12S0 
THE RURAL MIS W-YORKER 
October 30, 1915. 
Notes From the Fruit Auction 
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THE ORIGINAL 
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The weather in New York City for the 
last two weeks has been hot and muggy— 
bad for the apple trade. Fruit packed 
and shipped in its own heat does not 
look so well on arrival as in the orchard, 
and aside from this the consumption has 
been light and the buyers indifferent to 
everything except extreme fancy high- 
colored grades, of which there has not 
been a large supply on the market. Prices 
accordingly have ruled lower and the 
market much duller than during the pre¬ 
vious cool weather. 
Some growers do not understand why 
prices in the city are lower than they are 
sometimes at the orchard. The principal 
reason is that the dealers who buy at 
the orchard are buying on speculation. 
They control storage and will keep the 
best apples for higher prices later on. 
In many cases the grower has no storage 
at home and he is unable to get it 
elsewhere. In New York City there is 
not to exceed one-third of the storage 
that is demanded, and what there is, is 
in the control of the dealers, so that the 
grower is in a position where he must 
sell. He can take his choice of shipping 
on consignment or of selling to the spec¬ 
ulator on the ground. If he ships to New 
York City or other markets he must ac¬ 
cept the condition of the market as it is. 
When the weather is bad for apple trade 
as at the present time, the demand will 
be light and prices pretty low. When 
the weather changes the demand will in¬ 
crease and prices will be better. Fruit 
can always be sold at a price, but when 
the people are not anxious for it and 
when the supply is large in any market, 
prices will be lower for the time being, 
no matter what might be paid for lim¬ 
ited shipments to smaller markets that 
take a small supply and that must pay 
a better price than the metropolitan mar¬ 
kets afford at the time. The salvation of 
the grower is in organization to secure 
straight pack, all growers pooling to 
give uniform size, color and quality, 
which is practically impossible for many 
individual growers. With such organi¬ 
zations and cold storage facilities farm¬ 
ers would be in position to market ap¬ 
ples and get their full value. 
During the last week or 10 days North¬ 
western boxed apples on the market for 
immediate consumption have been sell¬ 
ing at 50 cents and as low as $1 a box 
below previous prices. State apples for 
consumption have also sold off. Only 
fancy grades of high color bring top 
quotations, and they are scarce. No 
concern, and no system of marketing can 
change these conditions. No system 
of marketing can get high prices for 
fruit for immediate consumption when 
there is a glut of that product 
on the market. No system of mar¬ 
keting can get high prices for poor fruit 
and badly graded fruit, and there is a 
very limited number of growers shipping 
to New York that know how to pack ap¬ 
ples for that market. Many of the pack¬ 
ers seem to think that the fancy and 
grade “A” branded on the head of the 
barrel will increase the price without re¬ 
gard to the contents of the barrel. It 
will do nothing of the kind. The buyer 
does not go by the brand on New York 
State apple barrels. He depends entirely 
upon his eye. 
Last week the auction market had a 
shipment of a carload of fancy grade “A” 
Greenings. The Department secured the 
attendance of many of the best buyers 
in the city under the representation that 
an especially fine grade of apples was to 
be offered. The first barrel opened 
showed six cull apples in the second and 
third row from the top. The buyers 
passed on without giving them a second 
look. The shipper thought that we ought 
to have turned the barrel upside down 
to show the good quality of the middle 
and bottom of the barrel. We did not 
have the time. The good buyers did not 
delay long enough. They told us frankly 
that they were not looking for a saving 
of 25 or 50 cents on a barrel of apples. 
They want the quality first and will talk 
price after they find tlu*m. These men 
buy large quantities. They want clean, 
straight fruit. Two or three cull apples 
in the top of the barrel drives them on. 
They will look in the middle and the 
bottom only when the top suits them. 
These are things that growers and pack¬ 
ers of apples ought to know. Some 
growers know it. The others will have 
to learn'it before they can get good prices 
for apples. 
We are trying to induce retailers to 
display New York apple signs. We are 
trying to induce them to keep New York 
apples in stock and to sell them. Some 
are beginning to do so. All of them say 
that to develop and hold this trade we 
must have a steady supply of good qual¬ 
ity fruit. Under such conditions they 
will buy daily, pay fair prices and sell at 
a small profit when displayed. These 
stores already display the western ap¬ 
ples, many of them exclusively, and we 
are first met with the objection that they 
do not handle New York State apples be¬ 
cause the top of the barrel may be good, 
the middle of it has apples that they can’t 
sell, and the worst part of their argu¬ 
ment is that it is true. If the new ap¬ 
ple packing law of New York State were 
strictly enforced, at least 80 per cent, of 
the packers of the State would be fined 
this year. These are conditions that need 
to be corrected. They must be corrected 
to get the most for the New York State 
apple crop. This want of information 
and carelessness in packing is costing the 
growers of the State a good many hun¬ 
dreds of thousands of dollars annually. 
It has helped give the Northwestern ap¬ 
ples of poorer flavor and quality the pre¬ 
ference in the Eastern markets. The 
trade for the New York apple can be 
easily developed in the New York mar¬ 
ket. It simply requires a steady supply, 
a uniform grade, an honest pack and 
some intelligence and interested persist¬ 
ent salesmanship. Fortunately, growers 
are coming more and more to realize this 
necessity, and it is hoped that organiza¬ 
tions will be formed during the coming 
Winter so that in another season the 
apples and other fruits of New York 
State may be assembled and packed and 
sold_ under proper conditions 
While all prices have been a little off 
during the hot spell and muggy weather, 
the auction prices grade for grade have 
been as a whole a little in advance of 
the prices realized on similar grades of 
goods at private sale. Some of the ship¬ 
ments, however, were extremely poor and 
while the Department is anxious to help 
small shippers and to market for grow¬ 
ers who are not able to market elsewhere, 
discretion ought to be used as to the 
quality of the fruit shipped. If it is not 
good to eat at home, it will never pay 
charges for shipping to New York City, 
and some fruit has been shipped that was 
worthless at home or elsewhere. This 
is probably due to inexperience and want 
of knowledge of marketing conditions, 
hut it ought to be easy to understand 
that soft and damaged and otherwise 
worthless fruit cannot be sold on a mar¬ 
ket which receives large consignments of 
high quality and fair quality of goods. 
