May of each year. These months
are chosen as giving without too great complication the widest range with
reference to a particular season. September gives usually the price of the
first of the new crop; December shows usually the fullest marketing of
crops; May marks the month of largest speculation with reference to the
incoming crop. Corn is less distinctly affected by these peculiarities,
being subject to different conditions of the weather as well as of
marketing. But the correspondence in price to a certain extent is easily
perceived at a glance. The reason for this correspondence is partly in the
uniform effect of seasons, as shown in Chart No. 5, and partly in the fact
that either of the crops may supplement, in certain respects, a deficiency
in either of the others.

_Wheat prices._--With reference to wheat, No. 1 in the chart, further
particulars as to prices are shown. The horizontal line in each year gives
the average price of the year; the diagonal line gives the extremes of
prices, highest and lowest, within the twelve months from September to
September again. The dot within the circle gives the estimated average of
farm prices on the first of December, as given by the Department of
Agriculture. The relation of this, somewhat constant, to the New York
price for December, as given in the line directly above it, may be of
interest as showing the average actual expense of bringing wheat from all
over the United States to the New York market. Where the difference of the
two prices is more than an average, a speculative turn in the market
during December is indicated, the farm price being fixed on the first day
of December. The same fact of speculation is also shown in years where the
diagonal line is longer than usual.

_Special variations._--At the top of the chart is shown the world's visible
supply of wheat for each year, each horizontal line indicating 500,000,000
bushels. The shaded portion gives the amount exported by the United States
and the part above the shaded portion indicates the amount consumed or
stored within the country. Thus, in the year 1894-5 the total wheat crop
of the world was 2,672,000,000 bushels, of which the United States
furnished 460,000,000, 144,000,000 of this amount being exported. This
year marked the lowest price of wheat in the record, together with the
largest crop in the world, though not in the United States. A
proportionally small amount exported explains the falling out