THE RAILWAYS AND THE TRADERS 229 



and suffered from the poor ventilation in the baggage 

 cars. The box ears also afforded poor ventilation, causing 

 the vegetables to heat, while the stock cars were too open, 

 and exposed the contents to the weather, besides which 

 there was the constant pounding and jarring, owing to 

 absence of springs on the cars. Now we provide modern 

 ventilated cars and refrigerator cars, which ride as easily 

 as passenger coaches. Trains composed of such cars are 

 run through on passenger train time, enabling the fruit 

 and vegetables to be placed on the market almost as fresh 

 as at the time of gathering. 



The manner of loading — which is, of course, an im- 

 portant consideration in the carrying on of this traffic — 

 has been reduced to a science. The contents of a venti- 

 lated car are so arranged that when the car is in motion 

 a current of air comes in at the front end ventilators, 

 passes between the tiers of packages, and escapes through 

 the rear ventilators. Where refrigerator cars are used 

 they are iced several hours before being loaded, so thai 

 the temperature is of the proper degree when the ship- 

 ments are placed therein. When necessary the cars are 

 also re-iced en route. In this way fruits and vegetables 

 of the most perishable kind can be carried thousands of 

 miles and delivered in good condition. 



Owing to the nature of the traffic, the special kind of 

 cars required, and the need to run the trains on fast 

 schedules, the rates charged were necessarily high, par- 

 ticularly for le.ss-than-car-load lots ; and in order to secure 

 the benefit of lower, or car-load, rates, the shippers and 

 consignees found it necessary to form organizations. 

 These organizations have worked to the mutual advan- 

 tage of all — the railroads as well as the shippers and 



consignees. 



The building of the Illinois Central opened up, as 

 already mentioned, a region in Southern Illinois which 



