UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
^S^^mTU 
ULLETIN No. 709 
Contribution from Bureau of Markets, 
CHARLES J. BRAND, Chief. 
jw$*^wL 
Washington, D. C. 
November 20, 1918 
REPORTS OF STORAGE HOLDINGS OF CERTAIN 
FOOD PRODUCTS. 
By John O. Bell, Assistant in Market Surveys, and I. C. Franklin, Specialist 
in Storage. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Introduction 
Cold-storage reports of commercial organiza- 
tions 
Storage reports of the Bureau of Markets: 
Beginning and growth of the work 
Methods of securing information 
Cold-storage definitions 
Compiling the reports 
Distribution of the information 
Review of the 1916-17 cold-storage season for 
apples 
Page. 
Review of the 1916-17 cold-storage season for 
butter 17 
Review of the 1916-17 cold-storage season for 
American cheese 20 
Review of the 1916-17 cold-storage season for 
eggs 22 
Review of the 1917 storage holdings of frozen 
and cured meats and lard 25 
Storage holdings of fish, Decembor 15, 1917 . 43 
Selected list of publications on commercial 
holdings 43 
INTRODUCTION. 
The storing of food supplies during the season of production or in 
times of plenty for use in the season of nonproduction or in times of 
scarcity is as old as civilization itself. In fact, this custom, not un- 
known among savage races, is in a sense but the counterpart of the 
instinctive action of certain provident species of insects and other 
lower animals in the storing of their particular foods. Among human 
beings little if any progress could have been made along the road of 
civilization without intelligent action in the storing of certain non- 
perishable products, at least, and this custom is one of the first essen- 
tials in the development of wealth and power in any race or nation. 
The storing of grains and other nonperishable products requires 
protection merely from moisture and from the greater extremes of 
temperature. The storing of fresh fruits and vegetables requires the 
arresting of life processes, and the storing of all perishable products, 
vegetable or animal, requires control of the development of bacteria. 
Until quite modern times the preservation of such products was prin- 
60188— 18— Bull. 709 1 
