4 BULLETIN 302, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
had to be discarded at destination and as a result the returns from 
the sale of the merchantable grades were reduced materially by the 
cost of shipping and handling the unmerchantable fruit. It can not 
be said that the consumer paid more for good apples, because the 
wholesale buyers as a rule disccunt sufficiently the price paid to the 
farmer so that all costs and other losses for handling this character 
of mixed stock will be met. 
The operation of the New York standard package and grade law 
was noted especially, and information regarding its results will be 
found on page 13. 
STUDIES IN THE MARKETS. 
TRACING DISTRIBUTION. 
The mediums through which apples usually pass in the large mar- 
kets are the wholesaler, jobber, and retailer. In the case of consign- 
ments, the sales are usually made by the commission merchants to 
the jobbers. Frequently a wholesaler, commission merchant, or 
jobber performs the functions of all three, so that there is no distinct 
line which apples may be said to take in process of city distribution. 
Growers east of the Rocky Mountains form market contacts in 
many ways. Frequently the original sale is made at the orchard to 
local or itinerant buyers, who sell to large operators or city dealers. 
The brokers in the producing areas and in the market centers do a 
large business as salesmen or purchasing agents for all those engaged 
in the distribution to retailers. Such are the usual steps when the 
erowers act individually. Collectively or cooperatively short cuts 
are possible, because through organization all the growers of a com- 
munity may make direct market contacts with the city dealers. 
In those markets where investigations were carried on an effort 
was made to trace the distribution of specific lots of apples through 
to the consumers in order to observe the various steps and ascertain 
the cost of handling, including trade margins. It proved very diffi- 
cult, however, in most cases, to trace the whole of any original ship- 
ment through to its final sale to the consumer, and the larger the 
city the more difficult the tracing. 
It is easy to trace wholesale lots from the shipper to the wholesaler, 
but just as soon as the lot is broken up the record of its disposition 
becomes more difficult to obtain. The wholesaler may sell to the 
jobber or to the retailer or perhaps direct to some large consumer. 
He will probably have a record of the sale to a jobber, but many of 
his sales to retailers are likely to be in small quantities, for cash, and 
without record of the purchaser. The jobber, in turn, may sell 
either to a retailer or to a large consumer, and a very large part of 
his sales are likely to be for cash, without further record. It is possi- 
ble, therefore, to follow only a small part of the shipment even so far 
