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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



sell on much better terms tlian the in- 

 dividual shipper who visits the market 

 only occasionally. Likewise, among mer- 

 chants, the man who keeps in touch with 

 other markets knows much better how 

 to distribute his excess supply, or send 

 orders to meet the demands of his cus- 

 tomers, than the dealer whose acquain- 

 tance is not so large. 



The shipper or his representative 

 should know also the characteristics of 

 the various markets which may take his 

 produce. For instance, a certain town 

 will be able to use one full carload of 

 cherries, while for another town it would 

 be better to make up a mixed car con- 

 sisting of cherries and two or three other 

 kinds of fruit; or, again, in one city, 

 as New York, it is important for certain 

 produce to be delivered in time for the 

 night market, while at Chicago the ship- 

 ments will be on time for the regular 

 market if they reach the railroad ter- 

 minals or the steamboat wharves before 

 daybreak. 



Reports of market conditions are given 

 regularly and with varying degrees of 

 accuracy in daily newspapers, trade and 

 agricultural journals, and in circulars is- 

 sued by dealers and organizations. In 

 addition to these sources of information, 

 some shippers and dealers receive spe- 

 cial reports, by mail or wire, from dif- 

 ferent markets. 



CoBtrol of Produce in Transit 



Information as to the location of a 

 given car in transit may usually be ob- 

 tained from the railroad company which 

 is hauling the car. But some large ship- 

 pers have a system of their own by 

 which they trace the movement of cars 

 in transit, in order to distribute them 

 among the different markets to the best 

 advantage. One organization in California 

 adopted this system of distributing ship- 

 ments: When a member shipped a car 

 of produce, he turned the bill of lading 

 over to the manager of the organzation 

 and allowed him to direct the movement 

 of the car to market. The object of 

 having one central authority select the 

 markets was to prevent sending an over- 

 supply to any one place. On receiving 



the bill of lading, a record of the car 

 was made on a card in the ofhce of the 

 organization and the card filed in its 

 proper place in a drawer. This drawer 

 was divided into several rows of com- 

 partments, opening upward; each row 

 had 31 compartments, and there was one 

 row for each principal market in the 

 United States. The 31 compartments rep- 

 resented each one day of a month. When 

 a card was filed its location was deter- 

 mined by the destination named in the 

 bill of lading and by the day of the month 

 on which the consignment was due at the 

 destination. For instance, a carload of 

 cherries shipped to New York from a 

 point in the Sacramento valley on May 

 27 would be represented by a card filed 

 in the New York row of the drawer and 

 in the compartment numbered 7, if the 

 consignment would be due in New York 

 on June 7. The arrangement of these 

 cards showed at a glance the intended 

 distribution of this association's ship- 

 ments among the different markets, and 

 when too many consignments of a given 

 kind of fruit were on the way to a given 

 market the grouping together of several 

 cards in one box served as a warning 

 that the destination of one or more cars 

 should be changed. This drawer showed 

 only such fruit as was shipped by this 

 association. News of other shipments and 

 of their probable time of arrival at des- 

 tination was secured, to some extent, by 

 the association. When it became known 

 that a certain market was about to re- 

 ceive an oversupply of a given fruit, one 

 or more of the shippers who had con- 

 signed to that market would be notified 

 by the association manager, so that they 

 might select another city to which to di- 

 vert their consignments. In case they 

 should refuse to make such a selection 

 the rules of the association gave the man- 

 ager the right to divert the shipments 

 himself. 



The movement of a car in transit was 

 traced by the association by a system 

 similar to that used by some railroads. 

 Bach car shipped east by the association 

 was reported by telegraph as it passed 

 certain points along the way. 



