MARKETING LETTUCE 
25 
Not all of the lettuce grown finds its way to market, and the pro- 
portion marketed each year is not constant. Discouraging market 
conditions or unfavorable climate and cultural conditions may cause 
a portion of the crop to be left in the fields or to be discarded during 
the sorting and packing operations. Car-lot shipment records, to- 
gether with accurate production estimates in the important lettuce- 
growing States in the East for several years, indicate that in these 
States usually about 70 to 80 per cent of the crop is shipped in 
car lots, though in some seasons wide variations from this average 
have occurred. Most of the remainder is not marketed, though 
in localities situated advantageously with respect to large consum- 
ing centers considerable tonnage is shipped by truck or express or in 
mixed shipments, records of which are fragmentary. 
With rapidly increasing supplies of lettuce, wider geographical 
distribution of shipments is essential. Until recently the large cities 
CARLOADS 
2500 — 
1500 
1000 — 
500 
Fig. 16. 
JAN FEB. MAR APR. MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT. OCT. NOV. DEC 
-Car-lot shipments of lettuce are heaviest during the winter and early 
spring but fairly regular every month except June 
took practically all of the lettuce shipped, but within the past few 
years some effort has been made by shippers to find an outlet for 
a larger portion of the crop in the smaller cities and to create a 
demand that would develop these points into car-lot markets. 
Distribution to these smaller markets in original car lots from 
some sections is still limited. Of 2,439 cars of the New York crop 
shipped in July and August, 1924, approximately 92 per cent went 
to Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, 
St. Louis, and Washington. 4 The crop was sold in 33 markets in 
all, located in 19 States and the District of Columbia. The area of 
distribution was limited to the northeastern quarter of the United 
States, largely because of keen competition from the Western States 
coupled with high transportation costs on distant shipments. 
Thirteen cities, each with a population of more than 325,000, took 
most of the New York crop in 1924. More than 85 per cent of 
Data compiled by New York State Department of Farms and Markets. 
