WASTE IN DISTRIBUTION 255 



be used to advantage in the summer nipping of tlie canes. Pruning 

 shears are almost indispensable in the cutting back of the laterals in 

 spring. A pair of two-hand pruning shears or a spring bush hook will 

 be found to be the proper tool for cutting out the old canes. The most 

 troublesome disease that attacks blackberries is the rust, and it is very 

 hard to get rid of. However, I dig out every plant, root and all, that 

 becomes infested with rust, and have in this way held the disease in 

 check to some extent. 



WASTE IN DISTRIBUTION TOO LARGE. 



Charles R. Van Hise, President of University of Wisconsin, before First 

 National Conference on Marketing and Farm Credits, Chicago, April 

 8, 1913. 



For farm products the waste in distribution is admitted by every 

 one to be large. There can be no question that the waste in distribution 

 for agricultural products is far greater than for manufactured products, 

 and for the country as a whole is to be reckoned each year in hundreds 

 of millions of dollars. This is partly a consequence of the relatively 

 perishable nature of many of the farm products. Just as there is a 

 difference in the amount of waste in distribution of farm and manufactured 

 products, so there is a very great difference in this respect among farm 

 products themselves. For the relatively permanent products of the fai'ra, 

 which need not be disposed of at a given time or may even be held a 

 year, the wastes are far less than for the more perishable products. 

 Therefore the unnecessary wastes in distribution for wheat and corn 

 and cotton are relatively very much less than for the more perishable 

 products. Here are included vegetables and fruits. Also for these prod- 

 ucts there are great variations in the amounts of waste. Potatoes must 

 be marketed before early spring else they are a total loss; but there 

 are several months available for marketing and distribution. In the 

 same position as potatoes are the more stable fruits, such as apples and 

 oranges. But the less stable fruits, such as berries, must be used within 

 two or three days from the time they are taken from the farm. This 

 fact greatly limits their radius of distribution and therefore of available 

 markets. Indeed some fruits are so perishable that they will not stand 

 shipment any great distance even with modern refrigerator facilities. 



The perishable nature of fruits and vegetables, combined with the 

 great fluctuations in the acreage from year to year and in the produc- 

 tion of the same acreages in different years, results in a fluctuation of 

 price for vegetables and fruits even of the more stable kind, such as 

 is not paralleled by any other articles of commerce. The fluctuation 

 in the prices of the same product in the same year at wholesale rates 

 may be from 100 to more than 400 per cent. This large fluctuation is 

 one of the factors which tend to make the retail cost of perishable 

 goods very high. When wholesale prices go up, retail prices are promptly 



