Marketing and Markets 



385 



light weight of the first marketed spring pigs, many of 

 which havebeen rushed to market because of cholera scares. 

 As it happens, the average weight of the hogs marketed 

 is heaviest in those months when the receipts are lightest. 

 The variations in weight, therefore, tend to equalize the 

 supply of hogs during the different months of the year. 



As shown in Fig. 15, the average weight of market hogs 

 varies widely from year to year. The principal factor 



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FiQ. 15. — Average annual weight, of hogs on the Chicago market from 

 1905 to 1916. 



responsible for this is the relation which exists between the 

 price of corn and that of hogs. When hogs are high and 

 com relatively cheap, every pig in the corn-belt will be 

 held and fed to full market weight ; and on the other hand, 

 when hogs are cheap and corn high and rising, the natural 

 result is that the pigs are sent to market in an unfinished 

 condition and the corn sold for cash. The record annual 

 weight of hogs marketed in 1910 is a striking illustration 

 2c 



