THE MARKETING OF FARM PRODUCTS 875 



The total expense per 100 kilos is about 15 francs from 

 Chateaurenard, which is an important peach market in the South, 

 including freight and the other expenses of shipment and selling. 

 The cartage which is charged to the sender at .75 francs per 100 

 kilos costs the commission agent .40 francs, thereby netting him 

 a profit of .35 francs per 100 kilos. Selling is done for growers 

 and for middlemen, or shippers, as they are called, who buy in 

 the producing regions and pack the fruit for shipment. The pro- 

 portion of professional shippers has decreased very greatly in the 

 last fifteen years, as the growers are, in increasing numbers, 

 adopting the practice of shipping their own fruit. This is a 

 cause of inconvenience to the agents handling the fruit sent by 

 the growers, as it is, as a rule, more poorly packed than that 

 formerly sent by professional shippers. Also there is no stand- 

 ard of packing among the growers, and the resulting irregularity 

 greatly increases the difficulties of wholesale selling by the agents. 

 The commission agents have combined into a society through 

 the activity of which they have forced the railroads to return 

 empties within eight days. Eight years ago, this society decided 

 to levy a tax of 10 centimes on the jobbers for each basket 

 bought. The jobbers then combined and set up a cooperative 

 commission house of their own which has proved to be a 

 strong competitor for the other establishments doing a com- 

 mission business. 



The class of men buying most largely from the commission 

 firms is the jobbers. These dealers resell to groceries, hotels, 

 restaurants, and others who buy in large quantities. Many of 

 them also do a retail trade in the open-air market which is held 

 every morning until 9.30 a.m. along the river bank. Here they 

 may rent places for 15 centimes a square meter. During the 

 local peach season these men also buy from the growers to resell 

 as above. In August, 19 13, the commission agents had practically 

 no peaches to sell, and what few they did have sold at about 180 

 francs the 100 kilos. The result was that the jobbers were buying 

 native fruit from the growers, although, due to the bad crops, there 

 was very little on the market at a time which would ordinarily be 

 the height of the season for peaches of Lyons and vicinity. 



