STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 2.'] 



Further lines of work which will be included in market sur- 

 veys, methods and costs are the investigation of the efficiency 

 and limitations of various methods of wholesale disposition of 

 farm products through brokers, commission men, public auction, 

 etc., and a determination of the usual and necessary costs, 

 charges and profits incident to each system. Similar studies ot 

 the subsequent retail handling and distribution oT products will 

 also be conducted. 



We succeeded this fall in making a small beginning in this 

 work by a survey, in which the Bureau of Statistics assisted, 

 of the quantities of cabbages and onions for winter withdrawal 

 which have gone into cellar and other storage in the North 

 during the season just closed. It is of the utmost importance 

 to the southwestern grower that he know in advance of plant- 

 ing whether the quantities stored in the North are sufficiently 

 great to injure or demoralize the market for which the south- 

 western grower plants. In 19 12, ignorant of these facts, cab- 

 bages were over-planted to such an extent as to ruin the mar- 

 ket for both the fresh and the stored product. With cellars 

 and storehouses full, the fall plantings were so heavy that 

 .the prices were depressed to as low as $3.50 to $4.cx) per ton 

 in shipping sections where right now prices from $18.00 tD 

 $20.00 per ton are being paid. The information obtained, even 

 though of a fairly indefinite character, was wholly sufficient 

 to indicate that generous plantings in the Southwest could be 

 in order. Work of this kind will have to be handled carefully 

 and conservatism will have to rule. I cite this merely as one 

 of the many specific things to be done. 



At the present time the South Atlantic and Gulf States de- 

 rive practicaly no commercial advantage from the early ma- 

 turity of their corn crop. A complication of excellent reasons 

 no dou'bt exists for thiis condition, nevertheless a method of 

 handling and marketing should be devised to bring this crop 

 upon the market promptly at a season when prices are usually 

 high and when corn is generally difficult to obtain. It seems 

 a shame to have ripe corn hanging on the stalks in the South 

 when the western crop is not yet ready for market, only to be 

 ofifered later when generous supplies, due to the western har- 

 vest, are naturaly depressing prices. 



It is our intention that the work of the Office of Markets 



