BULLETIN OF THE 



MfflBEKmam. 



No. 237 



Contribution from the Office of Markets and Rural Organization 

 Charles J. Brand, Chief. 



April 20, 1915. 



STRAWBERRY SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTION IN 1914. 1 



By Wells A. Sherman, Specialist in Market Surveys; Houston F. Walker, Scientific 

 Assistant; and O. W. Schletjssner, Market Assistant. 



SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION. 



Early in the spring of 1914 inquiries were addressed by the Office 

 of Markets and Rural Organization to station agents at all points 

 listed in the trade papers as shipping strawberries in full carloads, 

 and to every cooperative association handling the crop, of which the 

 department had any knowledge, asking for a record of the car-lot 

 shipments for 1913 and an estimate of the shipments to be made in 

 1914. At the same time an effort was undertaken to build up a 

 correspondents' list of persons directly interested in the commercial 

 strawberry crop from whom reliable information on every phase of 

 strawberry marketing could be obtained. As soon as the shipping 

 season of 1914 was ended the inquiry was renewed and has been fol- 

 lowed up, until this office now has definite reports on the shipments 

 during 1914 from 466 shipping stations at which strawberries originate 

 in car lots and a statement from the transportation or shipping 

 agencies as to the number of carloads shipped from each. 



It is the primary purpose of this bulletin to present these data for 

 the information of the shipper, the distributor, and the consuming 

 public, and to invite the closest scrutiny and criticism of the figures 

 presented. 



The completion of a survey of this character is found to present 

 many difficulties, and it is fully realized that it can be perfected only 

 as it is subjected to the criticism of the trade. Freely admitting 

 that this compilation and the map showing graphically its most salient 

 features can be neither absolutely complete as to shipping pomts nor 

 entirely accurate as to quantity of berries moved, it is presented with 

 confidence that it is the most comprehensive survey of the com- 

 mercial strawberry crop that has ever been made, and it is believed 



i About 95 per cent of the reports of shipments listed in this publication were furnished by railroad 

 officials, to whom grateful acknowledgment is made for their courtesy and assistance. 



Note. — This bulletin is of general interest to strawberry growers, shippers, dealers, transportation com- 

 panies, and consumers, and to all engaged in the trade in berries and fruits. 

 90369°— Bull. 237—15 



