Edible Products, 



350 



[October, 190S: 



The fruit supplied to a private trade 

 should be of the best quality, carefully 

 selected, neatly and tastefully pack- 

 ed. In dealing with private customers 

 every effort should be made to give the 

 same grade of fruit in every order. Uni- 

 formity is absoluetly necessary in hold- 

 ing the good-will and confidence of a 

 private customer. 



All packages for the private trade 

 must usually go forward by express. 



Commission Merchants. — The bulk of 

 the pineapple crop is handled either 

 directly or indirectly by the commission 

 merchants. The main objection to the 

 commission merchant system of selling 

 fruit is that the grower has to place 

 himself entirely in his hands. There 

 seems, however, no way of overcoming 

 this objection. There are honest men in 

 the commission business, as large a pro- 

 portion as in any other line of endea- 

 vour, and there are always ways and 

 meaiiS for finding out which are the 

 honest, responsible houses, and which 

 are not. Select a good house and stick 

 to it. We know pineapple growers who 

 have been shipping every season to the 

 same firm for fifteen years and more. 



In shipping to commission merchants, 

 the best policy is to select one reliable 

 man in each market to which shipments 

 are to be made, and ship to him alone. 

 Do not split a shipment in any one 

 market, sending part of it to one man, 



Date. 





Market. 



May 27, 



1904... New York 



„ 27, 



9» 



...Philadelphia 



June 4, 





...New York 



„ 4, 



9 J 



...Boston 



4, 





...Philadelphia 



>> 8, 



> 9 



...New York 



„ 8, 



9) 



...Boston 



„ 8, 





...Philadelphia 



„ 13, 



1905... Boston 



„ 15. 





...Philadelphia 



,. 15, 





...Boston 



„ 17, 



59 



...Boston 



„ 17, 



9 9 



...New York 



„ 19, 



5 9 



...New York 



„ 19, 



9' 



...Philadelphia 



„ 20, 





...Philadelphia 



Select a number of markets, one or 

 more, as many as can be given a fair 

 amount of fruit, and ship to them right 

 along, week in and week out, day in 

 and day out. 



Associations.— It any association can 

 be formed for the mutual benefit of the 

 growers it is an excellent thing. Too 

 frequently, however, they go to pieces 

 and the work amounts to nothing. The 

 weak point seems to be that the associ- 



part to another. It is not fair to the 

 merchant and will result in loss to the 

 shipper. 



Try to work with the commission man. 

 If he wants riper fruit, send it to him, if 

 not so ripe, let him have it. He knows 

 the market as the grower cannot. Try 

 to give him what he wants. 



Spasmodic Shipments. — A grower ship- 

 ping to New York learns th'at pine- 

 apples are worth more in Boston than 

 they are in New York. He ships there, 

 but by the time his fruit arrives, the 

 price has dropped and he gets the same 

 or less than he would have got in New 

 York. The price at which the market 

 stands when the fruit is shipped is 

 seldom the exact price at which the 

 fruit is sold when it arrives. It does 

 not pay to ship first to one market, then 

 to another in the hope of getting the 

 top prices always. Low prices will 

 probably be obtained more frequently 

 than if the fruit is regularly sent for- 

 ward into certain markets, regardless of 

 prices. One who ships according to this 

 rule will usually come out at the end of 

 the season with more money to his credit 

 than will the one who chases about 

 from one market to another in the hope 

 of securing the best prices- 



The following receipts, taken from the 

 books of a pinneapple grower, go to 

 show that there is after all but little 

 difference in the markets from day to 

 day :— 



Net receipts. 



Average. 



$35-47 



$1-27 



20-15 



1-34 



66-13 



1-32 



138-56 



1-34 



99-57 



1-86 



43-48 



1-61 



49-50 



1'50 



45*76 



1-76 



109-88 



P80 



194-94 



1-95 



286-95 



1-81 



122-85 



1-86 



190-28 



1-90 



187-62 



1-87 



241-65 



1-61 



155-51 



1-03 



ation undertakes to do too much. The 

 only association known to the writer 

 which has proved successful is one which 

 looks to the protection of the grower, 

 without destroying his individuality 

 and independence. 



Brokerage. — In selling by the broker- 

 age system, the fruit is placed in the 

 hands of a fruit broker, who has the 

 power to sell or consign as he deems best, 

 a charge of ten cents per crate being 



Shipment. 

 ... 20 crates 



... 15 „ 



... 50 „ 



... 103 „ 



... 54 „ 



... 27 „ 



... 33 „ 



... 20 „ 



... 94 ., 



... 100 „ 



... 158 „ 



... 66 „ 



.., 100 „ 



... 100 ,, 



... 150 „ 



... 150 „ 



