MARKETING 
237. Distribution.- — The question of distribution is one 
of the most important and most difficult problems in 
commercial vegetable gardening. The main cause of 
market slumps is uneven distribution. The supply of a 
given vegetable may be meager in one city and plentiful 
in another. Were the crops of the country as a whole 
evenly distributed, slumps and extremely low prices 
would seldom occur. The individual should do all in his 
power to prevent crowding the market, but he is practi- 
cally helpless in most instances. It is a question for 
organizations to deal with, and it is considered more fully 
in the next chapter on co-operative associations. 
A committee of the National Agricultural Conference 
in 1922 investigating production and marketing readjust- 
ments for fruits and vegetables included in their report 
the following recommendations: 
1. The standardizing of the grading of fruit and vegetables and of 
packages to secure uniformity, and the marking of packages indicating quan- 
tity and quality of contents. 
2. In order to secure a better demand and price for the better grades 
of produce we recommend the utilizing of inferior grades by manufacture 
into by-products, thereby conserving valuable food and removing competition in 
the open markets. 
3. For the use of shippers and the better co-operation among local, re- 
gional and national agricultural organizations for the purposes of securing a 
better distribution in all the markets, we - recommend a more thorough system 
of government crop reports and shipments. 
4. A national system of licensing and bonding of warehousemen and 
commission merchants dealing in food products to secure to the growers a 
guarantee of better service and price on all such products stored and consigned. 
5. That the Federal government shall by suitable legislation enable pro- 
ducers of perishable food products to finance the construction and operation 
of adequate cold storage and warehousing facilities for the more orderly mar- 
keting of their products, which will result to the advantage of both producer 
and consumer. 
6. That surveys should be conducted through government agencies to 
determine production costs of perishable fruits and vegetables in the various 
production areas in order that the relation which present freight rates bear 
to production costs and to net returns for a given product in each locality 
may be determined, to the end that freight rates may be reduced in accordance 
therewith. 
7. There should be an adequate tariff duty levied upon citrus and other 
tree fruits, including apples; also a duty on potatoes, sufficient in amounts 
equaling the difference in cost of production in this and foreign countries. 
