PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 15 



sales beyond 11 o'clock, up to which hour it is possible to sell only about 

 ten cars, and at which hour many of the buyers leave the California 

 sales, to attend the lemon sales, thus causing a probable slump in the 

 price of such fruit as may be offered after 11 o'clock, to the injury of 

 the grower. If all this were so, it would be a question deserving serious 

 consideration. 



To begin with, however, this season's records show that in 80 per cent 

 of the daily sales in New York there were ten cars and less offered, and that 

 only on one day out of five were there more than ten cars to be sold, and 

 that during a majority of these days the number of cars to exceed ten 

 were but one or two ; hence, at the very worst, there would have been but 

 one day out of five during the past season when all the fruit could not have 

 been sold by 11 o'clock, and only a fraction of the remaining days when 

 the sales would be seriously prolonged beyond 11 o'clock. Furthermore, 

 a canvass of the New York buyers has brought out the fact that only a 

 small percentage of those who buy California fruits also attend the 

 lemon sales ; that the large bulk of the buyers of California fruit deal 

 exclusively in our products, and hence would not leave at 11 o'clock. 

 And, again, it was found that the large buyers who deal both in Cali- 

 fornia fruits and in lemons, have, as a rule, buyers at their command 

 who can attend one sale, while they attend. the other. But, it is claimed, 

 this season of 1895 is not a fair season to go by ; it is expected that 

 next year, if the crop is normal, the shipments to New York will be 

 larger than this year, and the daily quantities to be sold will exceed 

 those of this season ; and a consolidation will seriously prolong the 

 sale until it reaches too far into the day. 



The answer to this is that in place of being able to sell only ten cars 

 between 9 and 11 o'clock each morning, which is at the rate of five cars 

 an hour, a consolidation will bring about a keener activity among the 

 auctioneers, and in place of consuming an average of twelve minutes in 

 the sale of a car, they will be able to sell, with better results, at the rate 

 of from seven to eight minutes to a car, as they do in Chicago and else- 

 where, thus increasing their capacity for the two hours to fifteen cars 

 each day. And yet, further, there is no good reason which can be offered 

 why the sales in New York should not begin, as they do in Chicago, at 

 8 o'clock in the morning, instead of 9 o'clock, as has been the practice. 

 This would increase the daily capacity to an average of about twenty-two 

 cars a day, and it will be several seasons yet before New York is likely 

 to handle so large a daily average of California fruit. Hence, it would 

 seem to be plain that the objections offered by the above-named New 

 York receivers against a consolidated auction will not hold, and should 

 not prevent the growers from demanding that the consolidated plan 

 receive, at least, a fair and impartial trial. Should the evils claimed 

 for it manifest themselves and prove serious, it is a very simple matter 

 to change the policy, and go back to the conditions of this season. On 

 the other hand, should the plan prove a success, it will be of incalculable 

 value to the growers of the State. 



Not least among the disappointed growers this season are the raisers 

 of Tokay grapes, who had looked forward to a highly profitable market 

 for their product. It is true that the early September rains materially 

 injured the shipping value of their grapes, but it is also true that the 

 rival shipping elements, in their endeavor to make a good showing of 

 fruit on their respective terminals, in order to induce the largest number 



