148 



THE FRUIT EXCHANGES. 



ton, in Hunterdon county. Here, on the fourth day of 

 January in each year, thirteen directors are elected. It 

 is an incorporated organization, and the treasurer is 

 placed under $25,000 bonds. The rules of the exchange 

 concerning inspection and grading of fruit are as follows : 



" It shall be the duty of the inspector to carefully in- 

 spect all fruit presented to him for inspection, and place 

 such fruit in such grade as his judgment may designate ; 

 every inspection thus made shall be recorded in a book 

 of record provided him for that purpose. The fruit 

 thus inspected shall be the inspection of the New Jersey 

 Fruit Exchange, and all inspection thus made shall be 

 final. The inspector shall be provided with a clerk and 

 assistants to handle the fruit for him whenever the 

 amount of labor to be performed shall demand such 

 assistance. The inspector shall have the authority to 

 empty as many baskets for thorough examination as he 

 may desire from each lot of fruit presented to him for 

 inspection. In no case can the inspector inspect fruit at 

 any other place than that provided for the purpose by 

 the Exchange. 



" Grades of Fruit. — There shall be three grades of 

 peaches designated and marked as follows : Nos. i, 2 

 and 3, with an exceptional grade designated as fancy. 

 Said grades shall be defined as follows : 



" No. I shall be in size above medium of its variety, of 

 good color, running uniform as possible through the 

 basket. 



'■ No. 2 shall be medium in size, ripe and of fair color, 

 uniform as possible through the basket. 



" No. 3 shall be in size below medium, yet merchant- 

 able. 



' ■ Fancy shall be such fruit as is above the average, or 

 superior to that of its variety, well ripe, of high color, 

 carefully handled, and must in every way be a superior 

 article." — Compiled from coriespondeine witli //. F. 

 Bodinc, Hunterdon Co. , N . J . 



A Jersey.man's Complaint. — In New Jersey there are 

 two fruit exchanges with branches in Hunterdon county, 

 chiefly operated in the interests of the peach growers, a 

 fruit-grower's union in Atlantic county, and possibly other 

 similar organizations at large shipping points in the 

 southern part of the State. At Vineland, a large fruit 

 center, the shipping is chiefly through local agents who 

 look after the various consignments and return pack- 

 ages, with a through messenger to secure prompt deliv- 

 ery, the shipper, it is said, being compensated with one- 

 quarter of the ten per cent, charged by the commission 

 merchant. This saves the grower much trouble, delay 

 and annoyance, as all he has to do is to drive up to the 

 platform, unload, and hand the agent's employe a 

 memorandum of his shipment. This is said to be much 

 more satisfactory to the grower than to be obliged to 

 attend to his own manifest at the busy season. 



In Essex county the largest fruit-growers sell their pro- 

 ducts almost wholly through commission merchants in 

 Newark and New York, and deliver with their own 

 wagons. Newark, a city with a population of 181,000, 

 is a large receiving and distributing point to the sur- 



rounding towns, receiving train loads of strawberries, 

 peaches, etc., from Delaware, Maryland, and southern 

 New Jersey, long in advance of our home crops ; and 

 later on, strawberries, raspberries, grapes, potatoes, etc., 

 come in large quantities from New York State. These 

 are consigned to dealers and commission merchants. 

 The facilities afforded by the city of Newark for local 

 growers to sell their products direct to the consumer 

 have long been inadequate for the purpose. Hucksters 

 and dealers were allowed to occupy much of the limited 

 space provided as a county market, to the exclusion of 

 the farmers, and for years they have been compelled to 

 occupy the public street along the park, which is the 

 pride and glory of the city. This not only impeded 

 travel but was objectionable to private residents on the 

 line. Complaints and appeals were made to the city 

 authorities repeatedly to provide increased facilities. 

 They realized the necessity for doing so, and the com- 

 mittee appointed to take charge of the matter investi- 

 gated various sites and considered numerous schemes, re- 

 porting from time to time publicly, thus keeping the 

 public fully advised of the situation ; and they kept ad- 

 vancing the value of their holdings till the original and 

 inevitable decision was reached to secure additional fa- 

 cilities contiguous to the then existing grounds. Mean- 

 while the use of the streets became more obnoxious and 

 the wagons were declared a nuisance. The green-gro- 

 cers thought they saw in the situation a chance for profit 

 and joined in the crusade against the producers, and en- 

 deavored to get ordinances passed prohibiting the pro- 

 ducers from selling from their wagons at retail. In 

 other words, they wanted to be the middlemen through 

 which all the country produce should reach the con- 

 sumer, and thus compel the farmers to sell their pro- 

 ducts through commission merchants or accept such 

 prices as they were willing to give. So far did they 

 carry on the war that for a time the farmers and garden- 

 ers were compelled to establish their camping ground 

 across the river in Hudson county. 



This was a great inconvenience to the people who de- 

 sired their stuff fresh from the hands of the producer ; 

 but the additional trouble, distance and expense brought 

 more trade to the green-grocers, and they were happy. 

 Meanwhile the work of removing buildings, filling cel- 

 lar, condemning property, and preparing the newly-ac- 

 quired grounds was necessarily slow, and the grocers 

 foresaw the coming failure of their schemes, so they 

 formed a combine or trust under the name of gro- 

 cers' exchange, which, to our view, is nothing more nor 

 less than a commission house within the trust. They 

 buy and solicit consignment on commission as do other 

 commission houses. In buying in large quantities they 

 can get better terms than the retail grocer, and divide 

 the purchases among the members of the exchange in 

 small lots to their advantage, and though these retail- 

 ers pay the exchange the same rates that they would 

 have to pay other jobbers, they would come in for their 

 dividends on the cooperative plan. It is a good scheme 

 — for the green-grocers ! Producer. 



