THE FRUIT MARKET 27 



form s the lower limit in the varying ratio of demand 

 and supply. 



Since price is the quotient of demand and supply, 

 it follows that anything which influences either has a 

 direct effect upon price. A study of the causes affect- 

 ing prices thus becomes a study of the conditions 

 affecting both supply and demand. As the question 

 of price is the one lying nearest the fruit grower's 

 pocketbook, we may properly examine these conditions 

 in detail, even at the risk of being tedious. 



The conditions affecting the market supply are 

 production, transportation, information, perishabiUty, 

 storage. 



'^ V I. Production. — The larger the crop, other things 

 being equal, the greater the market offerings. The 

 market was glutted with apples in 1896 simply be- 

 cause of large production. Peaches were scarce in 

 the Boston wholesale markets in 1899 merely because 

 very few peaches were raised that year. Production, 

 in turn, depends on the weather — how much, every 

 fruit grower knows — on frost and hail, or on timely 

 rains. Production depends also on the ease with 

 which a crop is grown. Anybody can grow apples — 

 that is, some kind of apples ; and that is why the 

 apple market is so apt to be over-supplied in a good 

 year. Very few people can grow nectarines or apri- 

 cots, and, in consequence, an over-supply of these fruits 

 is less likely to occur. 



Production varies also with price. Higher prices 

 stimulate production. Low prices diminish production. 

 Thus our equation reacts upon itself. The mathe- 



