18 BULLETIJSr 401, U. S. DEPAETMEjSTT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



market in any one day have been averaged together, both the best 

 and poorest brands being included in the average price thus obtamed. 

 In some cases only gross or net sales per car were available, and in 

 such cases the returns have been prorated as follows : 



The manifests have been reduced to a basis of standards, by figuring 

 3 flats or 1 jumbo equal to 1 standard, while 1 pony has been con- 

 sidered equal to 70 per cent of a standard. This basis of calculation 

 for ponies was arrived at by taking the average quotations from 

 Monday, June 14, to Saturday, June 26 (two weeks of market days), 

 on New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Mmne- 

 apolis, and Los Angeles markets. In each city it was found that 

 during this representative period ponies were quoted at approxi- 

 mately 70 per cent of the value of standards. The exact general 

 average of aU such quotations for the ponies was a value of 72.8 per 

 cent of standards. However, 70 per cent has been selected as a 

 convenient and approximately accurate value for ponies as com- 

 pared with standards. After the number of packages recorded on 

 the manifests had been reduced to the equivalent of standards the 

 total number of standard crates so secured was divided into the net 

 return of the entire car to obtain the average price for standards. 



Under each date the column marked R represents receipts, or the 

 number of cars arriving on the market on that date. The column 

 marked P contains the average net price to the grower for the various 

 sizes of crates. The sizes of the crates are designated by the letters 

 S for standards, P for ponies, F for flats, and J for jumbos. In some 

 cases an apparent discrepancy exists in the prices, as returns from 

 ponies or flats will appear to be greater than the returns for stand- 

 ards. Such cases are due to a heavy supply of poor standards on the 

 market, which pulled down the average price of standards, while all 

 ponies or flats sold were of high quality. 



In some cases diversions were made of which no records were 

 secured, so that some prices were obtained at points where there 

 were apparently no cars. With such a large movement and so many 

 different factors it is impossible to secure absolute accuracy. 

 " The colmnn headed "Capacity" represents the capacity of each 

 market to consume muskmelons at prices returnmg at least 70 cents 

 per crate (the production cost as figured above) net to the grower 

 expressed in terms of carloads per day (D) or per week ( W) . These 

 figures are based on the returns of 1915. 



The estimates of consuming capacity can not be considered 

 absolutely correct, but are merely approximate. They are based 

 on 1915 conditions, and can not be applied with exactness to any 

 other year. Further, they can not be determined exclusively from 

 returns. The quality of arrivals may be the cause of poor returns, 

 and though a car may show a loss to the grower, this may not be due 



