AICTIOX HOUSES AS DISTRIBUTORS OF FRUITS 923 



inaugurated, and in the face of strung opposition, the following 

 happened: It was a matter of common, knowledge that previous 

 to the auction sales buyers were paying farmers. $2.50 per bar- 

 rel for Grade. A fruit, declining in all cases to buy Grade 

 1> fruit, and in a very few instances for some high-class 

 fruit $2.75 per barrel was paid for Grade A fruit. At the auction 

 sales the lowest price paid for Grade A was $2.70 per barrel, and 

 the highest price paid was $3.40. In most cases the price paid 

 was from $2.80 to $3.40 per barrel for Grade A. Grade A and 

 Grade B iu one orchard were sold together for $3.40 per barrel. 

 (Iradc A and Grade B apples together of another orchard sold 

 for $3.00 per barrel, and Grade A and Grade B apples together 

 of three other orchards were sold for $2.85 per barrel and $2.75 

 per barrel respectively. 



AUCTION REALIZES THE HIGHEST MARKET PRICE FOR HIGH-CLASS 

 FRUIT AS WELL AS FOR INFERIOR FRUIT 



A relic of ignorance and prejudice on the subject of public sale 

 as a means of distribution is the feeling held by some of the less 

 well-informed that the auction might sacrifice high-class fruit. 

 Nothing could be farther from the fact. There-are present at 

 each sale the fine fruiterers, high-class grocery houses, brokers 

 representing high-class hotels, restaurants, and retail houses, and 

 jobbers who specialize in high-grade fruits all interested only 

 in high-class fruits. The result is that these fruits are bid up to 

 the highest price that the market will warrant. In fact, prices 

 are realized at times for high grades of oranges, grapefruits, 

 Spanish grapes, lemons, pears, California grapes, plums, and 

 cherries, which are sold at auction, that could be secured in no 

 other way. Furthermore, the auction is the keenest discriminator 

 between the fruit of the careful grower and packer, and that of the 

 careless one. Every grower and packer who uses intelligence, time 

 and care in the production and packing of his fruit, wants these 

 elements recognized. No system equals the auction in recognizing 

 what is good and in paying for it accordingly. The auction is 

 the place above all where each grower's effort stands on its own 

 merits. 



