MARKETING FARM PRODUCTS 425 



and little money, who do not count their time very 

 valuable. Somewhat higher prices are received for the 

 products. The objection to retailing is that the man and 

 horse time are often worth more than the increased prices 

 received. If one has important work to do on the farm, 

 retailing is usually undesirable. If there is little to do on 

 the farm, so that time has a very low value, retailing is 

 more likely to pay. If much of a business is being done 

 on the farm, the owner is needed there to manage the 

 work. 



Usually when a man makes enough by retailing so that 

 he can enlarge his business, he changes to wholesale and 

 sells his products to the grocery stores, or ships them, 

 because he cannot afford to leave the farm as much as is 

 necessary for a retail business. Very rarely do we see a 

 farmer changing from a wholesale to a retail business. 



Another objection to retailing is that the farmer usually 

 has too much or too little of different products. By 

 handling products through a distributing agency of some 

 kind, the deficiencies of different farms are evened up. 

 The more direct marketing of farm products is likely to 

 come about by cooperation rather than by any great 

 increase in retail business. If farmers and consumers 

 were properly organized, consumers' associations could 

 buy direct from farmers, or farmers' organizations, and so 

 eliminate some of the unnecessary costs of handling 

 products. 



260. Selling on commission. The chief difficulty in 

 selling on commission is that the seller is at the mercy of 

 the commission man. Goods should never be sent to an 

 unknown commission man. Bank references should 

 always be written to, in order to see if the dealer is re- 

 sponsible. Even then, the risk is very great. Some 



