4 BULLETIN 237, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGBICULTUEE. 



The districts are arranged from the top to the bottom of the page 

 according to the opening dates of the shipping seasons. By glancing 

 down the column for each month one can see not only which districts 

 have overlapping shipping seasons, but also the relative amounts 

 being shipped from each district. 



In drawing up this chart it was assumed arbitrarily that the num- 

 ber of cars shipped from one district was the same each week from the 

 beginning to the end of the shipping season. Inasmuch as the ship- 

 ments gradually increase from the beginning of the season until they 

 reach a maximum at the time the bulk of the crop is moving, then 

 gradually fall off until the end of the season, the diagram might be 

 misleading. However, the chart shows in a general way the over- 

 lapping or competing of the different districts and forms the basis 

 for future work of a more accurate nature. 



A superficial study of the map and the tabulation might lead to an 

 erroneous conclusion as to the relative magnitude of the strawberry 

 industry in Northern and Southern States. It must be remembered 

 that great quantities of berries are grown in the North in small patches 

 and are shipped to market by trolley, by express, and by less than car- 

 load freight, while a great many go directly to the consuming centers 

 in the producers' wagons. Comparatively few of these shipments, 

 however, are concentrated into carloads and shipped over long dis- 

 tances except from the northern districts on the Pacific coast. 



The chart indicates that the eight most important commercial 

 strawberry districts in 1914 were as follows, ranked according to car- 

 load shipments: Central California, 1,905 cars; Tennessee, 1,571.5 

 cars; Maryland, 1,569.3 cars; Delaware, 1,374 cars; southern 

 Louisiana, 1,243 cars; North and South Carolina, 967.3 cars; Vir- 

 ginia, 779 cars; Ozark region, 748 cars. 



With respect to the northern cities east of the Mississippi River, it 

 may be said in general that when they are depending on northern 

 berries, each is to a large extent supplied by its own territory. The 

 car-lot movement is light, and the marketing problem wholly different 

 from that which confronts the shipper in the Carolinas or south of 

 the Ohio River. This is one reason why the industry in the South 

 has developed to such large proportions within very limited areas. 



While no attempt has been made to list stations where no full cars 

 originate, yet at those stations where full cars do originate the less than 

 car-lot shipments have also been ascertained, and have been reduced 

 to equivalent carloads, and arc included in the tables hero shown. 

 Thus Jefferson County, Ky., usually ships in solid cars, but last sea- 

 son being an off year, no full cars wont out, although less than car- 

 lot shipments equivalent to seven cars were forwarded. As this is 

 usually car-lot producing territory, it has been given its proper show- 

 ing on the map. 



