4 BULLETIN 667, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Notwithstanding these duplications, the general and prevalent 
error is one of incompleteness or deficiency. The system of mail 
reports was not put in operation until after the movement of many 
crops had begun.- It was therefore necessary to request agents to 
go back over their books and supplement our figures, that we might 
show the whole year’s movement. From many stations it was im- 
practicable to secure complete reports. If only a small number of 
agents overlook or misunderstand instructions the result is a loss of 
many cars from the report. 5 
Another cause of shortage is the fact that less than car-lot ship- 
ments have been almost wholly ignored. This shortage, while gen- 
eral, is most pronounced in the case of those commodities which are 
usually shipped in small bulk and for local use, such as berries and 
green vegetables. This is illustrated by a comparison of the northern 
and southern strawberry crops. Most southern berries leave the 
producing point in carloads, while the majority of those grown in the 
North go into near-by markets in smaller shipments.’ 
However, in the statistical tables devoted to the trucking crops 
of the Norfolk (Va.) section, the car-lot shipments reported by the 
carriers have been increased by the total equivalent carloads esti- 
mated to have been forwarded in less than car-lot shipments and by 
boat. This is true also of the shipments reported from the Eastern 
Shore of Maryland and Virginia. These are two important sections 
from which reports of the less than car-lot movement were available. 
On the other hand, the statistics on Minnesota potato shipments 
appear somewhat smaller than normally because one important car- 
rier furnished reports for the year ended June 30, 1917, instead of 
for the calendar year 1916. 
With but few exceptions the stations listed are those at which 
there ale agents authorized to do way-billing. During 1916 these 
agents were not requested to give the name of the station at which 
the commodities were loaded, but only the name of the billing 
station. In some instances, however, the name of the loading station | | 
was furnished instead of the billing station. In most of these cases 
an effort was made to determine the stations at which the shipments 
were billed. In general, it was assumed that the first agency station 
in the direction the shipment was moving would be the one which 
billed the car. It is realized, however, that this is not always the 
rule, and that therefore some eee aae may have been credited toy 
the wrong billing station. 
In general, the shipping season given for each county includes the 
earliest and latest dates of car loading from any station in the county. — 
1 See Sherman, W. A., Walker, H. F., and Schleussner, O. W., Strawberry Supply and Distribution in 
1914. Bulletin 237, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. 
