MARKETING EASTERN GRAPES. 15 
of this method is hindered by the difficulty of getting in touch 
with consumers and of making collections, and by the fact that most 
city consumers desire grapes in lots of one or two baskets on short 
notice. The aggregate quantity thus sold is small, but the method 
has a wide application. 
The recent great interest on the part of urban dwellers in the 
subject of marketing has led to the formation of many consumers' 
cooperative associations or buying clubs, which should present a 
profitable field for development to growers with small acreage. 
It should be borne in mind in all of the sales direct to the con- 
sumer that the prices generally should not be so high as the retail 
price, for the consumers' ability to purchase stock in just the quanti- 
ties he desires and just when he desires them, is one of the services 
figured into the retail price. A fair price for the farmer to charge 
the consumer for such sales would be the price at which the same 
stock sold to retailers in large near-by markets. Thus the producer 
receives payment which represents not only the cost of his product 
but the costs and profits of the buyer, carlot distributor, and jobber, 
and the consumer saves what would represent the cost and profit of 
the retailer on similar transactions. If a farmer ships in this manner 
direct to consumers, basing his charge on f. o. b. prices, he has a right 
to ask more than the regular current price to reimburse him for his 
extra trouble and knowledge of marketing conditions. When he 
peddles his products he has a right to charge the full retail price, 
but as he usually wishes to make quick sales, he may find it expedient 
to ask a slightly lower price. 
SALES BY GROWERS IN PUBLIC MARKETS. 
Grape growers near the larger cities sometimes find it to their 
advantage to haul their stock to the public markets, where they 
may sell direct to the consumer or to retailers at current market 
prices. 
SALES BY GROWERS IN SMALL LOTS DIRECT TO RETAILERS. 
Growers sometimes find it to their advantage to sell direct to 
retailers located in neighboring towns and villages. Such a trade 
can be made profitable by an energetic producer, who, in years of 
crop shortage, can generally obtain stock from his neighbors and in 
years of heavy production can dispose of his surplus through other 
channels. The disadvantages of this method of sale are numerous, 
the field of distribution is reduced by the necessity of less than 
carlot shipments, the freedom of the retailer in buying only for his 
requirements is reduced, and the uncertainty of less than carload 
