AMERICAN POMOEOGICAR SOCIETY 
108 
point. All such cars should be settled for before leaving the loading station 
in order to avoid later complications. In fruit sections where buying is not 
a common practice, buyers often decline to settle for a car until it reaches 
destination and has in turn been sold by the purchaser. If the grower in- 
sists on settlement before the car rolls, the buyer goes to some other grower 
for his fruit. Under such conditions some concerted action on the part of 
the growers of a given section is desirable and in fact necessary for their 
own good. If growers as a whole would refuse to sell to buyers without 
settlement f. o. b. the shipping point, the buyers would be compelled to meet 
these requirements, thereby rebounding to the benefit of the growers. 
Packages and Packing. 
Careful, systematic packing is essential to successful marketing. Fur- 
thermore it is an easy matter to train the packing force when uniform, 
systematic work is done. Box packing of apples, for example, is a pleasure 
to the packers once the system and style of pack is learned. For box pack- 
ing of apples we have found expert Florida packers, common in our section 
during peach season, very efficient once the style of pack is learned. Be- 
ing used to handling wrappers in tomato and orange packing, they take 
readily to box apple packing. 
Parcel Post Possibilities. 
In marketing his crop, the fruit grower does not ordinarily get his full 
share of the dollar paid by the consumer. How this trouble is to be remedied 
is not so apparent. Railroads, express companies, commission houses, job- 
bers and retailers each take a share of the dollar and constitute integral 
parts of the whole system of expensive handling in vogue at the present 
time. United action on the part of the growers of a given section may be 
effectual in securing needed reductions in transportation rates, but middle 
men cannot be eliminated unless the grower is in position to deal directly 
with the consumer, which is not often the case except possibly in a limited 
way. Should the parcel post weight limit be increased to fifty pounds or 
more and the rate reduced, this system of handling will benefit all growers 
who are in position to do a retail business. 
The Labor Problem. 
To handle an orchard successfully the grower must be able to command 
the necessary amount of labor at the right time. This is sometimes very 
difficult. For a number of years the price of labor has been steadily ad- 
vancing and at the same time in many sections labor has become more 
difficult to get. Year around employment, tenant houses in the orchard, eat- 
ing and sleeping quarters for unmarried men, etc., will help to solve this 
problem. 
In some fruit growing localities labor conditions have been upset by 
promoters who buy large tracts of cheap land, plant a few fruit trees and 
advertise orchard stock for sale to the public. Expecting to make their 
