UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1362 
Washington, D. C. 
November, 1925 
AMERICAN FRUIT AND PRODUCE AUCTIONS x 
By Admer D. Miller, Formerly Investigator in Marketing, and Charles W. 
Hauck, Marketing Specialist, Bureau of Agricultural Economics 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Development of fruit and produce 
auctions : 1 
Ownership and control of auction 
companies 3 
Position of auctions in channels of 
distribution 4 
Extent and growth of auction busi- 
ness 6 
Commodities sold at auction 8 
Page 
Sources of supply 11 
How the goods are handled and sold_ 12 
Auction sale of bananas — 24 
Auction charges 25 
F. o. b. telegraphic auctions 26 
Essential points of auction law 31 
Summary 33 
Bibliography 35 
DEVELOPMENT OF FRUIT AND PRODUCE AUCTIONS 
Fruits and produce have been sold at auction in the United States 
for nearly a century. Sales of Smyrna raisins, currants, sweet 
potatoes, Malaga grapes, oranges, and lemons were reported in a 
New York commercial journal as early as 1827. The importation 
of Italian lemons led to the establishment a few years later of regular 
auction sales for fruit. 
Fruit auction sales have been conducted in Philadelphia and Chi- 
cago since 1885, and in Baltimore, Minneapolis, and St. Paul since 
the late nineties. Auctions were started in Buffalo, Toledo, and 
Kansas City, but they were not supported by the trade and soon 
failed. Of the auction companies which are now engaged in this 
business, only four were in operation prior to 1900. The first of 
these was organized in 1839 in New York City, the second in Boston 
in 1847, the third in Cleveland in 1890, and the fourth in New York 
City in 1897. New Orleans and St. Louis entered the field about 
1900, at which time there were 13 auction companies in operation. 
Since then there have been some failures, consolidations, and re- 
1 The American fruit and produce auction companies have given much assistance in the 
compilation of the material embodied in this publication. Without their helpful coopera-^ 
tlon its preparation would have been impossible, 
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