There has not been much of this, but yet 
enough to justify a word of advice. 
The trade papers an* continuing their 
attacks against the Department of Foods 
and Markets, in an increased volume and 
with extra violence. Every week they 
prove both sides of the case. That the 
Department is developing a demand for 
New York State apples and in that way 
creating an extra demand for the stock 
that the dealers hold for speculation, has 
no merits in their eyes. The only harm 
that the Department can do these deal¬ 
ers is in receiving the apples that they 
refuse to buy and in establishing the 
prices of them in an open market. This 
does serve the small grower and inexper¬ 
ienced shipper as long as the price justi¬ 
fies the shipment, and of course it does 
interfere with the market for speculative 
purposes for the time being, but the De¬ 
partment is not encouraging shipments 
except when the city market and the auc¬ 
tion sales are a service to the grower. 
Where sales can be made at home to 
equal the city quotations, the local sales 
are advised, but the indications are that 
the prices of fairly good grades of ap¬ 
ples will be high on the New York mar¬ 
ket during the proper season and that 
the prices of real fancy grades of ap¬ 
ples will be exceedingly favorable. 
To give growers a fair idea of the 
market we give below record of two ship¬ 
ments sold on the same day last week: 
6 bids. Baldwin sold at $2.15; 15 at 
$1.70; 5 at $2.05; ,3 at $2.55; 4 at $1.05; 
4 Ben Davis at $1.05; 2 Kings at 
$4; 2 Newtown Pippin at $2.02; 
2 Snow at $3.12; 1 Ilubbardston at 
$1.75; 20 Baldwin at $2.00; 1 King 
at $3.00; 0 King at $3.50; 0 Pewaukee at 
$2.10; 5 Sutton Beauty at $2.65; 1 
Wagener at $3.30; 12 Baldwin at $2.75; 
1 York Imperial at $3.15; 10 York Im¬ 
perial at $2.85; 1 Wealthy at $3.10; 1 
Snow at $3.60; 1 Maiden Blush at 
$3.25; 2 Delicious at $3.55; 2 Green¬ 
ing at $3.15; 3 bble. Kierffer pears at 
$1.70; 1 at $1.75, and 2 at $1.40. 
During the week ungraded apples, 
bruised, wormeaten, discolored and de¬ 
fective apples have sold at 90 cents, 05 
cents, $1.10 and up to $2. according to 
degree of blemishes in quality. For the 
week, apples, good and bad. have been off 
in price, all over, but the prices range 
directly according to quality. One deal¬ 
er, impressed with our sales, sent a car¬ 
load of Greenings to the auction last 
week. 
Milch Cows and Hay Auctions. 
The State Department of Foods and 
Markets is arranging to hold an auction 
sale of new milch cows and springers for 
the Tompkins County, N. Y., Cooperative 
Association, and other shippers, at Do¬ 
ver Plains. N. Y., probably October 30. 
The Department has also been request¬ 
ed to help the hay shippers of the State, 
and it is making arrangements to hold 
auctions at least once a week, dates to 
be announced later. 
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dealers. Do not be misled by color 
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“Best in the Long Run” 
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To Sell Farm Food Products 
If you have food products that are good to eat, and put 
up in crates, boxes, barrels or other containers, The New 
York State Department of Foods and Markets will sell it for 
you. It will see that you get the market price for the grade 
and quality sold, and send you a prompt account of sales and 
check. The commission will be 5 per cent. There is usually 
a small charge for catalogue and handling samples. When 
it can be sold on dock there is no cartage. 
We are now selling fruit daily on an open auction mar¬ 
ket. Under the most unfavorable conditions our experience § 
has demonstrated that the auction system is the best for the 
sale of perishable farm products in a large market. Grade 
for Grade the auction always equals the private sale prices; 
and for best grades it always tops the market. Smaller and 
local markets are sometimes higher than the New York mar- ; 
ket for limited sales, no system of selling can change that 
fact; but food products can always be sold in New York at 
some price, and the auction gets the prevailing price for the 
grade and quality offered. The poorer gpades go promptly at , 
their real value, and there is no waste. We have the privilege 
to sell at private sale if we wish to do so. We would use the 
private salesmen, if that system were as successful as the 
auction sale, but it is not. 
We are now selling all kinds of farm products, put up in 
containers, no matter where they come from. 
We daily sell fruits of all kinds and vegetables, eggs and 
poultry. Apples and eggs are the leading products at pres¬ 
ent. We propose to develop this great market for the benefit 
of producers, and to sell every thing that the farm produces 
to eat and to see that the producer gets his money for it—and 
all of it. 
This is a demonstration by the State of New York, under¬ 
taken at the demand of the Grange and other Farm organiza¬ 
tions, to find a profitable market for the products of the farm, 
and to reduce the cost of distribution. Six weeks’ trial has 
shown that it is just what producers have longed for. It is 
not perfect yet, but as the supply becomes regular and the 
grades standard, special customers can be supplied daily, 
and the system will improve and prices advance. At present 
we can promise only prevailing prices. 
Send anything good for people to eat, nicely packed, and 
we will sell it for you at prevailing price. Good apples and 
fresh eggs are timely now. 
The Department of Foods & Markets, 204 Franklin Street, New York City 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply 
and a “square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
