MARKETING OF GRAIN 393 



the market price of a crop. So important are these facts 

 that some commission and brokerage houses employ 

 experts to make a canvass of the principal producing areas 

 of the crops in which they are interested, sometimes 

 sending them into foreign lands. Most commission firms, 

 however, depend upon government weather and crop 

 reports and other information which they frequently 



Fig. 134. — An elevator and concrete storage bins at Baltimore, Md. 

 Grain is exported from here. 



receive from country elevators throughout the country. 

 The crop reporting system of the Bureau of Statistics 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture is very 

 complete, by which reports are received from all parts 

 of the country from representatives or agents of the 

 bureau. Some 50,000 agents and representatives are 

 employed in collecting and sending to the Department 

 these crops reports. The information thus received is 

 issued to the public in monthly crop reports. From the 



