Description of a Market. 477 
it is taken at the time of purchase, and he clears 
out his stock as elosely as possible. The advanee 
charged by the retailer for his labor of selecting, 
selling, delivering, and collecting his accounts may 
be roughly estimated at 2 cents per box on small 
fruits, and 2 cents per basket on peaches and 5 cents 
per peck on apples. This must cover the loss by 
deeay, sampling, ete., inevitable to the retail trade. 
At times, when fruit is searce, the profit charged 
will be larger, and when abundant, less. Sometimes 
a ‘run’ is made, and a single dealer will buy one 
hundred to three hundred baskets and sell at cost, 
but I consider this as advertising. 
“E, the peddler or huckster, buys everything left. 
It may be ‘fancy,’ or ‘good,’ ‘out of condition,’ 
‘scrubs,’ ‘trash’—anything is grist for his mill. 
With equipments, worth ten dollars for horse, wagon, 
and harness of the Greek beginner, up through the 
various grades to the splendid two-horse team and 
$200 wagon (carrying supplies of all kinds and 
manned by three active, enterprising men) of the suc- 
cessful huckster, the 2,500 members of that great di- 
vision of distributors are powerful factors. Taking 
their purchases into their wagons, they at once start 
for their routes and ery their wares. There can be 
no fixed margin. They get what they can, take a 
margin, or sell at cost; live on the refuse, and prob- 
ably have only a dollar per day on which to sup- 
port a family. While their transactions on the whole 
are enormous, their profits are very small, and with 
long hours, penetrating every street and lane of the 
