9 



MARKETING FRUITS. 



"A little practice is the best teaehK. " It is almost impossible to give minute instruc- 

 tions on this subject. A visit to the market and dealer you intend to ship to will give 

 you a better insight into the details of shipping, selling, &c, than can he learned from all 

 the books in the land. The question of supply and demand must be looked into. If 

 the home market is small and your plantation large, you must acquaint yourself with 

 a large market to ship to. If the large market is likely to be supplied with a large 

 quantity of inferior "last run" fruit from a point further South, endeavor to make 

 arrangements to ship your fruit to a market further North. 



It takes but a small town to use the fruit from three to five acres, especially if an 

 issortment that will keep up a perfect succession is judiciously planted. 



Our immense country, dotted so thickly with towns and ckies, and these linked 

 together with such a vast net-work of railroads and water communication, witn the 

 rapidly increasing population, must keep up an increasing and unlimited demand for 

 Small Fruits. Take, for instance, the great city of New York and its suburbs, with its 

 fifteen hundred thousand consumers, and allow them one quart per day to ten persons, 

 and the consumption amounts to Jive thousanjl bushels per day ; add to this the immense 

 amount that is re-shipped to inland towns, with the .enormous quantities that are UBed 

 in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, &c, -and some idea can be formed of the amount 

 used, and what becomes of the crop raised throughout the country. The same is true 

 of Cincinnati, St. Louis, Cleveland, Toledo. Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, &c. They 

 all receive their supply from the extreme South first, and then from points further 

 North,, and last, from extreme Northern localities. As an illustration, we have known 

 of frui stands in Chi ;ago be ng sup jlied di ily wit" i Strai /berries for tw Jve w( jks. 



If these markets get over-stocker' at any time, the wide-awake commission merchant 

 (if he understands his business and has had sufficient experience,) will have acquaint- 

 ances in either Northern or Southern towns, where the season is passed or not com- 

 menced, that he can ship his surplus to, or he will notify his consignors of the market, 

 so that they can change the course of their shipments. It is most general, however, 

 the best course to ship right along to the same market, as these /•gluts" do not last but 

 a day or so, as many who are shipping from long distances, or sending in an inferior 

 class of fruit that hardly pay for shipping and selling expenses, but which have a ten- 

 dency to ran down prices, even on good fruit, stop their shipments and dispose of their 

 fruitnearer home, the result being that the price goes up again. We remember one 

 «eason we were shipping from South Bend to Chicago, from one hundred and fifty to 

 -wo hundred bushels per day, ancl getting good paying prices. All at once the price 

 iropped down extremely low, and telegrams came to us thick and fast to stop ship- 

 ping, as the market was glutted, and berries were being thrown into the river. A letter 

 received at the same time from our commission merchants, informed us that heavy 

 consignments were being received from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and other points. ■ We 

 at once saw what it all meant. These distant parties had heard of the high prices that 

 were ruling in Chicago, and had changed the course of the bulk of their shipments to 

 that point. We consulted with our neighboring growers, "and notwithstanding we 

 could have turned the course of our shipments to other points for a day or two, and 

 realized fair prices, we concluded our best course was to ship to Chicago all the berries 

 we could for a day or two. The result was, the market was over-run, and those berries 

 from long distances hardly sold for enough to pay express charges ; while ours, going 

 in fresh, sold for just about enough to pay all expenses. The result was, berries stopped 

 coming from these distant points, and prices advanced again to good paying rates for 

 the rest of the season. Now, what is the lesson to be derived from this one circum- 

 stance ? Simply this : Had these parties commenced light shipments for a day or two 

 in advance, and notified the commission houses in Chicago, what they might expect from 

 them it would have given them an opportunity to inform parties in smaller towns what 

 they could expect from them, and thus by due notice and preparation, the bulk of the 

 shipments could have been re-shipped to other points, and the market rates but little, 

 if any changed ; and again, had we stopped our regular daily shipments to our regulai 

 consignors it might have thrown them out of their regular supply, and those who 

 depended on them for their retail supply would have looked elsewhere, and perhaps, 

 changed their place of buying. We formerly shioped in what is called the Cincinnati 

 ' case, made of three to six drawers, and fully des«>e(J elsewhere pthif work. These 

 wereshipped to Chicago, Toledo, Detroit and Milwaukee, from eighty toone hundred'- 



