Commercial Disposal of the Sweet Potato 349 



time he is ready to ship. In the telegram the grower 

 will ask whether the commission-man can handle a cer- 

 tain number of cars of a particular variety, packed in .a 

 given container, loaded at a certain point on a" given 

 day. The commission-man will investigate his order 

 for that time, calculate the time it will take the potatoes 

 loaded at the given point to reach him and will advise 

 the shipper whether or not he can handle them, at 'that 

 time. It may happen that he is already expecting the 

 arrival of several cars from other points at, that time 

 and cannot handle the potatoes then, but. would like to 

 have them a few days later. When he advises the 

 grower to this effect (by telegraph), the latter may be 

 afraid to wait until that time for fear prices will fall 

 or for some other reason. In this event he immediately 

 tries another firm in the same manner. The Market 

 Report sheets always indicate the demand and rate of 

 movement in the various cities and if these reports are 

 promptly acted on, there will never be any difficulty in 

 finding some firm in the strongest market who can han- 

 dle the shipment. It may, however, happen that some 

 one house is over-supplied at that time. 



An example of the information contained in the 

 Market Eeport sheets is as follows : 



UNITED STATES DEPAETMENT OF AGKICtTLTtrRE 



BUKBATJ OF MABKETS 



Danl'i/ Market Report 

 Memphis Tenn. Booms 601-03 Exchange Bldg. 



Feb 15 1919 Telephone — Main 796 



No. 128 



SWEET POTATOES 



Eeports by direct leased wire from important markets. 



This morning's sales unlesg otherwise reported. 



Chicago: 32° Snowing. 1 Tenn. arrived. 2 cars on track 



