376 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



This office furnished information to the Boston Chamber of Com- 

 merce to be used in preparing a bill on the grading, packing, and 

 marking of barrels of apples. This bill has been passed in Vermont, 

 Massachusetts, and Connecticut, and is pending in New Hampshire 

 and Rhode Island. 



Office of the Secretary, Circular No. 48: Marketing Maine Pota- 

 toes, prepared by workers under this project, deals with the need 

 for better methods of handling and preparing potatoes for market, 

 and a Farmers' Bulletin, entitled The Commercial Grading, Pack- 

 ing, and Shipping of Cantaloupes, has been submitted. Mr. C. T. 

 More, who is in charge of this work, has cooperated informally with 

 the Bureau of Standards. Mr. M. M. Stewart has assisted in this 

 project during 1915. 



TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE. 



Several of the lines of work reported last year have been con- 

 tinued. After completing the study of the demurrage laws and 

 regulations of the various States, Department Bulletin No. 191, 

 Demurrage Information for Farmers, was published. The investi- 

 gation of the transportation of milk, made in cooperation with the 

 Boston Chamber of Commerce, has been continued and an exhaustive 

 report on the subject has been issued by that organization. An 

 article entitled Concentrating and Storage-in-Transit Arrangements 

 in Transporting Farm Products was published in the Agricultural 

 Outlook, Farmers' Bulletin No. 672. 



No opportunity has been lost to place before railroad officials the 

 general policy and work of the office and of soliciting their coopera- 

 tion and assistance in every way. This cooperation is very neces- 

 sary and of great importance in view of the fact that transportation 

 is so inseparably connected with every phase of the marketing ques- 

 tion. Conferences have been held with shippers and representatives 

 of carriers, securing all possible data on such items as equipment, 

 terminal facilities, routing, refrigeration, and time in transit. 



Mr. G. C. White is in charge of this work, assisted by Mr. T. F. 

 Powell. 



STUDY OF LOSS OF FOODSTUFFS IN TRANSIT. 



With a view to determining the causes of the enormous loss of 

 foodstuffs between the producer and the consumer for the informa- 

 tion of producers and shippers, and with the intention of working 

 out a method whereby much of it can be prevented, work was begun 

 in February, in cooperation with the freight claim agents of the 

 different common carriers of the country and with the aid of various 

 freight claim associations. Substantial progress has been made in 

 this work, but results are not yet ready for publication. 



STUDY OF SOUTHERN TRANSPORTATION CONDITIONS. 



In connection with the department's studies of crop diversification 

 in the South reports have been secured from the railroads serving 

 Atlanta, Birmingham, Savannah, and Columbia of the quantity of 

 certain commodities which they ship from distant sections that could 

 be produced in neighboring localities. Business men and others 



