244 The Sweet Potato 



be the regular vegetable broker in the city or a cooper- 

 ative shipping association, owned by the growers them- 

 selves. Such organizations have overhead expense that 

 must be met by requiring a certain percentage of the 

 gross sales. When owned by growers, any tendency 

 towards economy of sale will be in their favor, which is 

 not true of privately operated selling mediums which 

 must not only meet actual expenses but must make at 

 least a living wage in profit besides. 



Occasionally it is possible for a producer to cater to 

 a private trade when his reputation for honesty, quality 

 and fair dealing has been sufficiently established, even 

 on the more distant markets. In developing a trade 

 of this kind, agreements have to be made, often months 

 in advance of delivery, with the manager of hotels, res- 

 taurants, resorts, clubs, or private houses, to use a 

 certain quantity of a specified grade delivered at such 

 time as may be agreed on between buyer and seller. 

 Regions in which sweet potatoes of the best quality are 

 not well known offer the best territories in which to 

 work up such private trades. Thousands of individual 

 growers all over the South have established such private 

 trades in distant cities- by sending an acquaintance in 

 the territory samples of his most select roots, requesting 

 the receiver to give them to his friends. Sometimes the 

 grower will have printed on a neat wrapper his name 

 and address and a few words concerning his potatoes. 

 Each potato may be wrapped separately in these papers. 

 It is nearly always necessary to send samples of the 

 potatoes to be sold in working up private trades. 



With the advance of the new scientifically constructed 

 storage-house, the possibility of putting sweet potatoes 

 in storage in the cities is destined to open up one of the 



