MARKETING BARRELED APPLES 75 
or crates are used for handling. Much of the early fruit is put up in 
bushel baskets, and much low-grade stock is shipped in bulk, but as a 
general rule the best fruit goes into standard barrels that hold slightly 
more than 3 bushels. Western-style boxes are used for a small but 
increasing portion of the eastern crop. 
Principal quality grades are A and B, corresponding to No. 1 and 
No. 2; principal sizes are 21% and 214 inches, and leading combined 
market class is A-2 1%. 
About three-fifths of the eastern commercial crop is shipped in car 
lots. A car lot is reckoned as averaging 175 barrels. Both refriger- 
ator and box cars are used for the main crop, usually without icing. 
About two-fifths of the average commercial barrel crop is accounted 
for by local demand, small-lot shipments, and waste. Fruit not re- 
quired for local market is sold through local buyers or agents, shipped 
to city dealers or handled through cooperative associations. 
Cold storage, in most sections, has largely superseded common 
storage for long keeping of market apples. Sometimes over one- 
fourth of the commercial apple crop is reported in cold storage at the 
height of the season. Barreled apples comprise about half the aver- 
age stock in cold storage. 
Markets for barreled apples may be considered according to sources 
of supply as divided into three classes in which the leading sources 
are, respectively, eastern, southern, or midwestern. Out of 26 cities 
with aggregate records available only for 1923, New York State led 
in the following 10: Boston, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indian- 
apolis, Newark, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Providence; 
Michigan led in two—Chicago and Detroit; Illinois in four—Mil- 
waukee, New Orleans, St. Louis, and St. Paul; Missouri in four— 
Kansas City, Memphis, Minneapolis, and Omaha; Virginia in two— 
Birmingham and Washington. The same general conditions pre- 
vailed for the six-year average in those markets reported for such a 
period, except that for the six-year period New York led Missouri in 
Minneapolis and L[linois in St. Paul. 
The greater part of the supply handled in city markets is bought in 
car lots from country shippers direct or with the aid of a broker’ 
Some years a large proportion is shipped for sale on commission, and 
most small-lot shipments come to market on that basis. Receivers 
sell in large lots to jobbers and jobbers sell in small lots to retailers. 
In small market centers receivers are also jobbers and sell mostly in 
small lots. 
In some cities most sales are at the freight yard or dock, but in 
the majority of city markets the apples are hauled to the wholesale 
district and sold from the receivers’ stores. According to local 
reports and estimates, the large cities draw 5 to 25 per cent of their 
supplies as home-grown stock from near-by producing sections. 
The markets vary in preferences, but most of the prominent 
market varieties have red color, large size, and good general handling, 
keeping, and table qualities. Baldwin, Ben Davis, York Imperial, 
Bid. ieee are considered market leaders. Some markets take 
green or yellow kinds readily. 
Of the fruits exported from the United States, apples rank first in 
point of value, with total exports as fresh fruit for the year ending 
June 30, 1924, of 2,032,000 barrels and 6,198,000 boxes, valued at 
over $23,000,000. The United Kingdom purchases about three- 
