THE FRUIT MARKET 1 7 



confined, as far as possible, to a few well-known and 

 standard varieties. Ben Davis apples generally do 

 well. Kieffer pears have not been well received; but 

 there are too many good pears grown in Europe. Per- 

 haps Kieffers will do better after the marketmen get 

 accustomed to them. 



V. SELLING ASSOCIATIONS — POOLS 



The inherent weaknesses of the relation between 

 fruit grower and commission man, and the very un- 

 satisfactory result of that relation in special cases, have 

 often led to earnest, almost desperate, effort to escape 

 from the situation. There appear to be two favorite 

 avenues of retreat. The first leads toward the special 

 or private fruit market, and the man who follows it 

 attempts to transfer his business to the basis of the 

 personal or direct market. The situation as respects 

 this personal market is fully discussed further on in 

 this chapter. The second way of escape from the 

 commission dealer leads in the direction of cooperative 

 selling, selHng associations, pools, and the like. In 

 the latter case the business remains on the wholesale 

 basis — the fruit growers still attack the general 

 market. 



Numerous associations of this character, some com- 

 prising only two or three neighbors, some involving 

 large capital and considerable organization, have been 

 formed in this country. On the whole,, their experi- 

 ence has not been encouraging. Such organizations, 

 however, are most admirable in theory (if one leaves 

 out of consideration certain fundamental principles and 

 looks only at external circumstances) . The theoreti- 



