8 BULLETIN 755, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Examination of Map 2 will disclose an irregular slope in the price 
levels in a number of instances. A varying rate of increase in the 
upward trend is also in evidence. The deviations from the general 
trend are not so frequent or pronounced as in the case of farm products 
which have comparatively local markets, or where cost of transpor- 
tation, incident to greater bulk, represents a larger proportion of 
market values. This lower cost of shipping oats from one section 
to another tends to regulate and reduce the price differences between 
the two sections. 
Price levels are more irregular and rise more rapidly southward 
than to the east or west. A number of factors contribute to this con- 
dition. On the north, the Canadian surplus is a factor to be reck- 
oned with; other factors in this section are cheaper water transporta- 
tion via the Great Lakes, availability of other feeds, and the organi- 
zation of the grain trade. 
ISOLATED AREAS. 
The existence or absence of adequate transportation facilities has 
a strong influence on the price zones. An isolated region has prac- 
tically a local market, influenced little by outside market conditions. 
The prices in the mountainous areas are out of line with prices in 
surrounding territory. Illustrations of this are seen in Appalachian 
Mountain regions and the Ozark section in Missouri. 
LOCAL VARIATIONS IN DEMAND. 
The elasticity of domestic demand and supply and the availability 
of substitutes are indicated by the fact that during the years 1911 
to 1916 the annual variation in consumption of oats ranged from 
20 million to 600 million bushels. 
Much variation exists throughout the country in the relation of 
production to consumption, in farm practice as to feeding or selling, 
and in the various uses of oats and methods of marketing. Used 
interchangeably with other crops, consumption in any section 
depends upon price, local production, and the abundance of other 
feeds. Thus in the important oat-producing States west of the 
Mississippi — which are unfavorably situated as to the trade routes 
owing to distance and higher costs of transportation — a considerably 
larger proportion of the crop is retained for farm consumption than 
in the important surplus-producing States east of the Mississippi. 
The great variation, section by section, in the farm consumption of 
oats was indicated in Table 2 in the quantities remaining in the 
counties where grown. 
