ipi6 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 9 



The paiiiclllar aliction 



uulitoriuni on Erie Pier wliere the pears, cherries, prunes, plums and grapes that are shinned Id 

 New York from the Pacific Coast are sold. 



The California Fruit Growers' Ex- 

 change, which handles over sixty per 

 cent of the orange and lemon crop of 

 California, have made the auctions 

 their exclusive means of distribution 

 in twelve large cities. If a jobber who 

 lives in one of these cities desires to 

 buy a car f.o.b. in California or in any 

 way except through the auction, he is 

 disappointed. The Exchange insists 

 that he compete with the little jobbers, 

 the brokers and large retailers and aid 

 them in the competition that sets the 

 price. The California Fruit Distrib- 

 utors, who handle forty per cent of 

 the grapes, jjcars, cherries and plums 

 shipped from California, follow the 

 same policy in a still greater number 

 of cities, as do the Mutual Orange 

 Shippers' Distributors, which is the 

 largest rival of the Exchange in the 

 citrus fruit-shipping business of Cali- 

 fornia. 



The Florida Citrus Exchange also 

 uses the auction system in selling its 

 fruit, — oranges and grapefruit. The 



rest of the tonnage from Florida is sold 

 both at auction and at private sale in 

 the large cities. A number of the job- 

 bing firms of New York and other 

 cities make a business of buying 

 Florida oranges f.o.b. and selling them 

 through the auction. In such cities as 

 Boston, Phihidelphia, New York and 

 Pittsburg it is estimated that eighty 

 to eighty-five per cent of the Florida 

 oranges and grapefruit are sold at 

 auction, the rest being handled by the 

 jobbers through their own stores. 



The great bulk of both the box and 

 barrel apples are now sold at private 

 sale through the stores of the jobbers. 

 The apples from the Northwest arrive 

 on Erie Pier along with the fruit which 

 are sold at auction. Here they are 

 taken charge of by the jobbers and 

 commission men. 



In Boston, about a third of the cars 

 of apples shipped there this season 

 were sold at auction by H. Harris & 

 ('onipany, the jobbers handling two- 

 thirds through their stores. In New 



York and Philadelphia only occasional 

 cars of apples were disposed of under 

 the hammer during this last winter. 

 In Pittsburg, (Cincinnati, Kansas City 

 and a number of the largest interior 

 cities occasional cars were sold under 

 the hammer. 



The Department of Markets of New 

 Y'ork, under Director John J. Dillon, 

 has opened an auction for barrel 

 api)les. .Sales were held in the or- 

 chards at Cardiner and Bed Hook last 

 .September and at the Auction Building 

 daily during the winter. The per- 

 centage of New York barrel apples dis- 

 posed of in this way during the past 

 season, which is the first of its opera- 

 tion, has not been large. 



A news story is current, although not veri- 

 fied, that the Rogue River fruitgrowers are 

 willing to make some arrangements in con- 

 nection with Hood River for the purpose of 

 marketing the Newtown croji in an endeavor 

 to cut out unnecessary competition between 

 these two districts on their Newtowns, which 

 is the principal variety grown in both sections. 



ICrie Pier, New York, where all the fruit that is shipped across the e.ininuiil lev Niw York from California, Washington, 



Oregon, Montana and Idaho is delivered hy the railroads. 



