24 BULLETIN 1019, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the lower grades are " slow sale " and are carried along from month 

 to month with accruing storage, insurance, and interest, to be de- 

 ducted later when returns are made. If stocks are carried for a long 

 time, they come into competition with the new crop, which further 

 depresses the price. The consignor, however, still holds for a high 

 price, so it is carried over as " surplus " or as broom corn not needed 

 at all. The consignor in the meantime is impatiently waiting for 

 returns at prices higher than he could have obtained when the de- 

 mand was better. Dealers, knowing the prevailing conditions (for 

 example, that there is an overproduction), sell and take their loss. 

 The commission merchant advises similar action, but without avail. 

 In the course of time the handling charges make all chances of profit 

 impossible and the grower finalh 7 sells for what he can get. 



Lack of uniform loading in making consignments has been a factor 

 in bringing unsatisfactory prices. In shipping many put every 

 grade, ranging from " junk " to " choice," in one car. Later the 

 entire car may be sold by striking an average. Thus the good brush 

 is sacrificed to sell the poor and the results are unsatisfactory. 



Heavy consignments tend to lower prices. When terminal markets 

 have large stocks of consigned brush, commission men feel that they 

 must be moved at some price and urge selling. The bulk of the 

 supplies needed by manufactures is purchased early from the 

 Standard districts, and the western stocks, which represent the bulk 

 of the consignments, often come on the market too late for the best 

 demand and must be sacrificed to effect quick sales. 



Dealers in purchasing in the field take into account the fact that 

 heavy consignments probably will be made and many claim that they 

 are forced to purchase more cheaply in the field in anticipation of 

 future declines. 



Shipping to unreliable commission men has been unsatisfactory. 

 For example, a grower may consign a car to a commission man who 

 also buys broom corn for himself. The consigned brush, of course, 

 is placed on the sales floor in competition with that owned by the 

 commission man. Naturally if a liberal buyer comes to purchase 

 it is a temptation to the dealer to push the sale of his own broom 

 corn first and let the consigned corn remain for the less anxious 

 customer. 



Cases have come to attention where, after considerable corre- 

 spondence between the local dealer and the commission man, the 

 local dealer received a commission, unknown to the grower, on a 

 particular consignment made because of unsatisfactory local offers. 



In justice to the terminal commission men, it must be said that 

 the returns from many consignments are satisfactor}', and that- in 

 the case of many which have been unsatisfactory, offers were received 

 by growers which would have netted them a profit, but they refused 



