TRANSPORTATION 135 



Northeast or Northwest, some arrangement is necessary 

 whereby cars can be kept warm or the contents kept 

 from freezing while in transit. 



Various types of so-called heated cars are used for 

 the different kinds of produce. These are more commonly 

 used for potatoes and other vegetables rather than for 

 fruit. The last and most important kind is the refrig- 

 erator car which is especially constructed for the ship- 

 ment of fruit. All of the fruit brought to the Eastern 

 markets from the South and from the far West is 

 handled in these refrigerator cars. They are specially 

 designed and insulated against the heat from outside 

 and are also provided with bunkers on each end to hold 

 ice to keep the fruit cold while in transit. Most all of 

 the trunk line railroads own a large number of these 

 refrigerator cars, but there are also some private line 

 companies which have their own cars and are hauled by 

 the railroads on certain working agreements, usually 

 based on tonnage. 



Express Companies. All shippers of the more perish- 

 able fruits must deal with express companies because of 

 the necessary haste in delivery of goods to market. 

 Nearly all the express companies handle small fruit on 

 a large scale. Express rates charged by the various 

 transportation companies are usually very much higher 

 than the ordinary freight rate. On the other hand, they 

 travel on a much faster schedule and, hence, can deliver 

 the goods more quickly. It is seldom possible to ship 

 perishable fruits even for short distances by local freight, 

 hence producers located no farther away than 24 or 48 

 hours' journey must make use of these express com- 

 panies to deliver the fruit. 



