THE APPLE BUSINESS. 



415 



A committee was, by unanimous vote, at 

 a subsequent session, appointed for the pur- 

 pose of endeavoring to have Mr. Cummings' 

 views, demanding the withdrawal of the 

 power of rejection after auction, given effect 

 to. 



ILLINOIS' SYSTEM OF SELLING. 



Senator Dunlap, of Savoy, 111., also spoke 

 on marketing, but from the home market 

 standpoint. "Some men," said he, "know 

 all about production, but ^o lame on market- 

 ing. The selling of apples is different from 

 the selling of wheat. There is a standard 

 value for grain which everyone is familiar 

 with. There is no such standard for apples. 

 In Illinois different plans have been tried in 

 the disposal of orchard crops, but the pretty 

 general custom now is to sell by the barrel 

 in the orchard, the buyer doing the picking 

 and barrelling." Speaking of other systems 

 of selling — of the sending of fruit to cities 

 for sale — Mr. Dunlap expressed the opinion 

 that the day is not far distant when the 

 commission men as such will be eliminated 

 and their places taken by fruit dealers, men 

 who will buy the fruit outright. 



BAD EFFECTS OF SELLING IN BULK. 



Later on, too, an informal discussion arose 

 on this general subject of marketing. Mr. 

 Williamson said one of the greatest evils in 

 connection with the fruit business was the 

 buying of orchards in bulk. " That is," he 

 declared, "a direct incentive to bad packing. 

 If a man buys an orchard that way, and 

 something happens to the apples on the trees 

 after purchase, he is going to get the number 

 of barrels counted on no matter how it is 

 done. His No. i will be a little off. His 

 No. 2 will be still more off ; and his No. 3 

 will be the Lord knows what. This year the 

 danger from this system will be particularly 

 great, because, while the crop is perhaps the 

 smallest on record, the amount of apples put 

 up for sale may be very large. It is not 

 nature which regulates the volume of apples 



marketed ; it is packers who by their grading^ 

 fix the limit of the quantity which will be 

 put on the market." 



Another member of the convention said 

 that in New York dealers prefer, when 

 possible, to buy in the original package. 

 " Apple producers should," he said, "so 

 pack their apples in the fall that the fruit can 

 stav in the package thus used until it reaches 

 the consumer. The handling in repacking 

 causes serious damage." 



PROFESSOR ROBERTSON ON THE ENGLISH 

 MARKET. 



Prof. Robertson, fresh from Liverpool, 

 added a valuable contribution to the dis- 

 cussion on marketing. "The Englishman 

 is, said he, the best commercial man in the 

 world — for England. He can present an 

 account of sales which, while perfectly 

 honest, will show the largest possible amount 

 of charges for himself and the smallest 

 possible amount of profit for you ; and he 

 will do all this with the blandest smile in the 

 world. At the same time the market of 

 London is the best market in the world for 

 really gilt-edged products. A case in point : 

 A Canadian apple-grower, for four consecu- 

 tive years, sent the pick of his orchard to 

 London, on consignment, a dangerous thing 

 to do, and yet his apples netted him an 

 average of S3. 51 in the orchard. That 

 shows what can be done in London by dis- 

 carding all small and inferior apples and 

 sending the best only. 



"There are two commandments lying at 

 the very threshold of commercial success. 

 The first is "Thou shalt deliver goods as 

 they are represented to be,' and the second 

 'Thou shalt not deliver goods in poor con- 

 dition.' Observe these and success is assured 

 in any line." 



FAVORS STRAIGHT SELLING. 



Prof. Robertson also touched upon the 

 methods of late in England. "We are," 



