8 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 299 



the manner of reporting sales or the performance of supplementary services. The 

 principal features of dealing through the commission house are well understood. 

 Current practices favoring the shipping to new markets seem to outweigh the 

 unfavorable ones. A good quality pack, distribution of sales, and much experience 

 in selling through the normal channels of trade are assets. The size and fre- 

 quency of consignments are not too great a hindrance. They may be adjusted. 

 The time and distribution of sales makes this possible. 



Transportation of Apples 



Shipping is the phase of marketing around which this study is centered. The 

 volume of apples grown, preparatory and supplementary marketing practices, 

 distribution among markets and marketing experience have all been considered 

 primarily in relation to shipping. 



The problem of transportation was studied in particular since it is basic to plan- 

 ning the future expansion of apple production in Massachusetts and New England. 

 Information was secured on the following subjects relative to the transportation 

 of the 1931 crop: Responsible agent, method of shipping, size of consignments, 

 time in transit, destination of shipments, factors considered in selecting the carrier, 

 damage to consignments, and costs involved. 



In addition to the data pertaining to the 1931 crop, further information was 

 collected from growers, rail carriers, chambers of commerce, the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, and state marketing officials regarding the problem of 

 shipping to the potential markets for Massachusetts apples. 



Current Shipping Practices 



The responsibility for shipping the 1931 crop practically rested with the indivi- 

 dual grower. Among those producers whose returns can be used, 74 per cent 

 claimed authority for engaging the carrier and giving such instructions as seemed 

 necessary; 18 per cent assigned this responsibility to the buyer; 6 per cent handed 

 the function over to their agents, one of whom was a commission house. 



Trucks carried 95.2 per cent of the 1931 apple crop of these growers. The rail- 

 roads got 4.8 per cent of the traffic. Of the growers, 56 per cent trucked for them- 

 selves, 30 per cent used local truckmen^, and 14 per cent hired commercial truck- 

 men. ]\Iost of those in the last group came out from the markets and hauled the 

 loads in. One made a return trip to a market daily past the orchard of a grower; 

 the truck was empty, and the operator was glad to get the return haul. There 

 were also a few selling agents who furnished the trucks or who hired the trucking 

 done. 



Among the growers who did their own trucking, 41 per cent also hired some 

 done. A noticeable practice was the engaging of a commercial truckman for the 

 long-distance hauls. Occasionally this supplementary service was employed 

 at the peak of the picking season when the grower's truck could not handle the 

 volume or was being used in the orchard. 



As a measure of the distance to which apples were shipped by truck, time in 

 transit for the truck appears to be the best unit. It is the total time which 

 elapses from the departure of the grower from the packing house until he returns 

 that determines whether or not he will make the haul himself. On the nearby- 



'Resident in the same or an adjacent town. 



