MARKETING FRUITS 
of the first importance, such as wheat, 
cotton, corn and iron, the state of opinion 
may vary much within a few hours. The 
broad characteristics of markets of this 
class are similar. There is a tendency 
in all of them to show phenomena of an- 
nual periodicity due partly to the sea- 
sons, the activity of certain months being 
in normal years greater in the case of 
any given market than that of other 
months. This tendency is always liable 
to be interfered with by the special forces 
at work in particular years, and the great 
increase in the facilities for communica- 
tion between dealers by telegraph and of 
transportation of commodities between 
widely distant points, which was one of 
the marked features of the development 
of the economic organism in all active 
commercial countries during the last 
thirty years of the nineteenth century, 
have still further interfered with it. Nev- 
ertheless, a tendency to annual periodicity 
is still perceptible, especially in markets 
for produce of the soil the supply of 
which largely depends on meteorological 
conditions of the areas where they are 
grown on a scale to furnish an appre- 
ciable proportion of the total produce. 
“Periodicity of another kind, known as 
‘Cyclic,’ and due to a different set of 
causes, is believed to exist by many per- 
sons competent to form a judgment.” 
The law of ‘“cyclic’ changes is ob- 
served in the United States, with a good 
deal of regularity, as a period of reces- 
sion about every ten years and a period 
of great financial depression about every 
20 years. This has been true with slight 
modification for more than 100 years. 
Further, there are fluctuations in the 
markets of annual crops, such as pota- 
toes, more marked than in crops like 
apples for instance, where it takes sev- 
eral years to grow the trees. Yet in the 
case of apples, peaches, pears and other 
tree fruits, much depends on the tend- 
ency to freezes, frosts, heavy rains at 
blooming time and other climatic and 
meteorological conditions. 
Tendency to Equilibrium 
“Notwithstanding all the uncertainties 
named, there is a tendency toward 
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equilibrium,” and, as Mr. Hooper further 
remarks, “Disturbances may take place 
through a change in: (1) Supply, or an 
opinion as to the future probable sup- 
ply; (2) demand, or opinion as to the fu- 
ture probable demand; (3) in both simul- 
taneously, but such a change that demand 
is increased or decreased more than the 
supply, or vice versa.” 
However, every market is at every mo- 
ment tending to an equilibrium between 
the quantity of the commodities offered 
and the quantity desired. 
A moderate disturbance caused by any 
of the changes named, or a combination 
of them, will produce an immediate ef- 
fect on the prices of commodities, which 
again will tend to react on both the sup- 
ply and the demand by altering the opin- 
ions of buyers and sellers. If no further 
change tending to disturb the markets 
takes place, the market will gradually 
settle down to a state of equilibrium. 
It is the interest of buyers, as the mar- 
keting season approaches, to create the 
impression that there is an abundant 
crop and that the supply will be large 
in proportion to the demand. This is 
sometimes done in order that the fruit 
may be purchased at low prices. It is 
the interest of the growers to create the 
impression that fruit is scarce in order 
that they may obtain high prices. There 
should be some reliable agency for the 
furnishing of information that is avail- 
able to all, so that the question would 
not be one of opinion alone, but of opin- 
ion based on the facts. The government 
monthly reports are available to all in 
the “Crop Reporter,” but the method of 
gathering the information, compiling, and 
getting it out to the farmers by mail 
only once each month, often brings the 
information too late for intelligent ac- 
tion. There should be some means of 
reporting similar to that of wheat, corn 
and other standard products 
Future Delivery 
A certain proportion of purchases are 
paid for at the time of purchase, but an 
increasing number of commodities are 
purchased for future delivery. This is 
on account of the tendency to large or- 
