204 MODERN FRUIT MARKETING 
ble for that. On the other hand, the smaller exchanges 
are not able to hire a salesman throughout the whole 
year, so various methods have been devised to elim- 
inate this large expense. It was also found that these 
agents were more or less competing against other ex- 
changes handling the same kind of fruit, and that this 
would eventually become one of the difficulties of coop- 
eration. So immediately a move was started to have 
certain standard selling agencies represent a number of 
different exchanges. This resulted finally in the estab- 
lishing of several distributing associations. of which 
more will be said later. 
Track sales and f. o. b. sales are very closely related. 
Track sales are usually considered as sold on the track 
in which the fruit is produced, or in other words, the 
nearest shipping point. An f. o. b. sale means free on 
board cars at any point designated, hence a track sale 
and an f. o. b. sale may mean the same condition. It 
is undoubtedly a desirable way of selling fruit on the 
track at the point in which it is produced, but this can 
only be handled under certain peculiar conditions. In 
the first place, general markets must be such that buyers 
are willing to go into the field and bid on fruit which 
may be sold at the track. This further means that only 
in large producing sections where a good many cars are 
shipped daily can buyers afford to place agents at these 
producing points. 
Some fruit-growing sections, especially favored by 
good shipping facilities or a little better quality of 
fruit, often attract buyers where other sections would 
have to send out their salesmen and hustle for the trade. 
Track sales, as a rule, give a little better returns than 
a 
