SELLING ON COMMISSION AND BUYING DIRECT 909 



not straight. There are abundant means of determining reliable 

 personalities and of forming close and satisfactory relationships 

 between principals and agents, if intelligent effort is directed to 

 this end. 



In respect to the more staple farm products such as may and 

 must in large part be carried in storage from seasons of surplus 

 to season of nonproductioii the arrangement for the sale of a 

 crop through commission agents permits the grower, if he so 

 desires, most easily to take part in this more or less speculative 

 feature of the business. But the storage of surplus productions 

 for later use is a business that requires astute judgment and a 

 broad knowledge of prospective supply. Even to the most astute, 

 it is a hazardous phase of the distributing business and is most 

 naturally engaged in by the larger wholesale receivers who, as 

 a rule, act both as commission agents and as dealers on their own 

 account. 



From the point of view of the producer, the formation of close 

 and confidential relations with a reliable commission agent for 

 the sale of his products would seem to be the most logical method 

 of marketing ; the success of such relation depends upon an intelli- 

 gent understanding on both sides, a mutual and deserved con- 

 fidence, and a willingness on the part of the shipper to be guided 

 by the experience of his agent in all matters pertaining to grading, 

 packing, etc. There is good ground for the assertion that a re- 

 liable and competent commission agent can place a shipper's pro- 

 ducts in the most favorable channels of distribution more cheaply 

 than it can be done by any other means. 



BUYING FROM THE ORCHARD 



Comparing the commission method of sale, particularly of 

 orchard products, with the system of selling outright at the 

 orchard, there are two points of view. As a rule, under usual 

 conditions, it will be found that the buyers are the same class 

 of merchants who act as commission merchants, and it is to be 

 considered that a merchant buying fruit and dealing in it on 

 his own account requires and deserves a larger profit that he would 

 be satisfied with as a commission. If the grower could so pack 

 and divide his fruit as to sell it directly to the smaller classes 



