876 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



There are three methods of retailing peaches at Lyons : the 

 fruit shops and groceries, the stalls in the covered fruit, vegetable, 

 and meat market, and the stalls at the general, open-air market 

 above mentioned. There was very little, if any, variation in the 

 prices for these different methods, except in the large grocery" 

 stores and fruit shops in fashionable quarters where prices were 

 somewhat higher. The highest price found was 3.50 francs the 

 kilo for very high-grade fruit which was wholesaling at 200 to 250 

 francs the 100 kilos. The peaches of good quality which would 

 bring about 200 francs the 100 kilos at wholesale were sold 

 at retail for 2.70, 2.80, or 3.00 francs the kilo. A very com- 

 mon price was 2.50 francs the kilo for a grade of fruit which 

 sold at wholesale for 180 to 200 francs the 100 kilos. Some 

 poorer peaches were priced at retail at 1.40 and 1.80 francs 

 the kilo. As will be seen from the above figures, the differ- 

 ence between wholesale and retail prices ranged from 50 cen- 

 times to 1 franc per kilo, and in the case of the best fruit 

 probably even more. These prices cannot, however, be taken 

 as any indication of the usual condition at Lyons, as 191 3 was 

 an exceedingly poor year for peaches in all of the growing 

 sections which supply the city. 



Lyons is the market for a large section of fruit-growing 

 country, and there are numerous shippers doing business to 

 Paris and Northern France, Germany, and Switzerland. At 

 three o'clock every morning during the season the growers begin 

 to come into the city. They bring their peaches in their own 

 donkey carts, usually roughly sorted and loose in large, shallow 

 baskets. A tax of 15 centimes per square meter is charged for 

 places on the market. 



The men who buy on this market are of two general classes, 

 namely, the above-mentioned jobbers, who purchase for local con- 

 sumption, and the shippers. It was formerly the custom for these 

 shippers to send their fruit to be sold by commission agents on 

 the markets of Paris and other cities. Of recent years this 

 method has been fast losing ground, and at the present time 

 comparatively few peaches are shipped in this way. Most of the 



