I 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
managers in each sub-exchange or dis¬ 
trict, and all others interested, collaborate 
all suggestions advanced, and adopt a uni¬ 
form system of packing, and packing 
49 
house work, and prices, and so increase 
the advantages of co-operation. The suc¬ 
cess of orange raising is going to depend 
upon the “survival of the fittest.” 
DISTRIBUTION OF FRUIT TO THE CONSUMER 
E. Stuart Hubbard, Arlington, N. Y. 
Mr. President , Ladies and Gentlemen : 
There has been a good deal of agita¬ 
tion in the press lately regarding the final 
method of distributing fruit to the con¬ 
sumer. There have been a good many 
claims made that the present manner of 
distribution is wrong and that it is a 
great deal more expensive than it should 
be; that is, the consumer has to pay a 
great deal more in proportion to what 
the grower receives, than he should. 
There have been statements made in the 
papers which are very misleading, often 
false, with regard to the prices which the 
consumer has to pay. For instance, with 
regard to oranges, in one of our late pa¬ 
pers there was a statement made by a 
California grower that was something 
like this, as I recall it, that eighteen cars 
of California oranges had been sold on 
two successive days in New York market 
at auction at an average of $1.80 per box, 
and that those same oranges would cost 
the consumer an average of something 
like $4.50 per box; making $2.70 profit 
to the brokers and retailers. A state¬ 
ment like that is an absolute falsehood. 
There is a small proportion of trade in 
New York or any of the large cities which 
pays a high price for oranges; this trade 
is supplied by the best oranges which 
reach the market. These prices are above 
the average of the sales. If you will look 
at your auction sales for any one day, 
you will find there are a few boxes which 
sell for much higher prices than the av¬ 
erage. There are a few boxes of large 
sizes, like I26's or 150's of the best 
brands, which will sometimes sell for 
$2.00 or $3.00 a box more than the aver¬ 
age prices. 
The man who usually writes these ar¬ 
ticles is often an expert who is given the 
position of investigating, and he goes to 
the stores where this fine fruit is sold at 
high prices, buys fruit there, and goes 
back and writes these figures as his basis. 
I11 the meantime, the great mass of 
fruit, good average fruit, is bought by the 
middle classes and the lower classes at 
very much cheaper prices. 
I am primarily an apple orchardist, and 
while I have been brought up in Florida, 
and have grown and shipped oranges, I 
am now raising apples with my uncle in 
New York State. We have not been sat¬ 
isfied with the methods of selling fruit 
through commission men, and we have 
lately been selling it ourselves to the re¬ 
tailers. In that way, we have been try- 
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