2 BULLETIN 231, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



therefore that it will be found immediately useful to the trade. It 

 also should serve as a basis for valuable work in the future. 



Coincident with the publication of this survey and map, the Office 

 of Markets and Rural Organization is attempting to inaugurate a 

 limited telegraphic market news service for the strawberry crop. 

 The office expects to secure reports by telegraph from all important 

 car-lot producing sections, giving the number of cars shipped daily 

 during the period of important movement, together with their desti- 

 nation. The attempt will be made to keep this information up to date 

 by securing the diversions as they are ordered, so that at any time 

 the actual number of cars moving toward any one market can be 

 readily ascertained. Acting as a clearing house for this information, 

 this office will be able to keep competing producing areas and all con- 

 suming centers advised concerning the total car-lot shipments. 



Supplementing this service on shipments, there will be daily tele- 

 grams from all the principal markets giving arrivals and prices. 

 Arrangements have been made to secure these reports from the 

 persons in each market most deeply interested in the strawberry- 

 deal. A summary of this market information will be telegraphed 

 daily, collect, to every shipping association desiring the information. 

 The complete success of this service, especially as it is extended to 

 other crops, will depend very largely upon the continued cooperation 

 and assistance of the transportation companies. 



STRAWBERRY SHIPMENTS DURING 1914. 



The tabulated statement which follows shows, the strawberry- 

 shipping stations and the actual number of cars shipped from each 

 during the 1914 season. It must be kept in mind that these data 

 cover only the 1914 shipments and that seasonal variation is so 

 great that in some cases these figures may be far in excess or much 

 below the usual shipments. 



In some cases certain stations are credited in the tabulation with 

 less than car-lot shipments. This is explained by the fact that these 

 stations normally ship in full carloads, but owing to a short crop or 

 other abnormal conditions in 1914 they did not ship their customary 

 quantities. These figures are grouped by States and by shipping 

 districts. Counties are ignored in the tabulation, since county lines 

 are without significance in a survey of this kind, which is not based on 

 census data. 



In the region bordering on Chesapeake Bay, Lake Michigan, 

 the Hudson River, San Francisco Bay, and Puget Sound shipments 

 by boat are of considerable importance. Some difficulty has been 

 experienced in obtaining accurate reports for these shipments. It is 

 believed, however, that the figures for this class of shipments are 

 fairly complete. In all such cases the quantity reported as shipped 

 by boat has been reduced to equivalent carloads; for instance, 



