analysis of the distribution because complete diversion and delivery records are not available, but the information at hand furnishes a fairly comprehensive idea of the destinations of shipments. Final destinations reported for more than 9,000 cars shipped from the Imperial Valley between January 8 and April 10, 1924, show that these cars went to 196 cities and towns in 44 States and the District of Columbia. Seven hundred and forty cars of lettuce shipped from Colorado points between August 6 and October 7, 1924, went to 58 markets in 28 States and the District of Columbia. Twenty-one of the important receiving markets in the United States took 66.2 per cent of California's shipments and 62.3 per cent of Colorado's shipments. Distribution of the 1924 crop from California, New York,

FIG. 19.-Final destinations are known for about 85 per cent of the lettuce shipments from Florida in 1924. New York City took more than half of the total

and Florida, which together produced approximately 80 per cent of the total United States shipments, is shown in Figures 17, 18,

and 19.

Tables 3 and 4 constitute a record of the car lots loaded in these 21 markets by months during 1924.5 20.)

of lettuce un(See also fig.

These figures should not be construed as a complete record of all lettuce consumed in these markets during that year, for in most of them local market gardeners supplied part of the demand by wagon or truck, and further supplies were received through unreported less-than-carlot shipments by freight or express. For example, receipts of this sort in New York City from New Jersey producing sections in 1924 have been computed by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics as equivalent to 832 car lots. During the same year the equivalent of approximately 65 car lots was received in this way from New York producing sections.

TABLE 3.-Unloads of lettuce in 21 cities, by months, 19241

TABLE 4.-Unloads of lettuce in 21 cities, by States of origin, 1924

City

[Car lots including boat receipts reduced to car-lot equivalents]

Ariz. Calif. Colo. Fla. Idaho N. J. N. Y. N. C

S. C. Wash. Misc. Total

1 Some discrepancies in the reports cause unloads of South Carolina lettuce to exceed shipments reported from that State.

Development of the small cities of 25,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. into car-lot markets for lettuce would no doubt go a long way toward widening distribution and increasing consumption. Growers and shippers doubtless would find outlets for greater tonnage by exerting every effort to open up as many as possible of these smaller markets to direct shipments instead of shipping habitually to a few of the large distributing centers.

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 whenever the supplies are low in any particular city and conditions there seem to promise better returns than elsewhere, many cars are immediately 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 shippingpoint information and to arrange distribution in such a manner as to equalize the supply and demand as nearly as possible. Efforts

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 cooperation among those to whom the organization looked for its membership, 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 distribution, 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 discrimination than formerly. Lettuce that is well headed, crisp, and free

from defects is usually in good demand, while poorer stock is discounted heavily.

In most markets Iceberg-type lettuce is meeting with increasing favor. Only a few years ago Big Boston was the leading variety, but recently the firm crisp varieties have been demanded by many who at one time would not consider buying if Big Boston was not to be had. Big Boston moves in decidedly better favor in New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston, than in western and mid-western cities. About three-fourths of the lettuce receipts in New York consist of Big Boston. Nevertheless the Iceberg type is gaining rapidly in popularity even in these three markets.

Leaf lettuce is favorably received in some cities, particularly in Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh, but on the whole the looseleaf varieties are not so popular as the heading varieties, and in some cities are being crowded from the market. Cos lettuce or Romaine meets only a limited demand, mostly from the Italian and other Latin peoples.

The markets prefer standard packages to which the trade is accustomed. Iceberg in the standard western crate, Big Boston in the 2-dozen crate or the 12 bushel hamper, and Grand Rapids in either the 3-pound or the 10-pound splint basket can be counted upon to meet a better demand than if packed in odd containers. Lettuce in unusual packages is handicapped in competition with stock in standard and attractive packages. The container should always be well filled, as there is a strong prejudice against slack packs.

A preference is usually shown for medium sizes. Heads which will pack 32 to 42 dozen in the large crate or 2 dozen in the flat crate generally sell at a premium over very small or very large heads. Lettuce of these sizes will pack 30 to 40 heads to the 12-bushel hamper.

Demand continues with considerable uniformity throughout the year, yet most markets report a slightly increased activity during the Christmas holidays and at Easter.

These preferences do not remain constant, and may be altered in a comparatively short time through advertising, changed standards of quality, and other conditions. Therefore, those sections which have been laboring under a reputation for undependable quality by devoting their attention carefully and persistently to improving the quality of their shipments and to bettering their merchandising methods, may in a relatively short time establish themselves and their product in the good will and confidence of the buying trade.

PRICES

Jobbing prices of lettuce frequently show wide daily ranges, reflecting great variation in quality and condition of stocks offered. It is not uncommon, for example, for sales of 2-dozen crates to be made at prices ranging from 25 cents to $2 or even more in a given market on the same day, with proportionate ranges on stock in other types of packages. Sales of Big Boston usually show wide differences in daily prices and more frequent fluctuations than do Iceberg type sales, because of greater uniformity in quality and condition of western supplies.

Prices often fluctuate sharply, slumping rapidly and recovering rapidly. The variation of daily wholesale prices of Big Boston lettuce from the average price for the period December, 1922, to April, 1923, in New York City was twice that of Long Island potatoes, for example.

It has been commonly believed that jobbing prices in each market are influenced inversely by the visible supplies in that market; that is, when receipts are heavy prices fall and as supplies diminish prices recover. It is true that at times current receipts exert a strong influence upon prices; but study of the weekly average prices to jobbers and total car-lot unloads of lettuce by weeks in several of the important markets reveals the fact that the correlation between the two over a period of one year is so small as to be almost wholly insignificant. Manifestly prices are determined by other influences as well as by current car-lot receipts. Doubtless general business conditions, weather, production, current loadings, shipments en route, business interruptions, and deviations from the normal demand caused by holidays, marked differences in the quality and condition of offerings, receipts of locally grown lettuce, etc., all exert some influence on jobbing prices. Any attempts to forecast price tendencies can have little success unless all these factors are taken into consideration.

7

As a rule, in those markets where Big Boston constitutes a substantial proportion of the receipts, prices of the two types of head lettuce tend to parallel each other, with Iceberg usually outselling Big Boston. Evidently factors responsible for price changes in one type generally produce similar and proportionate changes in prices of the other type, despite the popular belief that each supplies a separate and distinct demand. The higher values of Iceberg types are doubtless caused partly by the general preference for the crisp, compact heads of this type and partly by the better grading of western lettuce.

Jobbing prices in the large markets fluctuate with considerable similarity, with due allowance for the effects of temporary local gluts and famines that are not experienced simultaneously by all cities (fig. 21). For the most part the factors having the strongest influence on price seem to be general rather than local, and to affect all markets with more or less uniformity.

Prices paid by consumers in Washington, D. C., and Boston, Mass., for Iceberg type lettuce during the 1924 Imperial Valley season were apportioned among the agencies of production and distribution as shown in Figure 22. It will be noted that the margins are approximately the same in both markets.

The cost of getting the crop to the consumer exceeded materially the amount received by the producer. And yet certain essential services are performed between the grower's field and the consumer's table, and must be paid for. The producer and consumer can not perform these services or any appreciable portion of them, and consequently they fall to the lot of special agencies that have developed

From a study of supply and price of lettuce in New York City, by the Port of New York Authority and the Bureau of Agricultural Economics.

The effects of certain of these factors in New York City are being studied by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics in cooperation with the Port of New York Authority, in an effort to determine their relative importance in establishing the price level, so that the market may be forecast with reasonable accuracy under known conditions.