34 BULLETIN 1416, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULK 
Car-lot shipments in bulk are the rule for cider and canning stock. 
Good market stock in the East is not usually shipped this way. In 
the Ben Davis region, particularly Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas 
the excellent handling qualities and low market value of the prevail- 
ing varieties favor bulk shipment, which comprises half the car-lot 
movement in some districts. The apples when of good general 
market grade are sometimes protected from bruising by straw bed- 
ding and the firm-fleshed, thick-skinned varieties often reach market 
in much better condition than might be anticipated by shippers 
accustomed to handle good apples almost as though they were eggs. 
Bulk shipments average about 15 tons to the carload. Western bulk 
Fic. 13.—Barrels and rows are alternated to insure a tight carload 
stock is usually orchard run. Upon arrival at the market center the 
buyers come to the railroad yards with barrels, boxes, or bags and 
haul the fruit away. Some low-grade apples appear in midwestern 
markets put up in sacks, which are more easily handled than bulk 
shipments. 
STOCKS IN COLD STORAGE 
Cold storage prolongs the active market season for two or three 
months and greatly relieves the pressure of supply in the early part 
of the season. Combined boxed and barreled holdings on December 
1, stated in barrels, have ranged from 4,500,000 to 5,500,000 barrels 
from 1914 to 1917 and from 5,000,000 to 6,750,000 during 1918 to 
1922, but reached nearly 10,000,000, or well over one-fourth of the 
estimated commercial crop in 1923. In 1924, December holdings 
were only 7,500,000 barrels, but with a lighter crop were in about the 
same proportion asin 1923. From October to December the storages 
BE Pet > 
