RELIABILITY AND ADEQUACY OF FARM-PRICE DATA 19 
than the weighted average, as it gives equal weight to all months 
whether marketings be lighter or heavier than usual ; the months of 
small marketings and higher prices would have the same weight as 
months in which marketings were heavier and prices usually lower. 
This may not be the case in all years, as the price is determined by 
factors other than domestic supply. An unusual turn in the foreign 
supply and demand or in price level might make the lowest prices 
occur in the months when the marketings were not unusually heavy. 
With wheat prices for example (see Table 5), the greatest differ- 
ences appear in the crop year 1916-17, when the straight average was 
167 cents, the price weighted by constant weights was 152.2 cents, 
and the price weighted by current weights was 144.4 cents. The 
monthly price of wheat in that year increased from 100 cents in 
July to 247.2 cents by the next May, and wheat was marketed more 
rapidly than usual. The only other year of any considerable differ- 
ence between all three averages was 192^25, when the price varied 
from 105.8 cents in July to as high as 169.8 cents in February, and 
again the wheat was marketed more rapidly than usual. Current 
weights gave heavier weighting to the low-price, early months of the 
year than did constant Weights or the straight average, with the re- 
sult that the current weighted average was 127.8 cents ; using constant 
weights gave 133.8 cents; and the straight average was 140 cents. 
In the 1920-21 crop year the straight average was 166.4 cents, which 
was much lower than the weighted averages, which were about 182 
cents. The price of wheat in that year dropped from 242 cents in 
July to 119 cents by the next May. The straight average, giving 
equal weighting to all months, was much lower than the weighted 
averages, in which the monthly prices were weighted by either 
constant or actual marketings for that year, which gave much heavier 
weighting to the early months when the price was highest. Even 
with falling prices farmers marketed their crops a little earlier than 
usual ; consequently the current weighted price was the highest. 
As a result of this analysis the United States monthly prices will 
continue to be obtained as they are being obtained at the present — 
constant production weights for States being used month by month ; 
and the annual United States average price will be computed on the 
basis of current marketings by months rather than constant or usual 
marketings. In most years it will make little difference, but in excep- 
tional years, the method of using current weights will take care of 
the unusual variations as they occur. United States prices of wheat 
are now on this basis, and so computed, were published in the Decem- 
ber, 1925, Supplement to Crops and Markets, (10). 
Ten-year averages of monthly marketings of corn, wheat, oats, 
barley, rye, flaxseed, hay, and cotton, on a percentage basis by States 
and for the United States appear on pages 114 and 115 of the April, 
1925^ Supplement to Crops and Markets (6). Car-lot shipments of 
fruit and vegetables, with some adjustments for products moving 
from dealers' hands, can be used as a basis for monthly marketings 
of such products. Inspected slaughter and receipts of livestock at 
public stockyards and packing plants will show approximately the 
monthly marketings of livestock. Receipts of butter, eggs, and 
chickens at important markets indicate the seasonal movement of 
such products. 
