230 The Sweet Potato 



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consumer in usable condition if profit is to result. 

 Even when goods are sold f. o. b. the track, the seller 

 owes it to his customer to take every possible precaution 

 to insure him a safe delivery. Sweet potatoes are ex- 

 tremely perishable and intelligence is essential in pro- 

 viding proper accommodations in transit. Further- 

 more, the way in which a car is packed has much to 

 do with the commission merchants' p6ssibility of dis- 

 posing of it profitably at the other end of the line. 



Choicer of ear. 



Four types of freight cars may be used for shipping 

 sweet potatoes to market: (1) the common freight car; 

 (2) the air-ventilated cars; (3) the refrigerator cars; 

 and (4) the heated cars. 



The common freight cars are the ones in which ordi- 

 nary merchandise is usually shipped. This type is not 

 well adapted to the shipment of sweet potatoes even for 

 short hauls. They are employed only when a few crates 

 or barrels are shipped along with other merchandise on 

 short freight hauls that can be made in one or two days. 

 Occasionally the common freight is .provided with a 

 false bottom and used for shipping sweets, to canning 

 factories in bulk, but even in such cases the air-ventil- 

 ated cars are preferable. Such cars should never be 

 used for shipping car-lot potatoes over long distances, 

 for they are provided with no means of regulating ven- 

 tilation, and in long hauls, especially with new potatoes, 

 heating is almost sure to occur with disastrous results. 



Air-ventilated cars represent the type best suited for 

 handling sweet potatoes in all regions where special in- 

 sulation is not necessary to prevent freezing. Such cars 



