MARKETING LETTUCE 
17 
opposite sides. It is sometimes sufficient to strip only alternate 
layers, but in all cases the top layer is stripped. 
In some sections crates of this type are often loaded flat, 7 or 8 
layers high, with the packages so staggered as to have the bottom 
layer 5 rows wide, the next 4, the third 5, and so on, leaving a few 
inches between the crates for ventilating space. The crates in each 
layer are placed across the open space left between the crates in the 
layer below. This checkerboard method provides for no vertical 
channels between the crates and consequently the circulation of air 
Fig. 11. — Arrangement of flat lettuce crates in a refrigerator car 
is retarded and rapid and continuous refrigeration of the top of the 
load is prevented. The lettuce in the top layer of packages in a load 
of this kind often arrives in poor condition. 
LOADING LARGE CRATES 
Lettuce crates of the type used in the Western States are loaded 5 
rows wide throughout the length of the car, 4 layers high. 
The usual carload of large crates consists of 320 packages loaded 
solid, as shown in figure 12. The outside dimenions of the crate are 
such that 5 rows take up almost the entire width of the car and 16 
stacks take up practically the entire length. Manifestly in a load 
of this kind little space can be left between the crates for air chan- 
Fig. 12. — Arrangement of large lettuce crates in a refrigerator car 
nels, but in spite of this the lettuce usually carries to market in good 
condition, in all probability because of the ice within the packages. 
During severely hot weather the lettuce in crates that touch the 
walls of the car may become slimy in transit. It is therefore gen- 
erally considered good practice in summer to load large crates solidly 
in the car, leaving no air passages between the rows but as much 
space as possible between the load and the walls, dividing it equally 
between the two sides. Car strips, if securely nailed to all layers, 
serve to hold the load in this position. 
86143°— 26 3 
