HANDLING THE CITRUS CROP. 459 



and never heard from. Know the firm to whom you ship. 

 If they are new, consult Bradstreet; enquire and go slow. 



Dividing Shipments. Frequently the man with fifty 

 boxes of oranges to ship will consign them to four or five 

 different commission merchants in the same city. This 

 practice seldom pays. He has to write four or five ad- 

 vices of shipment where one would suffice, and he annoys 

 and worries the express and freight agents by compelling 

 them to write out a greater number of receipts. The fruit 

 arrives in the city. Along comes a small fruit dealer who 

 in a few minutes makes a rapid tour of the commission 

 houses. In four or five of them he finds fruit shipped 

 by Mr. A. and plans his campaign accordingly. Of a 

 commission merchant he asks the price, then blandly 

 states, "I saw the same fruit down at - and they 

 quoted it to me at twenty-five cents less." Another comes 

 along and does the same thing and then another. Event- 

 ually that commission merchant believes the tale. The 

 prices are cut and all the fruit of that kind in the mar- 

 ket goes for less than it should. Ship to one man in a 

 city. 



Spasmodic Shipments. A grower shipping to New 

 York learns that pomelos are fifty cents a box more in 

 Boston. He ships to Boston, and perhaps by the time 

 his fruit arrives the market has dropped and he gets just 

 what he was receiving in New York. Then he hears of 

 better prices in Philadelphia, ships there and gets fifty 

 cents less per box than he could have got in New York. 

 This may be somewhat exaggerated, but similar things 

 happen nearly every day. If a small quantity of fruit 

 is to be shipped, choose a market for it and ship it there, 

 ship right along. The ups and downs will average as 

 well as the spasmodic shipments will, and generally bet- 



