COOPERATIVE CITRUS-FRUIT MARKETING AGENCIES. 
33 
a general rule, these precooling plants are equipped to manufacture 
ice and the precooled shipments are forwarded witn one icing only. A 
shipment that has been precooled before it is loaded in a refrigerator 
car will melt much less ice while it is in transit to market, and it has 
been found that ordinarily a precooled shipment with one icing will 
arrive in as satisfactory condition as a nonprecooled shipment under 
standard refrigeration. 
Precooling enables the shippers to obtain refrigeration at a lower 
cost, and, theoretically at least, provides conditions more favorable 
to the preservation of the fruit in that the temperature of the ship- 
ment is reduced more rapidly. A brief study of the precooling plants 
of five associations indicates that it usually costs from 10 to 16 cents 
1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 AV. 
Packing 
andSeifing 
1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 AV. 
Transportation fc:ft.':l Wholesaler 1 \ Retaihr 
Fig. 10. — Portion of retail price of oranges and lemons received by each agency and price at each stage 
of marketing 
per box to precool and pre-ice oranges or lemons, exclusive of a car- 
rental charge amounting to a little over 1 cent per box made by the 
railroads. A wide variation exists between associations on account 
of differences in equipment and in operation, and for that reason only 
the most general statements can be made. 
WHOLESALE AND RETAIL MARGINS. 
Oranges and lemons are sold through the fruit auctions to jobbers 
and retailers, or by private sale to car-lot wholesalers who resell the 
fruit to smaller jobbers or directly to retail merchants. There are 
other avenues for the sale of citrus fruit, but these channels are in 
most general use. As will be seen from Figure 10 and Tables 11 and 
12, the margin per box received by the wholesaler is only slightly less, 
than the entire expense of the local association, the district exchange, 
and the central exchange. The wholesalers' average margin for the 
five-year period 1917-1921 was 61 cents per box for oranges and 83 
cents for lemons. 
