4 Strawberry-Growing 



the retail merchant or the consumer. These two types 

 of strawberry-growing are distinct in their aims and 

 necessarily are quite different in their methods. 



Since about 1870 most of the commercial strawberry- 

 growing of North America has been wholesale. In 1914 

 the car-lot movement in the United States, as reported 

 by the Office of Markets and Rural Organization, was 

 14,553 cars. Probably this was over two-thirds of the 

 total quantity marketed that year. In early years, the 

 nearer the field was to the market the better the chance 

 for profit. Rapid transportation, refrigeration, the tele- 

 graph and telephone have changed this situation. To- 

 day, strawberry-growing is as likely to be profitable a 

 thousand miles from a market as within five miles 

 of it. 



In choosing a location for wholesale strawberry-growing, 

 it is desirable to seek a community where the industry is 

 already established, so as to secure the advantage of 

 numbers. It requires a considerable number of growers 

 to secure recognition from the transportation companies 

 in the way of satisfactory schedules and adequate shipping 

 facilities. One shipper can make little headway in this 

 respect. He cannot compete, when the market is distant, 

 if obliged to ship in less than car-lots. In some districts, 

 the berries are sold f.o.b. to buyers at the shipping 

 point. This is a satisfactory method, but buyers will 

 not come to districts where there are only a few growers. 

 Furthermore, there is a stimulus to the average man in 

 being located near other men who are growing the same 

 fruit. From every point of view, a considerable number 

 of growers and a large quantity of fruit concentrated at 

 one shipping point are an advantage in wholesale straw- 

 berry-growing. 



