REDUCTION OF WASTE IN MARKETING 



1331 



15 out of a total of 35 reported; for can- 

 taloupes, 21 out of 40; tomatoes, 19 out 

 of 32; and for grapes the car-lot markets, 

 which were opened within the past 10 

 years, numbered 13 out of a total of 24 

 for which reports were received. Taking 

 account of the minor products of this 

 trade, as well as the five leading ones 

 just mentioned, the average rate of in- 

 crease in the number of car-lot markets 

 for highly perishable fruits and vegeta- 

 bles was over 40 per cent in the decade 

 beginning with 1901 as compared with 

 the ten years just before. 



Wide Range of Sources of Supply 



Many of the large markets, and smaller 

 ones also, receive their fresh fruits and 

 vegetables from regions which are far 

 apart. The examples given here refer 

 to large cities, but illustrate conditions 

 at many others. The sources of supply 

 of a given product in a market like Chi- 

 cago or New York may often be traced 

 by the price quotations in those markets 

 for perishable fruits and vegetables. It 

 is common in those, and in other mar- 

 kets as well, to mention the state or 

 locality where the products quoted were 

 produced. By tabulating quotations of 

 different commodities it is thus easy to 

 learn also the time when the produce 

 from a given locality is on a given mar- 

 ket. For the season of 1910 the quota- 

 tions of Florida tomatoes appeared in the 

 produce reports at Chicago, New York, 

 and Kansas City early in the winter and 

 continued to about the middle of June, 

 when Texas tomatoes began to appear. 

 These were followed, in the Chicago mar- 

 ket, by shipments from Mississippi, and 

 about the first week of July the produce 

 of more northern fields. Among the 

 states which contributed tomatoes to the 

 Chicago trade in 1910, besides Florida, 

 Mississippi, and Texas, were California, 

 Tennessee, Missouri, and, of course, 

 Illinois. New York's supply came also 

 from a large number of states, among 

 which were California, Florida, Texas, 

 Mississippi, Tennessee, Yirginia, North 

 Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, 

 Maryland, and Delaware, while some 

 were imported from Cuba. 



The supplies of peaches, strawberries, 

 cantaloupes, string beans, and other 

 products were also drawn from a wide 

 range of territory. In 1910 there were 

 at the same time quoted in New York 

 City' strawberries from Florida, Lou- 

 isiana, Virginia, Maryland, and the Caro- 

 linas, and while some of these southern 

 berries were still in the market, supplies 

 came in from New Jersey and New York. 

 The cantaloupes used in New York in 

 the latter part of June and the first of 

 July, 1910, were coming from Florida, 

 Georgia, and the Carolinas, and also from 

 Arizona and the Imperial Valley of Cali- 

 fornia. A few weeks later melons from 

 Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and New 

 Jersey met, on the same market, those 

 from New Mexico, Nevada, and Colorado. 



In April and May of the same year the 

 asparagus sold in New York City was 

 grown some near the Pacific coast and 

 some in the regions along the Atlantic. 

 Peaches from Texas and other Western 

 states were included with those from 

 Eastern states in the receipts at New 

 York. 



The sources of supply in a given mar- 

 ket are governed to some degree by 

 changing conditions of trade. Under 

 some conditions it would be profitable 

 for the produce of a certain state to com- 

 pete in a given city with produce from 

 states which are nearer that market, 

 but whose own crops are short. For 

 instance, when the Arkansas peach crop 

 is small, Georgia may be shipping to 

 points as far west as Denver, while if 

 the Arkansas yield is large, Georgia 

 peaches might get into few markets west 

 of Chicago. 



Systematic Distribution 

 Finding a IMCarlvet 



A personal acquaintance between 

 buyer and seller is an important factor 

 in successful marketing. A truck gar- 

 dener who visits the different markets 

 occasionally and meets dealers there is in 

 a much better position to sell his produce 

 than if he consigned it to strangers; and, 

 further, the co-operative association hav- 

 ing representatives in important markets 

 throughout the season may be expected to 



