TWENTY-EIGHTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



137 



they would have received $10.05| per 100 pounds for No. 1 softshells, 

 and if the reserve had been paid, a total of $10.10^ per 100 pounds 

 would have been paid them; but this grading and bleaching are done 

 cheaper and more uniform by the association than can be done by 

 individuals. 



The price received by the walnut-growers by marketing through the 

 Exchange was about 50 cents per 100 pounds more than if marketed in 

 the usual way. 



Successful dried-fruit marketing will have to be conducted on the 

 same lines, with the growers' agencies established in the distributing 

 and consuming centers. 



The growers must control their marketing agents in every respect as 

 fully as they do their assistants in the orchard or packing-house. The 

 saying that "no man can serve two masters" is also true when applied 

 to fruit marketing. 



It is not possible to have brokers who have several lines of goods and 

 who are paid a percentage on their sales, work with the faithfulness of 

 a man whose sole duty and business is that of selling the product of 

 his employer. 



If business in dried fruit is dull and sales hard to make, the broker 

 would be more than human if he did not divert his attention to other 

 lines, where sales were more readily made and commissions more easily 

 earned. 



Considerable has been said about f. o. b. sales at an established price, 

 but it is not likely that dried-fruit producers will ever be able to realize 

 the best prices by such sales. Conditions do arise when sales can be 

 made at fair prices f. o. b. the producing point, but when that can be 

 done better prices can usually be had nearer the consumer, and in these 

 days of fierce competition, no manufacturer nor any producer except 

 the farmer, thinks of waiting for some one to come to him to buy. 



Growers' associations can agree on a minimum price and hold their 

 product until such price can be obtained, if found advisable, and by 

 having fruit stored near the consuming points and their own selling 

 agents, they are likely to get all the product is worth, and that is all 

 that can reasonably be expected. 



WALNUT MARKETING. 



By FRANK E. KELLOGG, of Goleta. 



There are just two things to be accomplished in marketing: the one 

 is to sell the good s, and the other is to sell at the highest possible price. To 

 accomplish these two things in the marketing of walnuts, the first con- 

 sideration should be the quality of the nuts. The distinction between 

 first-class and inferior nuts should be clearly and sharply defined, and 



