August, 1918 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
177 
Selling- Apples Direct to the 
Consumer. 
A. K. Bassett, Baraboo. 
Several years ago 1 read a pa- 
per before this society about my 
first attempt at selling my apple 
crop without handing the commis- 
sion man the biggest slice of the pie. 
Since that time, I have often 
been reminded, by remarks here 
and elsewhere, about my “air 
castle” of eliminating the broker. 
That was seven years ago, and 1 
am still at the game. With the 
present high prices and scarcity of 
some food products buying di- 
rectly from producer is a very pop- 
ular fad, and if present conditions 
continue for a number cf years, the 
commission man will be out cf a 
job, unles lie enlists against the 
Kaiser. 
During the past season I sold 
about 900 bbls .of apples, of which 
40 per cent went directly to the 
consumer, and the balance went to 
small retailers mostly in the 
northwestern part of the state. Of 
course the small retailer is a mid- 
dleman in a certain sense, but by 
selling direct to him, it cuts down 
freight and cartage, also commis- 
sion man’s fees, and fruit gets to 
the consumer as nearly direct as 
we can hope to get in some cases. 
With the varieties at hand which 
were planted and propagated by 
our forefathers I find it necessary 
to sell some to the retailers, as I 
will bring out later on. 
After selling in this manner for 
a number of years, I find we have 
two classes of apples. One kind 
suitable for selling direct to con- 
sumer and retailer; the other kind 
suitable for retailers only. 
Wealthy, Utter, McIntosh, Snow 
and all the good winter varieties 
are suitable for selling direct to the 
consumer as any family can dis- 
pose of a barrel easily before they 
spoil. Retailers, too, can handle 
these varieties profitably and pre- 
fer them to any others. 
On the other hand there is the 
Dig list of early apples and a good 
many worthless fall varieties of 
which Wisconsin seems blessed with 
a goodly share, which no one can 
handle as well as the retailer. 
About the first on this list is the 
good old Duchess of Oldenburg. A 
stoi c keeper can sell out a number 
of barrels in a very short time, but 
not many families could use a bar- 
rel of Duchess before they spoiled. 
However, 1 was much surprised last 
fall at the numerous orders 1 re- 
ceived from Consumers for Duch- 
ess. Some even ordering the sec- 
ond and third barrel. Evidently, 
they canned or dried them, which 
is a wise plan now-a-days when the 
early apples can be bought for half 
the price of winter apples. 
Whitney crabs, for which one 
cannot get a song when shipping 
to commission house went like hot 
cakes at the same price as Duchess 
last fall. These need to be handled 
rather hastily and a retailer can do 
it best. I sold all of my own and 
bought all eight farmers near me 
had, and could easily have sold 100 
bbls. more, if 1 had had the time 
and help to harvest them. 
Next on the list I wish to men- 
tion the less desirable varieties, 
such as Haas, Fall Orange, Plumb 
Cider, Long-field, Anisim and oth- 
ers not worth mentioning, of which 
there seem to be such a quantity 
around the country. I think the 
nurserymen more than the fruit 
growers are responsible for this big- 
population. A consumer never 
comes back for the second order for 
any on this list, one taste is usually 
enough. One fall when apples 
were rather scarce, I seemed to 
have a good supply of Haas and 
Utter. In order to work off the 
Haas, I quoted prices on mixed 
barrels of the two varieties. In 
every case the second orders ran, 
Don t send the Haas, send the 
other apples.” “Don’t send the red 
apples, send the white apples.” 
“Send so muni) barrels apples, but 
don’t send any linns,” but there 
are apples infinitely worse than our 
good old friend, the Haas. There 
is the Longfield tribe which ought 
never to have left the boundary of 
Russia. 1 hold my breath even to 
ship a stray barrel to a storekeeper. 
I never expect to sell this class of 
apples even of No. 1 or fancy 
guide, for as much as I get for 
Wealthy, Utter and Snow, yet it 
costs exactly as much to produce 
them, and no one has a good word 
for them. W hy not strike them off 
the premium list now and forever? 
^ on would soon see the trees get 
the axe and better kinds growing 
in their places. Consumers can 
tell the difference no matter how 
little they may know of apples. 
One time a couple of good old 
Dutch farmers came after apples. 
I had quite an assortment on hand 
and asked $1.50 per bbl., for No. 
1 Haas, Longfield, Fall Orange and 
that class cf apples, and $4.00 per 
barrel for the Fameuse. In my 
own mind I was sure they would 
invest in the cheap varieties, but 
after sampling apples one man re- 
marked to the other, “Yaw, Felix, 
you tak vat you lik, but for mine 
own part I prefer de Fameuse.” 
Each took three barrels of Fameuse 
and came back later and got some 
more for their Sunday school and 
Chirstmas tree. You can’t foci 
them on the “these are just as 
good” plan. 
Financially, selling apples di- 
rectly is a great relief and consola- 
tion. Checks come with the or- 
