MARKETING APPLES. 105 



market. It doesn't pay to be so careless — apples are like potatoes, if 

 they look well they sell well. Of late I have resorted to very close 

 selection in putting my apples in shape for market and I find it pays 

 big. I have sold 1,000 bushels this winter at the top price. Always 

 make it a point to have my apples go through two examinations, tak- 

 ing out the bad ones, windfalls, etc. There is no money in trying to 

 sell windfalls with your good apples, as the inferior ones bring down 

 the price of the good ones. It is a far better plan to sort out the 

 scrubby ones and make vinegar of them, as you can then get nearly as 

 much per bushel out of them as you can for first-class apples. 



I have no use for commission merchants ; they may be a necessary 

 evil, but I doubt their usefulness. I go from one town to another 

 and contract with some reliable merchant there to handle my apples, 

 and sell direct to him. In this way I get a better price and the mer- 

 chant has a better profit than if the same apples had to pass through 

 a commission man's hands. Those commission merchants are always 

 making excuses about delays, bursted packages, etc., and we have no 

 recourse. One time I sent seven bushels of cherries to a commission 

 house in Lincoln ; heard from them shortly ; said cherries were slow 

 sale; but I happened to be in Lincoln a day or two after and saw my 

 empty crates in front of the store. I investigated the matter and found 

 those cherries sold readily at $3.50 per bushel, while all I realized was 

 $1.50. Verily, of those cherries I got the smallest bite. There is 

 plenty of home market if we only utilize it. Lots of people have no 

 apples who could have bought last fall at thirty-five to forty cents a 

 bushel, and now they are seventy-five cents. 



I believe in close grading, as a bushel of inferior apples will make 

 three gallons of prime vinegar, thus paying sixty cents per bushel, and 

 this makes a market for windfalls, while the carefully selected apples 

 •will bring the top price. 



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