SELLING AGENCIES 189 
The manager with this information before him can 
forecast, daily, about how much the shipments from 
other sections of the country will come into competition 
with the fruit which he is endeavoring to sell. By so 
doing he can place his shipments in such a way that he 
will compete the least with any other section of the coun- 
try. Some of the fruit exchanges are so well organized 
that, almost any day in the year, a buyer can get fruit 
from their exchange and never hear of a surplus or 
oversupply. With all this information in the hands of 
one man, it is possible to work out scientific principles 
of distribution which will cost the producers the least 
possible amount in getting the greatest possible returns. 
Dispersing Information.—A large part of this knowl- 
edge collected by the exchange becomes of interest to the 
producer, and the exchanges make an effort to place 
before the growers such information as may be of value 
to them. One of the chief methods of doing this is by 
distributing the annual report published by the man- 
agement at the central office. In this annual report is 
usually a summary of the business for the year, number 
of cars of fruit shipped, number of packages sold, the 
markets to which they went, the general methods of dis- 
tribution, etc. Then associated with that is a forecast 
for the coming season. Recommendations for the local 
associations to follow out in attempting to improve or 
better their output. This annual report also includes a 
statement of the finances of the organization, the ex- 
penses of the management, the sales department, ship- 
ping. department, ete. 
Another means of keeping the grower informed on 
conditions of the market is the daily or weekly bulletin, 
