Fruit market

“ Very few know much about the names of varieties, but eagerly purchase that which appears the most attractive. The grower who can make his crates of berries, when opened, look better than others near, will always receive good prices. If he tops off poor fruit with large berries, he will scarcely find a market eventually. If he always fills his baskets well and honestly, and gives good weight, taking pains to make his packages appear attractive, his fruit will soon be in much demand and spoken for in advance. ”

“ The vegetable market contains every description of horticultural produce known in England, as well as the arracacha, yuca, casava root, camote, sweet potatoe, yam, oca, &c. The vegetables are remarkably fine, in great abundance, and generally cheap. The fruit market is splendid, furnishing the most delicious fruits of Europe—the grape of several varieties, the peach, apricot and nectarine, the apple, the pear, the pomegranate, the quince, the tomate, and the strawberry ”

“ Still, I would advise any one who is supplying the market, thoroughly to prepare and enrich an acre or more of moist but well drained land, and plant some of the large, showy berries, like the Sharpless, Monarch, and Seth Boyden. If he has heavy, rich soil, let him also try the Jucunda, President Lincoln, and, especially, the Triomphe de Gand. These varieties always have a ready sale, even when the market is glutted with common fruit, and they often command very high prices. When the soil suits them, they frequently yield crops that are not so far below the Wilson in quantity. ”

“ Both these fruits are being largely imported, owing to the western and more southern grown being earlier, and parties from a distance can supply the market, when the lack of fresh fruit, owing to the long winter, secures for the earliest berries gilt edged prices.
Each succeeding year appears to awaken more and more interest in the fruit business and fruit culture, and though sometimes we raise all the fruit we consume, still nothing is exported from here; and all our winter apples, and most of the summer ones, are imported from the west and from over the line from the United States. ”

“ Ninety-four car-loads of strawberries have passed over the Delaware railroad in one day. According to one computation already given, New York consumes $25,000,000 worth of small fruits annually. If the business has grown to such proportions within the last half-century, may we not expect even greater increase in the future? The appliances for preserving fruit, and for transporting it quickly and safely, become more perfect every year. Thus a market is created in vast regions which, though populous, are not adapted to the raising of fruit. ”

“ The general or wholesale market handles fruit in larger quantities, usually with a smaller margin of profit. A selling agent or commission man is the means of disposing of fruit in such a market, where competition is open to the whole country and sometimes to the world. Only standard well-known varieties find a ready [144] and profitable sale. Great attention is paid to appearance and comparatively little to quality. Fruit shipped to a wholesale market must be packed in a standard package, which is not returned, but goes with the fruit, and must be packed so as to endure rough treatment. ”

“ Kentish fruit-growers are becoming more particular in picking, grading, packing and storing fruit, as well as in marketing it. A larger quantity of fruit is now carefully stored, and sent to selected markets as it ripens, or when there is an ascertained demand, as it is found that if it is consigned to market direct from the trees there must frequently be forced sales and competition with foreign fruit that is fully matured and in good order. ”

“ It will therefore come into market in a more mature condition, and of finer flavor than any that can elsewhere be grown. It will bring the highest market prices; and the fruit of this kind that has already been grown, by competent judges is said to be of the best quality.
The lands which are adapted to this culture are, indeed, of limited extent; but there are sufficient to supply the home market.
These facts, together with the salubrity of the fruit-growing region, must ere long attract attention from the public. ”

“ If our market is one in which strawberries are sold simply as such, without much regard to flavor or size, there is not the same inducement to produce fine fruit. But even when quantity is the chief object, deeply prepared and enriched land retains that essential moisture of which we have spoken, and enables the plant not only to form, but also to develop and mature, a great deal of fruit. In the majority of markets, however, each year, size and beauty count for more, and these qualities can be secured, even from a favorable soil, only after thorough preparation and enriching. ”

“ At the same time, I am more than ever impressed with the necessity for some manner of utilizing the surplus and low grade fruit with which the local markets are flooded. It seems a great waste to have thousands of bushels of apples fed to hogs and left to rot on the ground which would be a large asset if converted into vinegar or canned. More than one-half the fruit brought from farms is only fit for such use and by being forced on the market serves to lower prices and demand for good fruit. ”

