MARKETING HAY THROUGH TERMINAL MARKETS. 17 



tions that may arise if a country shipper relies entirely upon one 

 marketing agency for the disposal of all his hay. 



Track buyers usually distribute their hay through brokers or sales- 

 men in consuming territories and seldom go to large markets except 

 to dispose of a surplus. They usually do not operate warehouses but 

 ship direct from country shippers' tracks or warehouses. When such 

 dealers operate warehouses and handle hay through their warehouses 

 direct from producer or from other country shippers, upon a transit 

 privilege, they are in most sections termed wholesalers. The term 

 track buyer is applied usually only to those who handle or bill the 

 hay direct from loading track to destination. 



Terminal Markets. 



Another agency which is available to the country shipper in the 

 marketing of his hay is the terminal market, and it is available when 

 the others are not. While the prices obtained for hay shipped to 

 terminal markets during periods when there is a demand from no 

 other source may not be all that could be desired, these markets pro- 

 vide places for marketing surpluses. 



There are no large public storage warehouses in any of the large 

 central western markets but private storage space is sufficient to 

 accommodate a considerable amount when prices are such that the 

 owners consider it a good business proposition to store their hay. 

 The railroads provide warehouses in several of the eastern markets, 

 including New York and Boston. Many terminal markets also have 

 excellent distributing facilities, being located at railroad centers 

 which provide transportation at advantageous rates to large consum- 

 ing areas. These markets may have but a small local demand and 

 practically no storage but still handle a large amount of hay. Among 

 such distributing markets are Kansas City, St. Louis, Omaha, Chi- 

 cago, Memphis, and Cincinnati. 



Country shippers who desire to ship to terminal markets advan- 

 tageously must become familiar with practices and conditions pre- 

 vailing at such markets. Among these the more important are the 

 methods of weighing, of inspection and grading, the amount and 

 kind of storage available, and the methods of rebilling cars. The 

 last mentioned is important because it enables the shipper to know 

 how to bill his cars to a market in such a way as to take advantage 

 of the best rebilling privileges. 



Many country shippers avoid shipping to terminal markets because 

 of their lack of knowledge concerning the various methods of hand- 

 ling hay and because such shipments usually result in unsatisfactory 

 price returns. The various practices prevailing at the principal 

 markets will be discussed in another part of this bulletin. 

 53884°— 21— Bull. 979 3 



