10 BULLETIN 1440, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
.... 
similar series — are available only as monthly items for the ea. 
years. For this reason the calendar month was selected as the xi'' 
of time to be considered and most of the analysis was made in terl 
of this unit, while fully appreciating that very significant pri~ 
changes might be hidden by the averaging process. 
ANALYSIS OF SPECIFIC FACTORS AFFECTING THE PRICE 
METHOD OF PRESENTATION 
Conclusions from a statistical investigation may be presented in 
two ways. The first way is to give a record of the investigation, 
showing what Ixypotheses were used at each stage of the study, what 
relations were analyzed, and what results were obtained. Such a 
report is largely a chronological history of the study, with the con- 
clusions reached interspersed through the record. 
A second way is to present the conclusions reached from such 
portions of the investigation as gave significant results, and to give 
separately the statistical technique by which the results were ob- 
tained. Such presentation has the great advantage of separating 
the economic relations brought out from the purely statistical con- 
siderations of the method employed. The second plan has therefore 
been followed in this bulletin, so that county agents, students, econo- 
mists, and others who are interested in the conclusions as such may 
be able to study them apart from the mathematical details. 
SUPPLY FACTORS 
The meat from the hogs which reach the markets during a given 
day does not all go into consumption at the same time. Some of the 
hogs are slaughtered immediately, some are shipped to be slaughtered 
at other points, and some are bought by feeders and shipped out to 
farms or to near-by points and fattened further before slaughtering. 
Even after slaughter there is great variation in the length of time 
before consumption. Certain cuts, such as loins, ordinarily are moved 
to the consumer as fresh meat, with at most a short period in the 
refrigerator; other cuts, such as the shoulders and spareribs, may be 
held under refrigeration for considerable periods; other parts are 
cured to ham or bacon, or are rendered into lard. Besides the time 
required for the curing and ripening process itself, these cured prod 
ucts may be held in storage almost indefinitely until a favorable 
time occurs for their sale. Figure 9 illustrates the way in which 
storage and export together smooth out the uneven seasonal slaughter- 
ings to a fairly uniform consumption throughout the year. 
Since the men who are buying hogs for slaughter or other purposes 
must buy with regard to the probable prices for hogs and hog products 
for some little time ahead, the number of hogs received at the markets 
on any given day is not to them the most significant point in the supply 
situation. During recent years the general level of prices for hog 
products which prevailed over several months reflected the general 
trend of the supply over that whole period more than it reflected 
the supply during any single day or week. 
In making bids for hogs, the buyers gave more attention to how 
large market receipts had been running, and how large they were 
