26 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 299 



carrier, the principal consideration should be the relative location of the con- 

 signee. It might prove to be most satisfactory if the consignee designated the 

 delivering carrier. Should the shipper wish to become better acquainted with 

 the services offered by the various carriers in a terminal, he might secure the 

 necessary information from the New England representatives of the delivering 

 carriers. These agents are located in Boston and are very willing to assist the 

 shipper in solving his problems. 



Conclusions 



Any solution which is to bring order into the marketing of apples from New 

 England should be based on centralized distributing units. The cooperative 

 assembling or bringing together of the crops of several growers before definitely 

 selecting a market is already practiced in some areas. New England apple 

 growers in their present practices of consigning to commission men or selling to 

 country buyers acknowledge the necessity of centralizing a supply. They realize 

 that their crops are probably more satisfactorily merchandised if handled to- 

 gether than if handled individually. Some growers are of the opinion, however, 

 that the person who acts as selling agent is not necessarily best qualified to 

 assemble their supplies. Nor is he always able to act in the best interests 

 of all his patrons. 



In addition to personal considerations, there is the physical factor. Growers, 

 market men, and market officials deplore the uncertainties and irregularities 

 which are attendant upon assembling in a hit-or-miss fashion the apples of various 

 growers. Market men have little idea what volume to expect each succeeding 

 day. Growers are at loss to know how much should be consigned. Some as- 

 sembling will always have to be performed by market men in order to supply 

 the varying demands of their trade. For the most part, however, the function 

 of assembling should be performed by the growers themselves. 



The associations may be of two general types: (1) Packing and shipping; (2) 

 shipping. 



Either type would fulfill the present need. • It would be desirable for the or- 

 ganization to be located near a cold storage warehouse. Such an organization 

 and location would simplify the problem of regulating the volume moving into the 

 market. The success, however, of a shipping unit would not be prevented even 

 if it were not centered on a storage plant. 



In addition to introducing orderliness, associations would help fulfill other 

 needs. Growers collectively could meet the buyers' demands as to volume, 

 grade and size specifications. They would be placed on a more nearly com- 

 petitive bargaining basis with commission men, buyers or other agents. This 

 would help remove the complaint among growers that selling or buying agents 

 are in too advantageous a position. 



For some years many growers have thought it desirable to combine their crops 

 in order to merchandise them eflfectively. The low prices and large crops 

 during the last two years have practically forced all growers to recognize the need 

 of working out a common solution. Whereas cooperative marketing may once 

 have been considered desirable it is now becoming necessary. 



