FORTY-FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT. 137 



along to our friends, who may soon, or sometime, be interested in the 

 building of a cold storage plant : 



1. Don't use wood — use reinforced concrete, because of the low in- 

 surance rate, low cost of up-keep, and lack of depreciation. * 



2. Don't use granulated cork, as it is of little value as compared 

 with sheet cork. 



3. Don't allow the contractor to use steel nails in putting up tlie sheet 

 cork insulation, as has been done in man3% if not most of the plants 

 throughout the country, because it is a perfectly absurd performance 

 and largely destroys the value and efficiency of your insulation. Use 

 nothing but wooden nails as they are non-conductors. How anyone 

 possessed of any common sense could be induced to pay from |25,000 

 to 130,000 for high-grade insulation and then permit" workmen to liter- 

 ally fill it full of holes, which is really what happens when the cork is 

 fastened in place with thousands of steel nails, is beyond our compre- 

 hension. 



4. Don't make the mistake of having too little packing room space. 



5. Don't build your plant so that the long way of your cold rooms 

 will be away from the railroad, but rather have the trucking distance 

 just as short as possible. Labor in handling in such a plant is a very 

 large item. At Morton this year we have operated our plant with one- 

 half to one-third the number of employees that are used in plants of 

 similar capacity in western New York, 



6. Don't make the mistake of having narrow shipping or receiviug 

 platforms — it will be found that sixteen feet is none too wide and the 

 longer they are the better and so fas as is possible have them covered. 

 Service is the thing to be considered first, last and all the time. 



7. Don't keep your patrons waiting — have facilities for unloading 

 half a dozen cars and wagons at the same time. 



8. Don't undertake to operate your plant with a short stub switch, 

 but have a track, on your own land if possible, that will hold twenty- 

 four or more refrigerator cars and which has double ends so that the 

 cars may pass the plant for loading or unloading and not have to 

 be pulled out where they came in and thus cause all sorts of delay and 

 inconvenience. With your track on a very slight grade you can easily 

 start the loaded or unloaded cars on their way as soon as they are 

 ready, in case there is no shifting engine available, and there never is, 

 at all times. 



9. Don't have your air ducts built of anything but wood, as metal 

 air ducts will sweat and drip and cause much trouble and annoyance, 

 and don't let anyone talk you out of installing a cold air ventilating 

 system, because it is one of the important things to have in connection 

 with any cold storage plant. 



10. Don't let anyone talk you into piping your house at a ratio less 

 than 18 to 1, and if you are going to handle peaches or other fruits 

 that do not call for temperatures lower than 34 degrees, do not have 

 the pipes in rooms that are to be held at 34 or above, hung on the 

 ceiling, as they will drip and cause you all kinds of trouble, but have 

 them hung on the side walls, one above the other so that one drip 



