MAEKETS AND RURAL ORGANIZATION. 393 



In Cincinnati, Ohio, an extensive study was made of the possibili- 

 ties of a wholesale terminal market which would allow all shipments 

 of farm products to be concentrated and efficiently handled at one 

 point. The report submitted is being used as a basis for educational 

 work designed to bring about improvements in the city's wholesale 

 marketing facilities. 



At the request of the wholesale produce trade in Pittsburgh, Pa., 

 investigators spent several weeks in that city during the spring 

 months, studying conditions existing in the 500-car produce yards, 

 where practically all farm products not locally grown are received 

 and sold directly from the car door to jobbers and retailers. Al- 

 though such facilities appear ideal, the cost of doing business in the 

 yards is unusually high, and it was with the hope that economies 

 might result and more stable conditions be brought about that a dis- 

 interested study of the question was desired. The survey was pro- 

 ductive of a large amount of useful information regarding the needs 

 of a large terminal market for produce, and it is believed that the 

 report soon to be issued may be instrumental in bringing about 

 greatly improved methods in Pittsburgh's wholesale center. 



STUDIES OF MARKET BUILDINGS AND MARKET PLACES. 



In order that the advice given to cities may be both sound and 

 practical it has been necessary to continue in greater detail the in- 

 vestigations into all phases of public and wholesale terminal market 

 activity. These investigations have included 15 cities in 8 States. In 

 most of these places special studies were made of proper refrigeration 

 facilities in public markets, correct shed, stall, and aisle layouts, 

 special appliances and general equipment for the most efficient 

 handling of perishable produce and desirable sanitary arrangements. 



PRACTICAL PLANS FOR MARKET BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT. 



It was found that the advisory service rendered to cities which 

 desired to improve their marketing facilities gave incomplete sat 

 isfaction so long as the office could not submit model plans for various 

 types of market buildings, open sheds for producers, produce yards, 

 etc., together with fairly accurate estimates of their costs. The serv- 

 ices of a qualified technical worker were secured during the past 

 fiscal year to develop this line of endeavor. In addition to carrying 

 out the investigations outlined, a model design for a public retail 

 market has been finished and the cost, fully equipped, has been esti- 

 mated on a square-foot basis. Model steel sheds to protect local 

 truck growers in selling their products on open farmers' markets 

 have been designed and their costs figured per lineal foot. Rough 

 plans for public market layouts to fit the peculiar conditions of cer- 

 tain cities have been drawn up. 



MARKETING BY PARCEL POST AND EXPRESS. 



There has been no material change in the methods pursued in the 

 investigations of the possibilities of direct marketing by parcel post. 

 The work, which is under the direction of Mr. Lewis B. Flohr, is of 

 two kinds: (1) Experimental shipments and (2) field studies. 



