232 Cooperation in Agriculture 



houses to hold from twenty-four to fifty carloads of oranges. 

 The fruit is cooled to thirty-five degrees Fahrenheit 

 before shipment, and is then forwarded to any point in 

 the United States with the initial icing of the cars only. 

 The ice used in filling the bunkers of the car is manu- 

 factured at the plant or is supplied to the shipper 

 by a local ice company. It has been determined by the 

 Interstate Commerce Commission that it costs the 

 shipper from $30 to $35 to pre-cool and pre-ice a car of 

 oranges, including interest on the investment and depre- 

 ciation on the plant. In addition to this the railroad charges 

 the shipper $7.50 for the wear and tear on the ice bunkers 

 when a car is iced by the shipper but is not re-iced in transit, 

 making a total average cost to the shipper of $40 per 

 car. When the fruit is shipped under standard refrigera- 

 tion, the railroads furnishing all of the ice, the refrigera- 

 tion charge is $60 to the Missouri River, $62.50 to 

 Chicago and similar points, $72.50 to Buffalo and Pitts- 

 burg, $75 to New York, and $77.50 to Boston. The 

 primary object of pre-cooling in the citrus-fruit industry 

 is to cheapen the cost of transportation. This the growers' 

 system of pre-cooling and pre-icing does when compared 

 with the regular refrigeration costs to the extent of $20 

 to $37.50 per car on fruit shipped to the Missouri River 

 points and to Boston. It is not required to prevent the 

 fruit from decaying while in transit, because an orange or 

 lemon that is properly handled is immune to the blue mold 

 decay. The cold-storage plants at the orange packing- 

 houses have been found useful in extending the shipments 

 at the last of the season when prices are sometimes un- 

 usually high and in handling the picking and packing 



