166 HARVESTING AND MARKETING 



grower. Label your packages so that every buyer knows 

 what he is purchasing. The quality of the package should 

 be plainly stated. The package should be labelled fancy 

 Xo. 1 or No. 2, so that the buyer is not deceived. Always 

 make the package uniform in contents, no matter what the 

 grade might be. 



People in general have recognized that quality and not 

 quantity in produce is what they want. Often a small lot of 

 well selected and fancy produce will sell for more than a 

 wagon load of rubbish. 



The home-grown product will oftentimes bring more than 

 that shipped from regions where the crop is grown in great 

 acreages. Occasionally the prices of the home-grown product 

 is often several times that of the shipped product. This 

 great difference in price is due largely to the quality, but the 

 public is willing to pay for it. I have one case in mind with 

 the tomato. A grower has consistently received considerably 

 more for his home-grown fruit than was paid for the shipped 

 product. This increase in price was due to the superior 

 quality. There are numerous other cases, which could be 

 mentioned to prove the value of quality. 



Standardized Grades and Packs. — A standard grade and 

 pack is fast coming into practice. In fact it must ultimately 

 be adopted if the best markets are to be considered. A 

 standard grade is essential and imperative if we are to arrive 

 at a definite price for a given product. ^^ T here all sizes, 

 shapes and grades of products exist, the buyer has no guide 

 on which to base his .price, and, as a result, there is a great 

 range in prices. With a standard to go by, the value of a 

 product is easily established, which will be uniform over the 

 country. 



The standard adopted will vary with the product. The 

 bushel box containing so many apples is now practically 

 standard and if we buy a box of apples in New York or in 

 San Francisco we know just how many and what grade we 

 are getting. This is also true of the oranges and the lemons. 

 It is not true, however, of many of the other hoi'ticultural 

 crops. For instance, the celery crate might contain two dozen 

 bunches or ten dozen bunches, yet both are spoken of as a 



