THE PRICE OF WHEAT 155 
6. Influence of the Area of Production on the 
Stability of Price. 
It is easy to reason @ priori, to the conclusion that, 
ceteris paribus, increased stability of price will result 
from production over a wide and varied field. This 
conclusion follows from the fact that the total supply 
will be more regular and more evenly distributed 
over the year, when production is large and carried on 
over a wide field, than when the industry is of small 
dimensions. Wheat is one of the leading commodities 
of that group which is produced over an extensive area. 
Not only is the field of production wide, but wheat is 
also characterised’ by the variety of conditions under 
which it is produced. A temporary suspension of supply 
from one point in the wide field is, in most cases, 
counteracted by an abundance from another point. If 
the Australian supply is diminished by a drought, many 
circumstances are possible which may counteract any 
disturbing influence likely to arise from this occurrence. 
Thus the supply from Canada or the United States may 
be larger than usual at the previous harvest, or the yield 
in the Argentine may be sufficient to fill the gap in the 
supply. Since it is produced in the two hemispheres, and 
very widely in these, wheat experiences all the variations 
in climatic conditions which may occur over the whole 
world. It is highly improbable that a drought would 
prevail throughout the extent of either hemisphere in 
any one year, much less in both. Moreover, the growing 
seasons and harvesting periods vary greatly in different 
places, so that widely diffused adverse weather conditions 
would not be universally detrimental. In fact, it is more 
likely that what in one district is adverse weather, is in 
another, distinctly favourable. Thus, suppose that 
country A has continuously damp weather at harvesting, 
then country B may be fortunate in experiencing such 
