Vol. LIX. No. 2609. 
NEW YORK, JANUARY 27, 1900. 
$1 PER YEAR. □ 
GREAT TRADE ON SMALL FRUIT STANDS. 
PEOPLE WHO EAT ON THE RUN. 
“A Dago and a Ben Davis.” 
THE HANDLER’S SHARE.—Some fruit growers 
who ship to the large cities would he interested and 
surprised if they could follow their shipments through 
to the consumers. It is astonishing how many hands 
the fruit passes through before it is finally eaten. 
The problem of price would, doubtless, interest them 
most. A Californian is reported to have bought three 
Bellflower apples on a railroad train. The three ap¬ 
ples cost 25 cents, which would make the average box 
worth at retail, $16.65. As a matter of fact, the 
grower and tne packer probably have to divide the 65 
cents between them, while 
the $16 is given out to 
various handlers. On the 
day this was written, we 
bought 10 cents’ worth of 
apples at a fruit stand in 
New York. The apples 
weighed 26 ounces, which 
would make a bushel of 
ordinary Baldwins worth 
$3. Fruit shippers may 
subtract the price obtained 
for their apples from this 
figure, and get an idea of 
the amount given to the 
handler. 
THE SMALL FRUIT 
STANDS.—In New York 
the small fruit stands are 
an important factor in the 
retail fruit business. Few 
people realize how much 
they add to the sales of 
fruit. These stands are 
placed on corners, or near 
the sidewalks, where busy 
people pass. The average 
New Yorker is always in 
a hurry. He eats, sleeps, 
and reads or works at a 
rapid pace. He is a fruit- 
eater, but he will seldom 
leave the sidewalk to buy 
the fruit. If he can buy it 
without going a few steps 
out of his way, he will 
gladly do so. He likes to 
buy an apple and eat it as 
he walks, or carry it in his 
pocket until he has a 
chance to sit down. Thus 
it is that the little fruit 
stands attract his eye and 
secure his trade. The wo¬ 
men folks buy at the 
stores and have the fruit sent home. But the men 
and boys usually eat fruit on the run, and it must be 
brought up close to them, or they will not touch it. 
STANDS THAT RUN.—Our picture shows five 
typical fruit stands. In the corner at the left is pic¬ 
tured a method of selling which is slowly going out 
of fashion. A woman will start out with a large bas¬ 
ket filled with apples, bananas, and various forms of 
candy. She can carry the basket on either arm, or on 
her head with equal comfort. These women go all 
through the large buildings in which business is now 
done. They go from room to room, making sales 
wherever they can. In the right lower corner is an¬ 
other form of traveling stand. The motive power of 
the one we have just described is what is commonly 
called “Shanks’s mare,” and the horse in the lower 
picture is usually mostly all shank. Some old horse 
will be hitched up to a rickety or broken-down wagon, 
and the whole thing placed under the superintendence 
of a loud-voiced huckster. His voice may be de¬ 
scribed as a cross between a fog horn and the song 
of a bullfrog. Usually these hucksters haunt the 
market until they find a cheap lot of fruit; then they 
travel about the streets, howling their wares, and 
usually selling at a very low price. We have known 
these hucksters to sell large baskets of grapes at five 
cents apiece. This looked at first as though the 
farmer must have lost heavily on them, but the 
chances were that this lot represented the tail-end 
of the shipment, which was closed out at a low price 
to get rid of it. Possibly these were the culls out of 
a large lot. The other grades may have sold for 15 
or 20 cents, so that the average of the whole gave 
fair returns to the grower. 
In the right upper corner is shown the push-cart, 
which is a great factor in the sale of fruit. These 
carts are usually “run,” in both senses of the word, by 
Italians. They handle all sorts of fruit in their sea¬ 
son, from apples to plums. The policemen keep after 
these push-cart men, the rule being never to let them 
stand over 20 minutes in one place, so that they 
wander about, keeping almost constantly on the move. 
It is a comical sight sometimes, to see them in case of 
a sudden rain. They throw an oilcloth cover over 
the fruit, and then usually make a run for the Brook¬ 
lyn Bridge. The street* that run under the Bridge 
afford a fair shelter for them, and those who are 
within running distance, have some lively races on 
their way to shelter. In the left lower corner is a 
stand usually fitted in front of a grocery or fruit 
store. During the Summer, lemonade or soda water 
is added to the stocK in trade. Some of these dealers 
show fine taste in displaying their fruit. They polish 
it with a cloth, more or less clean, and arrange 
the colors so as to make an attractive display. There 
are, all told, over 5,000 licenses issued for these push¬ 
carts and stands. At a fair average, it may be said 
that they average over a bushel of apples each day of 
the season, and this gives a fair idea of the amount 
of fruit they work off during the year. It is safe to 
say that the greater part of this fruit would not be 
sold were it not for these accessible stands. 
HARD COMPETITION.— 
The center picture shows a 
stand taken from life, 
which Is typical of many. 
We have often bought fruit 
at this stand. The pro¬ 
prietor is an old soldier, 
wearing a Grand Army 
button in his coat. On 
pleasant days his wife 
comes and helps polish the 
fruit and serve the lemon¬ 
ade. The old man is clean 
and enterprising, and he 
always uses a clean towel 
for rubbing his fruit. Not 
far from him is another 
stand kept by two Italians, 
who have a small stock of 
candy and a boot-blacking 
chair in addition to their 
fruit. These Italians are 
always at their stand. I 
have seen it open at 12 
o’clock at night, under the 
glare of a great kerosene 
torch. When night comes 
the old soldier closes his 
stand and goes home to eat 
his supper and visit with 
his wife. The old man al¬ 
ways sells apples of good 
quality. You will find New 
England Baldwins, Cali¬ 
fornia Bellflowers, and 
other first-class varieties 
always in stock. The 
Italians are not so careful 
of their quality; you will 
find Ben Davis grinning 
handsomely on their stand, 
and I have seen them 
breathe, and even worse, 
on their apples, and then 
rub the bacteria in with a 
cloth which, I am sure, has never known a wash- 
tub. They get a high polish on their fruit, but fine 
feathers do not always make fine birds. I asked the 
old man one day how his business was prospering. 
He shrugged his shoulders and said, as he pointed 
with his thumb across the way, “It is very hard for 
an auld soldier and a Baldwin to compate with a 
Dago and a Bin Davis.” There was just enough burr 
on his tongue to give pathos to his statement. 
A CHANCE FOR QUALITY.—“The Dago and the 
Ben Davis” prospered for a time, but finally their 
customers saw that polish act with the tongue too 
close to the fruit, and realized that the hands that 
blacked the boots, rubbed the apples, with no saving 
grace of soap in between. The old man has stuek to 
quality and cleanliness, and is coming out ahead. I 
THE FRUIT STANDS OF NEW YORK, WHERE BUSY MEN PICK APPLES. Fio. 16. 
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