Description of a Mark ft 477 



it is taken at the time of purchase, ami he clears 

 out his stock as closely as possible. The advance 

 charged by the retailer for his labor of selecting, 

 selling, delivering, and collecting his accounts may 

 be roughly estimated at 2 cents per box on small 

 fruits, and 2 cents per basket on peaches and 5 cents 

 per peck on apples. This must cover the loss by 

 decay, sampling, etc., inevitable to the retail trade. 

 At times, when fruit is scarce, the profit charged 

 will be larger, and when abundant, less. Sometimes 

 a 'run' is made, and a single dealer will buy one 

 hundred to three hundred baskets and sell at cost, 

 but I consider this as advertising. 



"E, the peddler or huckster, buys everything left. 

 It may be 'fancy,' or 'good,' 'out of condition,' 

 'scrubs,' 'trash' anything is grist for his mill. 

 With equipments, worth ten dollars for horse, wagon, 

 and harness of the Greek beginner, up through the 

 various grades to the splendid two -horse team and 

 $200 wagon (carrying supplies of all kinds and 

 manned by three active, enterprising men) of the suc- 

 cessful huckster, the 2,500 members of that great di- 

 vision of distributors are powerful factors. Taking 

 their purchases into their wagons, they at once start 

 for their routes and cry their wares. There can be 

 no fixed margin. They get what they can, take a 

 margin, or sell at cost ; live on the refuse, and prob- 

 ably have only a dollar per day on which to sup- 

 port a family. While their transactions on the whole 

 are enormous, their profits are very small, and with 

 long hours, penetrating every street and lane cf thp 



