 winter and spring markets always bring better prices 

 than when marketed in the fall. During the season 

 1918—19, the Onley, Virginia, market opened on August 

 19 at $6.50 to $7.00 a bushel. The highest price 

 reached at all during the season was $7.00 on August 

 26. On this same market barrels were quoted on Octo- 

 ber 7, at $3.75 to $3.65.^ In the spring of the same 

 season, April 12, 1919, these same New Jersey and 

 Delaware potatoes were quoted on the New York market 

 at $3.50 to $4.00 a bushel hamper,^ which calculated 

 on the basis of net weight was equal to about three times 

 the lowest quoted price the fall before. The 1918-19 

 shipping season was unusual in market advances. The 



1 Bur. Markets, Market Rep. Sheet, May 6, 1919. 



2 Bur. Markets, Market Eep. Sheet, April 12, 1919. 



