THE MARKETING OF FARM PRODUCTS 887 



FOREIGN ONIONS AND FRUIT IN LONDON 

 By Emmett K. Carver 



Onions from Spain and Portugal, oranges, lemons, and such 

 products, are sold in London as they are in Manchester, at 

 auction. They are shipped to a broker who sells them on com- 

 mission in one of the auction halls. There are two of these 

 halls, one at Covent Garden and one in Eastcheap. 



The market at Covent Garden is a large hall with eight or ten 

 rostra. A sample of each lot of produce is displayed and the 

 lots are sold at auction. As all the rostra are going at once, the 

 confusion is great. In the market in Eastcheap, or City Market, 

 this confusion is avoided. This is an amphitheater, seating 200 

 to 300 men, and having one rostrum. The hall is leased by four 

 brokers, each of whom uses the rostrum for forty-five minutes at 

 a time. These brokers issue catalogues each morning with a list 

 of the lots they have for sale. They have a sample of each lot 

 in the show rooms near the market, and the buyers inspect them 

 before the selling begins, making a memorandum of the quality 

 of each lot on their catalogues. A sample catalogue of the sales 

 of one of the brokers is enclosed. The buyers at these sales are 

 wholesalers from towns within a 100-mile radius of London as 

 well as the wholesalers of London itself. The commission 

 charged by the brokers varies with the broker, the customer, 

 and the goods sold. For onions it was generally 2 per cent to 

 5 per cent. 



The presence of a great number of buyers at this market has 

 caused other dealers to come into the vicinity to sell at private 

 sale. They have their show rooms near the market hall and 

 frequently entice customers from the hall to their rooms. 



The wholesalers who buy at this sale sell the onions to the 

 grocer just as they do potatoes. The profits and methods are 

 practically the same as at Manchester. 



