116 MODERN FRUIT MARKETING 



cold storage plant. Practically all the fruit in transi- 

 tion from the warmer states must be kept in storage. 

 All the meat, eggs, and other food products which must 

 be shipped long distances could not possibly be supplied 

 fresh were it not for the advantages of cold storage. 

 In fact, in most every case the consumer in large cities 

 uses daily either meat or fruit products which have 

 been kept fresh in cold storage plant. 



The volume of business done would run far into the 

 millions of dollars per annum and while creating a good 

 income from the money invested in storage plants they 

 also add largely to the comfort of the consumer who is 

 forced to make the larger cities his home. 



Disadvantages of Cold Storage. There are also cer- 

 tain disadvantages in the use of cold storage and these 

 refer more particularly to the producer or to the person 

 who wishes to store the fruit. First, it is not always easy 

 to foresee conditions and if the producer stores his 

 fruit he must do so at his own risk, hoping that at the 

 proper time the market will rise sufficiently so as to move 

 his goods at a fair profit. The individual producer is 

 at a decided disadvantage in this case because he is not 

 in a position to make a study of the market require- 

 ments. On the other hand, operators of the fruit stor- 

 age houses are themselves in the center of the consuming 

 district and can accurately forecast what may be ex- 

 pected. In some cases, they are willing to advise the 

 storer of these conditions, but this can hardly be ex- 

 pected as a general rule. 



The second disadvantage is that the producer has 

 little or no protection. The fruit is often shipped 

 across two or three states, and placed in storage. After 



