ON THE MARKETING OF FRUIT. 



(Synopsis of lecture by George T. Powell 

 before the horticultural institutes in N'ew York 

 state. In addition to the points tor harvesting 

 and marketing apples, great care is necessary 

 in picking apples if thev are to keep well. 

 Every bruised spot starts "dccav. Pick by hand 

 into baskets. Someass..rt dirntlv into barrels, 

 leaving the heads off f.T a ti w .lays while the 

 fruit sweats, others carefullv dump the apples 

 in long narrow low piles to sweat, and then 

 assort them. Some wrap fancy apples in tissue 

 paper, like oranges, pack in sawdust and store 

 in a dry, cool place to hold for the late market.) 



1. Necessity of care in marketing — 

 In addition to intelligent and thorough 

 culture, special attention must be given 

 to the best disposition of crops. In 

 these times of close competition, the suc- 

 cessful fruit grower must be well in- 

 formed upon markets, where heavy sup- 

 plies are coming from, where to ship to 

 best advantage, the expenses in ship- 

 ping to different points, reliability of 

 commission men, their facilities for 

 handling and storing fruits, etc. 



2. Selection of the sales merchant — 

 Ascertain information as to a well-estab- 

 lished, reliable firm to ship to. Do not 

 ship to every man who sends out letters 

 soliciting trade and promising prices 

 considerably above the regular market, 

 for many such are only sidewalk sales- 

 men with no established place of busi- 

 ness ; they will return one or two good 

 sales, get a run of trade and then move 

 to another street, failing to make 

 further return for fruit received. With 

 so many good firms of long years of 

 excellent reputation, there is no excuse 

 for losing money through irresponsible 

 salesmen. It is better to send to only 

 one firm in a place, for if fruit is uni- 

 formly fine, a trade will be established 

 upon the trade-mark, and where two or 

 more firms are handling the same mark, 

 different prices are sometimes asked, 

 according to supply and demand, and 

 sometimes lower prices are taken than 

 where one firm has the entire handling 

 of a mark. 



3. The grower should know the 



market — The grower should go to the 

 market in which his fruit is tQ be sold, 

 inform his salesman as to what he has, 

 confer with him about the package most 

 desirable, how the fruit should be 

 packed and displayed. The salesman 

 knows what his trade demands, the 

 grower does not ; hence the grower, to 

 get the best prices, must meet the 

 wishes of those who buy, and he must 

 find this out by going to the market or 

 corresponding with the salesman. 



4. The packing — Inferior fruit should 

 not be shipped, in fact, should not be 

 grown. It is not wanted, is in the way, 

 has to be marked " ofi"," and is an injury, 

 to a certain extent, to good fruit. Uni- 

 formity in package and in packing is re 

 quired Undersized barrels should not 

 be used. Fruit should be assorted in 

 two grades, fine and good. The 

 grower's name should be placed on all 

 good fruit, but not on that which is 

 below good. A good class of men only 

 should be employed in the packing and 

 handling of fruit, for the work is of a 

 different character from that of hand- 

 ling potatoes. Employ by the day, not 

 by the job. Women are good in assort- 

 ing and packing fruit, for they handle 

 not only quickly, but as a rule more 

 carefully than men. Ship in carload 

 lots as far as possible, as better rates of 

 transportation can be had, and better 

 sales realized than for small lots. 



5. Secondary means of caring for 

 fruit — Every community should be 

 equipped with facilities for using up 

 fruit when markets become heavily 

 overstocked. Canneries and evapora- 

 tors will save losses, and enable a wider 

 distribution of fruit in the home and 

 foreign markets. Cold storage is es- 

 pecially valuable for pears and apples, 

 extcndini; the season over a much 



33(^ 



