68 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION 



on the prices obtained for the commodities sold on the 

 market. 



In the making up of the final accounts, undue cost either 

 of production or of transport may nullify the profits that 

 would otherwise have been obtained from market returns in 

 themselves fair and reasonable ; but assuming that, by 

 means of combination, the growers have kept (i) cost of 

 production and (2) cost of transport to a minimum, they ma}' 

 still have unsatisfactory returns if the market prices should 

 be inadequate, or if there should be too many middlemen, 

 each wanting his profit or commission. Left to their own 

 resources, and acting as individuals, the producers may fail 

 to grow the qualities suited to particular markets ; they may 

 err on the side of growing too many varieties of a certain 

 commodity, and they may show such a deficiency of know- 

 ledge in picking, grading and packing that, notwithstanding 

 their greater nearness to home markets, they will fail to over- 

 come the competition thereon of foreigners who, thanks to 

 effective organisation, send their commodities to us in a way 

 more likely to secure the favour of purchasers. 



These considerations especially apply to the fruit and 

 market gardening industry, which, owing to the perishable 

 nature of the commodities concerned, are in greater need of 

 effective organisation than any other branch of agriculture 

 or horticulture. 



Under established conditions growers throughout the 

 greater part of England generally attempt to solve the 

 problem of marketing by consigning to one of three markets 

 — London, Manchester or Liverpool ; and, as the result of 

 this practice, a glut may be brought about on any one of 

 these markets, with the inevitable result of unsatisfactory 

 prices, when but few supplies are going direct from the 

 growers to numerous smaller markets the wants of which 

 are catered for by middlemen dealers, who thus obtain profits 

 which ought, rightly, to come into the pockets of the pro- 

 ducers. 



Scientific marketing thus means, in the first instance, 

 improved methods of distribution. 



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