18 
BULLETIN 401, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
market in any one day have been averaged together, both the best 
and poorest brands being included in the average price thus obtained. 
In some cases only gross or net sales per car were available, and in 
such cases the returns have been prorated as follows: 
The manifests have been reduced to a basis of standards, by figuring 
3 flats or 1 jumbo equal to 1 standard, while 1 pony has been con- 
sidered equal to 70 per cent of a standard. This basis of calculation 
for ponies was arrived at by taking the average quotations from 
Monday, June 14, to Saturday, June 26 (two weeks of market days), 
on Xew York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Minne- 
apolis, and Los Angeles markets. In each city it was found that 
during this representative period ponies were quoted at approxi- 
mately 70 per cent of the value of standards. The exact general 
average of all such quotations for the ponies was a value of 72.8 per 
cent of standards. However, 70 per cent has been selected as a 
convenient and approximately accurate value for ponies as com- 
pared with standards. After the number of packages recorded on 
the manifests had been reduced to the equivalent of standards the 
total number of standard crates so secured was divided into the net 
return of the entire car to obtain the average price for standards. 
Lender each date the column marked R represents receipts, or the 
number of cars arriving on the market on that date. The column 
marked P contains the average net price to the grower for the various 
sizes of crates. The sizes of the crates are designated by the letters 
S for standards, P for ponies, F for flats, and J for jumbos. In some 
cases an apparent discrepancy exists in the prices, as returns from 
ponies or flats will appear to be greater than the returns for stand- 
ards. Such cases are due to a heavy supply of poor standards on the 
market, which pulled down the average price of standards, while all 
ponies or flats sold were of high quality. 
In some cases diversions were made of which no records were 
secured, so that some prices were obtained at points where there 
were apparently no cars. With such a large movement and so many 
different factors it is impossible to secure absolute accuracy. 
The column headed " Capacity 7 ' represents the capacity of each 
market to "consume muskmelons at prices returning at least 70 cents 
per crate (the production cost as figured above) net to the grower 
expressed in terms of carloads per day (D) or per week (W). These 
figures are based on the returns of 1915. 
The estimates of consuming capacity can not be considered 
absolutely correct, but are merely approximate. They are based 
on 1915 conditions, and can not be applied with exactness to any 
other year. Further, they can not be determined exclusively from 
returns. The quality of arrivals may be the cause of poor returns, 
and though a car may show a loss to the grower, this may not be due 
