10 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 2W 



tance to (he market necessitated it, the receiver requested a rail shipment, and a 

 long distance shipment could be more cheaply made by rail. 



Shipments were chiefly in lots of two sizes: the small lot ranging from 50 to 12,S 

 boxes, and the larger from 200 to 300 boxes. The smaller lot was used by 34 per 

 cent of the growers; the larger by 26 per cent. In addition 13 per cent of the 

 apples were shipped in carloads (600 to 800 boxes). 



The small lots were carried usually in grower-owned trucks if the transit time 

 was less than six hours; otherwise in hired trucks. A few of the larger lots were 

 hauled in grower-owned trucks but the rule was to hire the trucking done, since 

 only a few growers owned trucks large enough to carry 300 bo.xes of apples. Here 

 also the time element partly determined whether the grower used his own truck 

 or not. 



Trnching Charges 



Data on truck charges paid in 1931 and 1932 were collected. The figures for 

 1931 were secured by interview; those for 1932, through correspondence with the 

 growers. In 1931 the rate per box from points in Massachusetts to Boston varied 

 from less than 5 cents to 12| cents. A 10-cent rate commonly applied regardless 

 of ilistance. Some apples were carried for that rate from as far west as the Con- 

 necticut River. In general, however, few growers west of Worcester shipped to 

 Boston. In the eastern apple growing section a few growers paid 12 cents a box, 

 one 8, and one less than 5 for having apples trucked to Boston. On baskets only 

 one figure was secured and that was from a grower west of Worcester. He paid 

 a 15-cent shipping charge to Boston. 



Truck rates to Providence showed much more variation than those to Boston 

 and seemed to bear some relationship to distance. Unfortunately the cases from 

 which data were secured are few. The extremes on rates per box were ,S cents 

 and l7.v cents. The shipper who was farthest from Providence paid the highest 

 rate and the one nearest paid the lowest. Other growers paid rates approximately 

 commensurate with the distance. 



Truck rates to Springfield ranged from 6 cents to 12 cents per box. The lower 

 rates were hardly indicative of a typical haul since they were in reality part of a 

 through rate to New York. 



In the fall of 1931, the usual rate per box from points in Massachusetts to New 

 York City was 20 cents. It was fairly uniform over the entire state. As would 

 be expected, higher than normal rates were charged for small lots and lots from 

 out-of-the-way places. 



In 1932, two general rates applietl. A 20-cent rate per box was paid by growers 

 in the eastern part of the state and in the northern section of the western part. 

 The rate from towns bordering the Worcester-Springfield highway and in the 

 southern part of Hampshire County was 15 cents per box. Sixty-six per cent of 

 the growers paid 20 cents per box; 24 per cent, 15 cents; 5 per cent, 225 cents; and 

 5 per cent, 25 cents per box for trucking to New York. The rates applying from 

 various points in Massachusetts to New York are listed in Table 5. 



There was ordinarily but one charge (rate per box times the number of boxes) 

 when the apples were carried by truck. Perceptions applied on lots which were 

 placed in cold storage. When fruit was stored at Springfield prior to selling in New 

 York two trucking charges were made; one from the farm to Springfield, the other 

 from Springfield to New York. A slightly different arrangement governed lots 

 held in cold storage at Boston. On going into storage the usual rate which ap- 



