SUB-AGENTSCATALOG SELLING 145 



or small dealers. In only special cases do companies have 

 salaried salesmen to call on the trade. 



Sub-Agents. It is the policy of many companies to 

 secure in each local fruit section a competent agent who 

 will call upon the fruit men and solicit their business. These 

 agents work on a commission which usually represents 

 about forty per cent of the retail price of the trees. They 

 are furnished with descriptive matter and order blanks 

 which are filled in and forwarded to the company as fast 

 as business is secured. These agents spend the winter in 

 canvassing their territory and in the spring look after the 

 delivery of the trees and make the collections. Where 

 such agents are reliable and trustworthy men the plan is 

 highly successful, especially in sections where fruit growing 

 is not highly developed. They often help the general 

 farmer in selecting a few trees for family use and may 

 stimulate to an active interest a desire for fruit that has 

 been lying dormant, purely from the lack of ability to make 

 the initial effort. It is no unkindness to persuade a general 

 farmer to buy a few trees for home use provided the trees 

 are reliable and suited to the local conditions. Such agents 

 should be well known in their own community, they should 

 be willing to furnish references for themselves and the 

 company for which they are working at any time, and they 

 should not ask for any money until the trees are delivered. 



Catalog Selling. The present trend of the business is 

 to deal more directly with the companies and less through 

 sub-agents. Fruitmen who are well versed in the business 

 do not care to listen to the tales of the agents. They repre- 

 sent, for the most part, a more intelligent class and prefer 



