THE APPLE 67 



grower know the conditions of the crop, both in this 

 country and abroad, in order to know at what prices 

 to sell or whether to hold. As with most products grown 

 on a small scale, it is best to have the crop sold by 

 co-operative unions, or by commission dealers, unless 

 one has a retail trade where he can deliver directly to 

 his customers, but where the product is large the grower 

 can often do as well to go into the market alone and 

 sell at as high prices as can be obtained by unions or 

 commission men. The most marked tendency of the 

 times is concentration and combination, and all kinds 

 of produce are being put into the hands of large com- 

 mission houses, where the retail dealer can find just 

 what he wants and in any quantity he may desire. 

 The consumer, too, goes to the large retailer and expects 

 to find anything that may be needed in the way of 

 fruit or vegetables and does not like to wait for the 

 truck peddler to come around. The cost of selling is 

 thus very much reduced, but the profit generally goes 

 into the pockets of the commission men. Until the fruit 

 growers join hands and put their products into a few 

 large sales places and have it all graded in the same 

 way, they cannot expect to control the market as to 

 supply or price. 



STOKING FRUIT 



Every fruit grower should have some place where 

 he can hold his product for a longer or shorter time, 

 in order to keep it from rapid decay in hot weather 

 and to regulate the supply for market. It very often 

 happens that in extremely hot weather small fruits 

 may be cooled off by putting them into a cold storage 

 room for an hour or two, so as to carry to market in 

 good condition, when if such conveniences were not 

 available the lot would be at a total loss. If apples 

 and pears of such varieties as the Gravenstein and 



