Marketing Fruit. 79 



the grading, packing and selling of every pound of fiuit produced by 

 its members. Absolutely uniform rules for grading and packing must be 

 followed by each and everv union, and then a central selling agency can 

 be maintained which can handle the sales for all. The selling will be a 

 simple matter when the control is all in sti-ong hands and when they 

 can absolutely guarantee the Contents of every package that they offer. 

 They can reach out until every market in the world is at our command. 

 We must follow the methods that have made the German manufacturers 

 so wonderfully successful, that have enabled them to so far distance 

 their English and American competitors in so many foreign markets; 

 that of sending out their best salesmen to hunt far and wide for markets 

 and to find just what that market wanted; the style and price of goods 

 and how they wanted it packed, the terms of payment and everything 

 in the remotest way connected with the deal. The English and American 

 way has too often been to send just what they were manufacturing or 

 what they couldn't seil at home, or what thev thought the foreign market 

 ought to want, and let it go at that. 



Every market has its peculiarities that must be learned and catered 

 to even though they may seem trifling to the shipper. It is expensive 

 business trying to educate the public taste to take something it is not 

 accustomed to. Let us give them the kind of fruit they want, if possible; 

 failing that, it is time to trv to induce them to take what we have. New 

 York has been so long accustomed to getting all its supply of the cheaper 

 grades of apples in barreis that it is absolutely useless to ship anything 

 but the largest and fandest fruit there in boxes, and they want red fruit 

 in preference to yellow. Many of the English markets prefer the yellow 

 apples and the smaller sizes. The dealers in Baltimore and Washington 

 have for generations sold fruit by the peck and the box or barrel is 

 carefully sized up as to how many pecks it will measure out. Some day 

 the consumers in those eitles may learn to buy apples by the box or the 

 dozen, but in the meantime let us give them fruit that they can retail by 

 the peck or half peck. One of the most successful politicians this country 

 has ever produced, once said that he never tried to force a policy nor a 

 candidate on an unwilling public, but that he always studied their wishes 

 and tried to meet them. Such a policy is just as successful in business 

 as in politics. 



It scarcely seems necessary to cite any more arguments in favor of 

 local associations at ever-y shipping point, the need is so obvious, yet the 

 advantage of uniform grading might be further noted. With all the 

 fruit under one control it is possible to seil ahead and to seil in straight 

 carloads of whatever varietv, size and grade the purchaser wishes. It is 

 true that sometimes a mixed car can be sold as readily as a straight one, 

 but ordinarily not. Take a mixed car with five to ten varieties and three 

 grades, the bulk of them may be all right in one market, but on the 

 others the buy er may insist on heavy discounts because they are not 

 suitable for his trade. On the other band, this same car in some other 

 market might prove to be desirable in the opposite varieties and undesir- 

 able in the others, so in order to get top-notch value for every variety 

 shipped, they should be shipped in straight cars. The same rule applies 

 to the shipment of mixed grades: it is much better to ship the choice and 

 fancy grades separately. 



There has been great confusion regarding this matter of grading; we 

 have had "Fancy," "Extra Fancy," "XXX Fancy," "Choice," "Choice 

 No. 1," "Choice No. 2," and so on, according to the "fancy" of the 

 packer, until the terms had ceased to have any real meaning to the 

 buyer. As the result of a Conference held at the Spokane apple show 

 last year the matter was simplified a little; the growers and packers 

 there agreeing to mark "Extra Fancy," "Fancy." "Choice," and "Orchard 



