TRANSPORTATION OF TRUCK CROPS 93 



have a false slat floor raised 4 inches, and halfway between this 

 and the ceiling a second slat floor, thus making a double-deck car 

 carrying from 400 to 500 bushels of bulk cucumbers. After being 

 loaded with cucumbers, the cars have their bunkers stocked with ice, 

 and in other respects are treated as regular refrigerator cars. 



Transportation alone does not in all cases determine the type of 

 package to be used, as is evident from the styles of packages em- 

 ployed for tomatoes. In the case of long-distance shipments of 

 strawberries, there are special requirements both as to refrigeration 

 and a suitable carrier. The character of the product, the season, 

 and the length of the haul are all factors which must be taken into 

 account in deciding upon a suitable package or carrier for any crop. 

 In the case of truck crops which are not dependent upon refrigera- 

 tion, the style of the package is largely a matter of local conven- 

 ience. For the shipment of potatoes from regions remote from a 

 suitable timber supply for the manufacture of barrels, sacks are 

 chiefly employed ; while in sections where timber is plentiful and 

 barrels are extensively employed for other crops, the potato is also 

 shipped in barrels. 



Transportation a large factor. Transportation facilities not only 

 determine the possible supply of truck products for any center of 

 consumption, but also, to a great extent, the prices. The time of 

 the appearance of staple truck products in any particular market is 

 determined by the transportation facilities. Modern transportation 

 has proved the greatest competitor of the producer of forcing-house 

 products. Together with refrigeration it has overcome the restric- 

 tions which the seasons formerly placed upon the markets, so that 

 now the door of the market opens into the garden at all seasons. 



Transportation has also been an important factor in develop- 

 ing the trucking industry, as is evidenced by the history of the 

 transportation of truck crops recorded in the following quotation : 



" The transformation of industries, brought about by modern 

 methods of transportation, is nowhere more clearly evidenced than' 

 in vegetable gardening. Until the last third of the century just 

 closed, vegetables were grown within a short distance of the market 

 for which they were intended. Canal and early steamboat and rail 

 transportation had in large measure provided for the distribution of 

 staple farm crops and manufactured articles, but these methods of 



