44 BULLETIN 1283, XT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
in the section on margins, illustrates the effect of market information 
on margins. At the beginning of the season many markets have not 
been sounded out by the arrival and sale of a car. The prices that 
will be paid on all markets are more or less problematical, informa- 
tion is not so generally diffused as later, and the information of the 
buyer is generally more complete than that of the seller. 
The buyer or speculator knows that his profit depends upon how 
much lower than city prices he can buy and deliver cars, and the 
price he offers for early shipments is usually conservative. Later in 
the season, prices in the cities are more stabilized, market information 
is thoroughly diffused through the medium of government daily 
market reports and other sources, and competition forces the cash 
market close to the net that would be realized by shipping. 
It is evident that lack of market information is conducive to wide 
margins and that well-diffused and complete information on the 
state of the market and the influence of market factors leads to 
narrow margins. 
GENERAL PRICE LEVEL 
Probably inflation and other economic conditions, which have 
affected the general price level and the prices of agricultural products 
generally, had some effect on the prices paid for Bermuda onions. 
The high prices of 1919 and the low prices of 1921 may have been 
partly due to these factors, but a comparison of seasonal prices with 
indexes of commodity prices or with indexes of general agricultural 
commodity prices fails to show any marked correlation because of the 
relatively minor influence of these factors, as compared with others. 
(See Table 6.) 
PRICE FLUCTUATIONS WITHIN A SEASON 
The factors that cause wide fluctuations within the season, and the 
differences between the amount of seasonal fluctuation for different 
years, seem to be principally: (1) Period of the season and changing 
consumer demands; (2) volume of shipments from day to day; (3) 
weather conditions ; (4) transportation conditions ; and (5) supply and 
prices of competing foodstuffs. 
PERIOD OF THE SEASON AND CHANGING CONSUMER DEMANDS 
A considerable decline in price from the beginning of the season to 
the end is characteristic of the Bermuda season. The rate of decline 
varies, and in some years prices climb back almost to the high point. 
The general tendency of prices to fall as the season progresses is prob- 
ably due principally to three factors: Changing demands of con- 
sumers, heavier shipments, and poorer quality and condition. 
Consumers are willing to pay a higher price for Bermuda onions 
when they first come on the market in the spring than they are willing 
to pay later, and so far as this factor operates the usual seasonal 
decline will probably always take place. Moreover, poorer quality 
and condition of shipments as the season progresses are partly due to 
climatic factors and growing conditions on which the growers can 
probably exert slight influence. Shipments under ideal conditions 
could be controlled only enough to move the entire crop within the two 
or three months before the more cheaply produced northern onions 
are harvested. 
