FRUIT MARKETS 163 
become so popular in the home diet that they are no 
longer accepted as a luxury but are demanded by the 
regular household, hence a demand is always present for 
this class of fruit. Many efforts have been made to in- 
crease the popularity of certain fruits for food, and this 
has always resulted in an increased demand. The ac- 
quaintanceship or knowledge of the fruit by the buyer 
has a surprising influence upon the demand of any fruit. 
Most of the buyers in the cities do not know that 
there are more than five or six kinds of apples. Per- 
sonally they may not be acquainted with more than 
two or three. Even most of the fruit growers who are 
familiar with apples and who see upon their markets 
large numbers of bananas recognize, perhaps, two types, 
while the growers of those bananas in their native habitat 
can easily recognize 40. So the knowledge of the variety 
from the buyer’s standpoint effects the demand. No 
person is willing to go into a store and ask for fruit 
“without knowing just what he wants, hence without 
bothering to name the variety he buys largely from ap- 
pearance or looks. Fruits that have a good appearance, 
nicely packed, are attractive and are the ones demanded 
by the buyer in the large market. 
When ordering fruit from the retailer over the tele- 
phone it is a common occurrence to have the groceryman 
or retailer ask the customer what varieties they want. 
The buyer unable to name more than one or two kinds 
selects the one that is best known and well established 
thrqughout the whole country. The demand for cer- 
tain well-known varieties is always much greater than 
for the less-known kinds, even though they may not be 
as good as some of the others for the purpose for which 
they are to be used. 
