No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 669 



cost in \he way of transporiation charges and commissions. It is 

 the application of business principles in growing and marketing 

 strawberries with exactly the same features brought to bear that 

 may be discerned in the manufacture and sale of shoes. Last season 

 one grower in that association sold |1,000 worth of berries from 

 three acres. Another picked 210 crates per acre from his planta- 

 tion of three acres, which sold at an average of |1.73 per crate. 



Coming nearer home, let us note briefly what is being done in 

 the middle south. The Peninsula produce exchange of Maryland, 

 with headquart(?rs at Pocomoke City, was organized three seasons 

 ago for the purpose of buying and selling and handling produce. It 

 is, in fact, a producers' agency for marketing potatoes, peaches, ber- 

 ries and melons. It has the usual complement of otficers, general 

 manager, etc. Much emphasis is placed on having the goods well 

 packed and true to classification as to grade and quality. Each 

 shipper is charged 5 per cent, for all goods sold outright at shipping 

 station, and 8 per cent, when shipped on consignment to the com- 

 mission merchant representing the exchange. The latter guarantees 

 th,e payment of all goods consigned or sold. The treasurer makes 

 draft for some through the main office. The work of the exchange 

 is satisfactory to its members as a whole. Shipments of sweet po- 

 tatoes have greatly increased in recent years. The grading is being 

 improved and the exchange insists on sending out packages of stand- 

 ard size and a grading that meets the approbation of buyers and 

 consumers. A large part of the goods are eventually handled by 

 commission merchants in the big cities, yet it may be noted that 

 the exchange seems to favor selling F. O. B. shipping points at many 

 of these stations. 



In actual working a member of this peninsula produce exchange 

 packs his melons, for example, according to the instructions, and on 

 arrival at the shipping point delivers them to the exchange in- 

 spector, if business at that particular loading station justifies the 

 employment of an inspector and also an agent. Otherwise, the 

 melons are delivered to the representative of the exchange who acts 

 in both capacities. The goods are then properly branded and loaded 

 in cars, if shipments are sufficiently large, and sold at once, at an 

 agreed price, F. O. B., loading point, or consigned as the agent 

 thinks best. For this service the exchange proper receives 5 per 

 cent, which goes to defray the running expenses of the association, 

 the surplus being eventually paid back to the stockholders at the 

 end of each season. The growers and shippers constitute the stock- 

 holders. The general office has telephone connections with the sev- 

 eral shipping points and is in touch with its representatives at any 

 time of the day. If a shipper requests that his goods be sent to 

 New York or Boston on consignment, this course is followed. In 

 most instances, however, the grower prefers to turn the goods over 

 to the exchange to be handled to the best possible advantage. 



Another success of this character is the Eastern Shore of Virginia 

 Produce Exchange, operating in the counties of Northampton and 

 Accomac on the Chesapeake Peninsula. 



This has been in successful o})eration for six years or more. 



and at its last annual meeting held in December, it was stated that 



during the season of 1906 the exchange handled 1,083,000 packages 



of truck, mostly white and sweet potatoes. The volume of business 



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