MARKETING LETTUCE 
on the stand for packing, the empty crates having been distributed 
through the field before harvesting begins. The packages are lidded 
before hauling from the field. 
GRADING AND PACKING 
Lettuce packed in the field can not be graded as uniformly as 
when handled through a packing house, yet in most of the eastern 
sections the packing is done almost exclusively in the field. The 
preference for field packing in these districts is based largely on the 
desire to reduce the handling to a minimum, to keep the costs as low 
as possible, and to get the packed lettuce quickly from the field to 
the car. 
Financial reverses suffered in some districts during recent years 
have awakened growers and shippers to a realization of the need for 
standardizing the grade and pack, and many are convinced that the 
most efficient method of obtaining uniformity is to have the crop 
prepared for shipment in central packing houses under competent 
supervision; that the benefits to be derived from uniformity more 
than outweigh the extra handling and added cost. Many growers 
and shippers are manifesting a rapidly growing interest in the need 
for improvements in the marketing of lettuce, especially in the grad- 
ing and packing operations. 
A reputation for dependable quality can not be gained by any 
shipper whose shipments lack uniformity. It is a demonstrable fact 
that the field packs put up by different packers vary widely with 
respect to the quality and condition of the product and in the degree 
of fullness of the package. The wide variation in the standards 
employed often causes difficulties in disposing of the shipments at 
a profit. If these difficulties are to be overcome, uniform standards 
must be adopted and rigidly adhered to. 
Higher' returns depend very largely upon better grading and 
packing. Uniformly good quality stimulates consumption, and the 
organization or individual whose brand or label always represents 
a high-class product is usually among the first to reap the benefit 
from this increased demand. 
Standard grades properly and consistently used promote honesty 
and fair dealing and discourage the careless and unscrupulous 
packer. They enable the conscientious groAver and shipper to realize 
a premium for care, honesty, and good judgment. They provide a 
common language with which to describe quality, condition, matur- 
ity, size, and all the factors that determine the value of a given 
shipment. They- serve as a convenient, fair, and equitable basis for 
sales and for contracts covering future transactions in lettuce, for 
quotations to buyers, for inspection of the product at shipping points 
and in receiving markets, for adjustment of claims, for cooperative 
pooling, for financing, and for the reporting and intelligent compari- 
son of market prices. 
The United States Department of Agriculture has formulated 
standard grades for head lettuce which each year are coming into 
more and more extensive use. 2 The terminology employed in these 
2 These Federal grades may be subject ro slight revision, from time to time, and there- 
fore are not given here. Copies may' be procured without charge from the United States 
Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
86143°— 26 2 
