Commercial Disposal of the Sweet Potato 241 



portance. Sometimes growers may contract to produce 

 potatoes for a canning factory at a fixed price, or tlie 

 latter may guarantee to handle the growers' output at 

 prevailing prices at digging time. The grower who is 

 near a city may often build up a fancy trade among 

 certain families, restaurants, hotels, or fancy stores. 

 Such a trade is often very profitable and satisfactory. 

 When good home markets are not available, the grower 

 may sometimes become acquainted with some individual 

 in other regions who is able to handle his crop. Many 

 times a grower, because of the superiority of his product, 

 the neat appearance of his packages, or his care in 

 grading, will attract the attention of some reliable 

 broker, wholesale grocer or commission-man in some 

 city, and gain his confidence to the extent that each year 

 he will look to this particular producer for his best 

 stock. The grower will often find it well worth while 

 to make an occasional trip to market and become per- 

 sonally acquainted with the men who buy his products. 

 When the shipper does not personally know some buyer 

 on the market, names of reliable dealers may be secured 

 from the marketing department of his state agricultural 

 college. The day of the unscrupulous dealer in town 

 is almost over. Any standard firm or brokerage that 

 advertises regularly in the leading trade journals may 

 be dealt with without fear of fraud. The grower will, 

 of course, have to use his own judgment in the way he 

 sells in any one instance. 



Home marhets. 



Home markets offer a better medium through which 

 to sell than foreign ones. When potatoes are shipped 

 to some distant city, a commission has to be paid to 



