32 BULLETIN 1480, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BAELEi. EYE. FLAXSEED. BUCKWHEAT, AND C0WPEA3 
Table 13 shows barley, rye, flaxseed, buckwheat, and eowpea price 
samples. Barley prices tend to be more variable than rye or flaxseed 
prices. There is a wide range in the quality of barley. The malting 
types of barley usually command higher prices than feed barley. 
This is another case, under certain conditions, of two modes in one 
sample. The difference between long and short haul freight charges 
is one cause of price variation, especially in a large State like Cali- 
fornia where the outlet is largely in one direction. 
Table 13. — Farm prices of barley, rue, flaxseed, buckwheat, and coicpeas: 
Selected illustrations of si.ie of sample, -measures of dispersion, and prov- 
able yield 
[Per bushel] 
Number 
Average 
price 
Stand- 
ard de- 
viation 
of reports 
Coeffi- 
Probable 
error of 
Relative 
Four 
times 
Commodity, date, and State 
of 
(arith- 
vSia- f ' 
probable 
relative 
reports 
metic 
mean) 
bility 
age price 
■ or mean 
error 
probable 
error > 
Barley: 
October, 1925— 
Cents 
Cents 
Per cent 
Cents 
Per cent 
Per cent 
Minnesota _. 
100 
51.6 
7.4 
14.3 
0.5 
1.0 
4.0 
C alif ornia 
16 
9 
77. 5 
85.0 
11.0 
13.9 
14.2 
16.4 
1.9 
3.1 
2.5 
3.7 
10.0 
November, 1925, California. 
14.8 
March, 1926. Maryland 
7 
87.9 
8.2 
9.2 
2.1 
2.4 
9.6 
December. 1925, 2 Maryland. 
Rye: 
June. 1925. Minnesota 
20 
S4.S 
15.2 
17.9 
2.3 
■ 2.7 
10.8 
68 
102.3 
10.4 
10.2 
.9 
.8 
3.2 
March, 1926, Maryland 
9 
91.1 
12.9 
14.1 
2.9 
3.2 
12.8 
December, 1925, - Maryland. 
54 
108.9 
21.2 
19.5 
2.0 
1.8 
7.2 
Flaxseed: 
June, 1925, North Dakota. __ 
51 
247.0 
11.1 
4.5 
.8 
.3 
1.2 
Buckwheat: 
March. 1926, Maryland 
5 
95.0 
2.0 
2.1 
.6 
.6 
2.4 
Dec. 1, 1925,2 Maryland 
29 
101.9 
17.4 
17.0 
2.2 
2.2 
8.8 
Cowpeas: 
November, 1925, Alabama.. 
2S 
251.0 
62.0 
24.7 
7.9 
3.1 
12.4 
i The probabilities are ninety-nine out of one hundred that the average of a much larger sample collected 
in the same way and at the same time would not vary from this average by more than four times the prob- 
able error. 
2 The Dec. 1 prices are reported by crop reporters and not by the regular price reporters, who report on 
the I5th of each month. 
Flaxseed is a crop similar to wheat and cotton in that a large 
proportion of it is sold. Xorth Dakota is a State of heavy flaxseed 
production ; the producing area is well defined, and the local market 
is well organized to handle the crop. The range in price owing to 
quality is not large, and differences in freight rates are not great. 
As a result the medium-sized sample of 51 reports is sufficient to give 
a high degree of stability to the average — four times the relative 
probable error being only 1.2 per cent, one of the smallest percentages 
noted in this analysis. 
It is difficult to obtain many reports on the price of buckwheat 
from the 15th-of-the-month reports. It is not until a large group 
of crop reporters are asked the question, as on December 1. that a 
sample of any size can be obtained in a State so small as Maryland. 
Buckwheat is grown commercially in rather limited areas, but small 
fields of it are grown here and there as a catch crop that never enters 
the channels of trade. Reporters are not well informed on the subject, 
and with a crop of such minor importance the variability of the 
sample tends to be rather large. The chief value of price series for 
