COMMERCIAL MARKETING 251 



section, usually buy of the elevators, because the grain is more uni- 

 formly graded and cleaned. 



Local markets are quoted in the county papers. Prices are con- 

 trolled by the commercial market quotations, by the people and by 

 the supply and demand on a particular day or during a week. Dur- 

 ing the busy planting or cultivating season, when the farmers cannot 

 leave their fields, the local corn markets often rise as much as five 

 cents per bushel. Saturday is usually a day of low prices, because the 

 farmers, during the slack season especially, bring in a load of corn 

 when coming after groceries. 



II. COMMERCIAL MARKETING 



Any discussion of the subject of corn would be incomplete which 

 did not also give some attention to the distribution of this crop. Of 

 the total amount of corn produced in the United States in 1914 

 (2,672,804,000 bushels), nearly 20 per cent (498,285,000 bushels) was 

 shipped out of the county where grown. The amount of corn handled 

 each year by the elevators varies with the surplus and the demand 

 for corn as a raw material for factories. The surprisingly large per- 

 centage of the crop which is shipped out of the counties where grown, 

 indicates the growing demand of the glucose factories and distilleries. 

 The practice of shipping corn off the farm is to be severely criticized, 

 considered from the standpoint of permanent maintenance of agricul- 

 tural prosperity. 



SHIPMENT OF CORN OUT OF COUNTY WHERE GROWN 



The following figures show what per cent of the corn crop of the 

 United States was shipped out of the county where grown for the years 

 1900 to 1914, inclusive: 



TABLE NO. 54 

 CORN SHIPPED OUT OF COUNTY WHERE GROWN— 1900-1914 INCLUSIVE. 



1900 22.7 per cent 1908 21.3 per cent 



1901* 10.0 per cent 1909 24.9 per cent 



1902 22.1 per cent 1910 22.9 per cent 



1903 18.7 per cent 1911 20.4 per cent 



1904 22.3 per cent 1912 21.8 per cent 



1905 25.0 per cent 1913 17.2 per cent 



1906 23.2 per cent 1914 18.7 per cent 



1907 18.0 per cent 



*Very dry year. 



