1312 
ing with the producers to work up a box 
trade, which would avoid measuring, 
bags, string, etc., and save him money all 
around. Under which conditions he could 
afford to handle the fruit at a reasonable 
profit, especially as there would be no 
waste or loss by decay. Any “live wire” 
could make a friend and a co-operator of 
that grocer. Without going further into 
the argument, suffice to say that a “whirl- 
wind campaign” could be made. Explain 
to the grocer that on a certain morning 
a full page “ad” will appear in the In- 
dianapolis newspapers written by an ex- 
pert, so as to command instant attention 
by every housekeeper in town. And that 
in that ad. a full list of the grocers and 
fruiterers who can supply the fruit will 
also appear. That is a good ad. for the 
dealer. That advertisement will state the 
price per box at which the consumer can 
buy this brand by the box from the gro- 
cer. That would be the first intelligent 
step ever taken by Northwestern pro- 
ducers to regulate the profits of the re- 
tailer, and it would be doing it in a way 
that would not make the retailer our 
enemy for life, but would have his full 
approval. Then take the order of the 
retailer for five, ten, fifteen or twenty-five 
boxes of the advertised brand for delivery 
through his wholesale grocer or whole- 
sale fruit merchant. Perhaps under this 
system the wholesale grocers throughout 
the country generally could be induced to 
carry boxed apples, like the wholesale 
grocers in Texas do now. If so, it would 
be another big advantage gained, as the 
wholesale grocers would not carry any 
but the advertised brand. Then assemble 
these orders on the various jobbers, de- 
liver them, and get the jobbers’ order for 
a generous stock over and above what 
we have sold for them. By taking the re- 
tailers’ orders at a fixed price, you can 
then allow the jobbers a fair margin of 
profit and no more; but this time you 
have not only limited his profit, but you 
have forced him to buy, and you have 
done it all without making him your 
enemy for life, but have made of him, 
too, a co-operator. In conjunction with 
this campaign, if the advertising appro- 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
priation permitted, it would be well to 
have a couple of well-trained girl dem- 
onstrators who could be dressed in cos- 
tume to represent the Western girl; per- 
haps in cow-girl costume. Merely walking 
along the street would set the whole town 
buzzing. Have them take baskets of 
sample apples and go from house to house 
in the better sections of the city, get in- 
terviews with the housewives, leave a 
little cook book filled with recipes and 
also with some needed educational matter 
on varieties, have her sample an apple of 
the sort we are selling, and then take 
her order on her nearest grocer for a 
box or two. It would also be entirely 
feasible to arrange with the Sperry & 
Hutchinson syndicate or some other of 
the trading-stamp or coupon exchanges, 
to accept our copyrighted wrappers as 
one coupon or a fractional coupon, inter- 
changeable with United Cigar Stores cou- 
pons, Sunny Monday soap and a host 
of other premium coupons. This would 
attach a premium feature to our brand, 
and give us all the advantage of an or- 
ganized premium department without 
having actually to establish such a de- 
partment. Any man whose wife saves 
soap wrappers and pesters him for cigar 
coupons knows how strong an appeal 
they are to the children and women, and 
to men as well. The desire to get some- 
thing for nothing, being human, is just 
as strong with the prosperous classes as 
with the poor. If this plan were care- 
fully worked out and properly executed 
the result would almost inevitably be: 
the thorough establishment on the mar- 
kets so worked of the given brand and a 
steady repeat business for carloads from 
the wholesale dealers throughout the fall 
season. later on, when fall varieties 
were exhausted, another ad. could be 
run on intermediate mid-winter varieties; 
later of the spring varieties. Another 
most important feature of this campaign 
would be the badly needed education of 
the consumer, the retailer and the whole- 
saler as to the correct rotation of varie- 
ties, and in a short time we could abolish 
such absurdities as Arkansas Blacks and 
Ganos selling on the fruit stands in Octo- 
