SELLING AGENCIES 187 



how many packages of fruit he will have to sell, how 

 much of each variety and approximately the quantity in 

 the grades of each kind. When this information is tab- 

 ulated it is forwarded to the selling branch of the ex- 

 change, which immediately proceeds to find sale for the 

 fruit. This method gives the exchange fully six weeks 

 and in some cases three months advantage over the indi- 

 vidual who does not make any attempt to place his fruit 

 until it is packed and ready to sell. 



Collecting information from the larger city markets 

 is quite as important as that from the producers. The 

 larger exchanges have their own agents in every city. It 

 is the business of these agents to keep in touch with the 

 people who buy, the amount of fruit shipped daily, and 

 the movements of all kinds of produce. Small exchanges 

 which are not large enough to have their own agent, con- 

 tract with certain selling organizations which make a 

 business of handling fruit, and have these organizations 

 do the work which they are not able to do themselves. 

 It is not uncommon to find one selling organization in a 

 large city handling the business of 40 or 50 of the smaller 

 exchanges. One in particular, in New York City, handles 

 fruit from some of the~smaller exchanges from 24 differ- 

 ent states in the Union. 



The information from the city markets would include 

 tha following: The daily receipts of fruit, daily con- 

 sumption of fruit, daily re-shipments and the general 

 market conditions. In the larger cities considerable 

 fruit is shipped direct and then re-shipped to smaller 

 outlying districts. This information is collected daily, 

 especially through the busy season, and by code tele- 

 grams forwarded, each night, by night letter to the gen- 



