474 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 
metropolis should aid growers and shippers in com- 
prehending the needs of the market. The following 
is a graphic description of fruit-selling in Chicago:* 
“The distribution of the supplies furnished by 
the fruit-grower, whether direct or through the 
agency of others, has gradually become a complex 
and complete system. Perhaps I ought not to use 
the term ‘complex,’ as each step is well defined 
and, after all, simple, but I think but few fruit- 
growers have any idea of how complete it is, and 
to what distances fruit is exported,—the only limit 
being the cost and ability of the consumer to pay 
prices commensurate with the expenses and risks. 
“Practically all receipts are taken from the depots 
or docks to the various places of business as early 
as practicable after the arrival of the train or 
steamer. To make the matter clearer, let us illus- 
trate by using letters in place of names. A, a 
shipper, consigns to B, his correspondent, a ship- 
ment of fruit. On arrival, B has his spring wagons 
in waiting, and takes it to his place of business on 
South Water street. There, with other lots of fruit 
of different grades, qualities and conditions, it is 
examined and offered for sale. The largest, finest, 
and every-way-select lots are taken by the retail 
grocers whose patronage is among the ‘upper ten,’ 
to whom money is no object, apparently. The grade 
must be of the very best, quality superior and con- 
dition perfect. Less than 5 per cent of the total 
*Mr. Barnett, of Barnett Bros,, before Mich. Hort. Soc., Dec., 1896, as re- 
ported in the Horticultural Gazette, Allegan, Mich., for Dee. 19, 1896, 
