Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1895 — CORN UP, WHEAT DOWN. [ARTICLE]

CORN UP, WHEAT DOWN.

The Average Farm Price of Various . Agricultural Products. The returns to the statistical division of the department of agriculture for December relate principally to the average farm price of the various agricultural products on the first day of the month. By farm prices is meant the price at the farm or at the nearest local or railway market. In comparison of these prices with commercial quotations allowance must be made for cost of handling, transportation, profits of dealers, etc. The farm price of corn averaged 45.6 cents per bushel, which Is 9.1 cents higher than the corresponding price of last year, which was 36.5 cents per bushel. This price was 6.3 cents per bushel higher than the average price for the decade 1880 to 1889, and is just 4 cents higher than the average for the four years, 1890 to 1893. The average price of wheat is 49.8 cents per bushel, the lowest price in the past twenty-five years. This price is 33.9 cents less than the average for the ten.yars, 1880 to 1889, and 22.1 cents less than the average for the four years, 1890 to 1893. The returns make the general price per bushel of rye 50.5 cents, which is 1.3 cents lower than the price at the same date last year. The average farm price of oats as returned for Dec. 1 this year is 4.1 cents higher than for the corresponding date last year, being 32.9 cents per bushel, against 28.8 Dec. 1, 1893. The average farm price of barley is 44.3 cents per bushel against 40.6 cents for the year 1893, or a gain of 3.7 cents. The price for 1892 was 47.24 cents. The average price of buckwheat is 56.2 cents per bushel, against 59 cents for the year 1893, or a decline of 2.8 cents. The returns show the average price of hay to be $9.18 per ton, while that of last year on the farms was $9.12. The average condition of corn is 45.7. The condition of winter wheat on Dec. 1 averaged 89, against 91.5 in 1893 and 87.4 in 1892. In the principal winter wheat States the percentages are as follows: Michigan, 92; Indiana, 88: Illinois, 91; Kansas, 72; Nebraska, 76; California, 92. The returns of correspondents of the department make the acreage of winter wheat sown last fall 103 per cent, of the final estimate of the area harvested in 1894, which was 23,518,796 acres, a larger figure than the preliminary estimate given out in June last, which upon further investigation was found to be too low. This preliminary estimate therefore makes the area sown for the harvest of 1895, 24,224,000 acres.