MARKETS AND MARKETING 261 



meeting place and by the elimination of some deliv- 

 ery charges, prices may be reduced. In practice the 

 operation of these markets is still crude, since the 

 business is a day to day one. There is no adequate 

 information service and no provision for storage ex- 

 cept as it may be secured through intermediate 

 dealers. The system of business is rather crude and 

 extremes of supply and demand are not uncommon. 

 The producer's end is a trying one and frequently 

 the volume is so small that the actual cost a unit may 

 be high. The seasonal variation in the products of 

 a single producer, except in vegetables, makes it dif- 

 ficult to maintain continuity of attendance by the 

 farmer which is further increased by the pressure of 

 other lines of work at home at some seasons. The 

 range from which producers are drawn is relatively 

 small and the public market of this sort can not 

 serve more than a small part of the needs of the 

 larger cities. The public market touches only one or 

 two of the elements of a sound marketing system, 

 personal contact between producer and consumer and 

 a sort of local clearing-house arrangement. The 

 nature of the business is such as to be particularly 

 serviceable to the poorer classes who are free to attend 

 and who find grades of produce adapted to their 

 pocket-book that would not be available in such 

 quantity if they had to go througli the hands of a 

 series of dealers. 



The principle of concentration and volume has not 

 been applied directly to much of the farm produce bus- 

 iness by which means the cost of handling is most 



