CHAPTER XVIII 



MARKET PREPARATION, TRANSPORTATION, 

 AND STORAGE 



IN the moving of fruits and vegetables from the place where 

 they are grown to the market, and thence to the consumer, 

 three stages are involved : 



(1) The market preparation stage includes such opera- 

 tions as picking or otherwise harvesting the crop, hauling, 

 cleaning, grading, sizing, drying and curing, packing, and 

 loading on the cars; in short all the operations necessary to 

 gather the commodity and place it in proper condition for 

 shipment and sale. 



(2) The transportation stage includes the loading ana 

 routing of cars, and such other operations as are necessary to 

 the safe arrival of the product at the market. If the shipment 

 takes place in refrigerator-cars, as is the common practice 

 with car-lots, the cars are iced and sealed. The commodity 

 is then hurried to its destination by fast freight. Sometimes 

 fruit is kept in cold storage for a time before it is sent to the 

 market. 



(3) Marketing and selling stage. In this stage are in- 

 cluded all operations pertaining to the actual sale or disposal 

 of the crop. Among them are distribution, handling in 

 markets, advertising, and systems of selling. 



Producers are becoming increasingly appreciative of the 

 fact that the operations of these different stages are best per- 

 formed by specialists who are able to give their entire time 

 each to a particular phase. It happens that in the past most 

 attention has been paid to the processes of production. It is 



260 



