154 MODERN FRUIT MARKETING 



only a few hours' journey would be considered a foreign 

 market. These are of necessity more or less arbitrary 

 classifications and will depend more upon the way in 

 which the fruit is handled than upon the location or 

 size of the cities where the fruit is sold. 



Selling at Home. Most producers believe that they 

 can best dispose of their crop in their own immediate 

 neighborhood providing the quantity produced is not 

 more than can be consumed in their particular location. 

 A good many things may be said in favor of the home 

 market and the consensus of opinion among practically 

 all growers is that the home market is the best where the 

 supply is not too large. In the larger fruit-growing sec- 

 tions, much larger quantities are produced than could 

 ever be consumed at home or even in the larger cities 

 of the surrounding territory, hence shipments for long 

 distances to the Eastern markets must be relied upon. 



When selling at home several principles enter in, 

 which do not apply in the same way to long distance ship- 

 ments: (1) This method eliminates all possibility of the 

 profits going to some middleman. (2) It gives the 

 grower a chance to use his own personality by getting 

 acquainted with customers. (3) It allows him to under- 

 stand their wants and needs and better enables him to 

 grow each year their particular requirements. It also 

 gives him a chance to develop his individual ability 

 along various lines. He comes in direct competition with 

 his neighbor producers, and gives him a keener business 

 insight into the ways and means of conducting a busi- 

 ness. 



In some cases where it is not convenient to sell direct 

 to the consumers it is occasionally possible to sell to the 



