MARKETING LETTUCE 
29 
The markets at times become glutted with lettuce shipments. With 
numerous shippers and organizations of growers in many sections 
acting independently of each other this is not surprising, for when- 
ever the supplies are low in any particular city and conditions there 
seem to promise better returns than elsewhere, many cars are imme- 
diately consigned or diverted to that market. Often the supplies 
received are sufficient to overstock the market and to cause a sharp 
decline in prices, thereby converting expected gains into losses. 
Considerable improvement could perhaps be made in this situation 
by establishing a well-managed central organization in each of the 
various sections, consisting of individual shippers, brokers, growers' 
organizations, and other car-lot distributors, to act as a clearing 
house for the collection and dissemination of market and shipping- 
point information and to arrange distribution in such a manner as 
to equalize the supply and demand as nearly as possible. Efforts 
LETTUCE -CAR-LOT UNLOADS IN 21 CITIES 
1924 
£^j 
Fig. 20. 
-These 21 primary markets account for 71 per cent of the total car-lot 
shipments of lettuce in the United States 
made in certain sections to set up central clearing houses for this 
purpose have met with little success because of a lack of true coop- 
eration among those to whom the organization looked for its mem- 
bership, with the result that the degree of control exercised by the 
organization was insufficient to permit it to become an influential 
factor in distribution. 
PREFERENCES IN CONSUMING MARKETS 
The existence of certain preferences and prejudices among the 
consuming public and the trade is a factor which vitally affects dis- 
tribution, prices, sales policies, and commercial practices at shipping 
points and in the receiving markets. 
Because of the large quantities of lettuce of good quality available 
on the markets in recent years, the consuming public has developed 
a taste for the very best. Buying is done with greater discrimina- 
tion than formerly. Lettuce that is well headed, crisp, and free 