“ How to buy.—Since we should eat fruit daily, and not merely as a “treat,” it is important to practice economy in buying it. Fresh fruits in season, and dried fruits are the cheapest. Canned fruit is economical when it is a product of one’s own garden, or put up when some fruit has a low market price. Prices are so variable, even with one variety, that no definite sum can be given as a fixed price. Apples vary from fifty cents a bushel near the orchard and in season, to ten cents apiece for a fancy table variety in the winter. ”

“ There seems to be a good deal of complaint about the care of the railroads, etc., with fruit and perishable products, but, on the other hand, a good deal of local produce is not put up in good shape. The uniformly good packing of western fruit reveals the cause of its popularity on the local markets. Certain kinds of fruit almost glutted the market this season, notably Florida grape fruit, western box apples and peaches. ”

“ Professor Eisen writes:—"I am of opinion that these lands (British Colony, Merced) are amongst the very best in the State for raisins; still, as I explained to you, I do not advise any one to put his whole interest in the raisin industry, as the market for this Fruit is limited. For other dried fruit, especially for prunes (French plums) , apricots, peaches, and nectarines, the market is practically unlimited, and as our population increases yearly 1,500,000 people, it will be seen that our markets must extend as well, even after we have driven all foreign Fruits out of our home markets. ”

“ I fancy the fruit ripens slowly, as it does in New England, and is not subject to quick decay like much of that grown in the West. But the grape also can be grown in all this mountain region. Nothing but lack of enterprise prevents any farmer from enjoying abundance of fruit. The industry carried on at the moment at the Widow Sherrill's was the artificial drying of apples for the market. ”

“ Moreover, by placing early kinds on warm, sunny slopes, and giving late varieties moist, heavy land, and cool, northern exposures, the season of this delicious fruit can be prolonged greatly. The advantage of a long-continued supply for the family is obvious, but it is often even more important to those whose income is dependent on this industry. It frequently occurs that the market is "glutted" with berries for a brief time in the height of the season. If the crop matures in the main at such a time, the one chance of the year passes, leaving but a small margin of profit ”

“ The quantity of refuse at the metropolitan “green” markets varies with the different descriptions of fruit. Of apples it averages one- [118] twentieth, and of plums and greengages one-fifteenth, of the entire supply. With pears, cherries, gooseberries, and currants, however, the damaged amounts to one-twelfth, while of strawberries and mulberries it reaches as high as one-tenth of the aggregate quantity sent to market. ”

“ I sell apples in the orchard; also retail them. I handle the best apples very carefully, one at a time, and place in crates. Keep the second and third-grade apples at home; feed the culls to hogs. My best market is in the orchard; never tried distant markets. Never dry any. I store apples for winter in a cellar on shelves, one layer of fruit on each shelf—am successful; Ben Davis keeps best. Never tried artificial cold storage. Do not irrigate. Price has been fifty cents per bushel. I employ women, because they handle the fruit with more care than men do; I pay one dollar per day. ”

“ On the other hand, the sellers of fruit-trees have at the same time been learning more as to the qualities of different varieties, and how best to select them, in order to place on the market those which will secure the largest profits to the grower, and to propagate the most popular species. ”

“ There are thousands of cultivators who are constantly in the market as purchasers. If it were not so, the vast nursery establishments which exist all over the country could not be maintained. Every fruit-grower, like myself, has been compelled to buy in the beginning of his operations; but his turn for selling has invariably come round. As a general rule, whatever outlay a beginner makes in supplying himself with the smaller fruits, is afterwards reimbursed from the sale of surplus plants he does not need. This sale occurs annually, and in time will far exceed his original outlay. ”

“ Although the majority of professional market fruit-growers may be well up to the standard in skill, there are numerous contributors to the fruit supply who are either ignorant of the best methods of cultivation and marketing or careless in their application. The bad condition of the great majority of farm orchards is notorious, and many landowners, farmers and amateur gardeners who have planted fruit on a more or less extensive scale have mismanaged their undertakings. ”

“ Most of the country is well adapted to horticulture, but the almost prohibitory export duties prevent a trade which might go far toward supplying the fruit markets of Europe with oranges, lemons, dates, peaches, plums, apricots, grapes, figs, pomegranates, mulberries, and olives. ”

“ Packing and Marketing Apples. H. M. DUNLAP, PRES. ILL. ORCHARD CO., SAVOY, ILLS.
The growing of apples is one problem, the marketing is another. The two are intimately related but entirely different. It is essential in obtaining the best results to first grow good apples for the market. This, like the darkey's receipt for rabbit soup, comes first. The darkey says, "first kotch your rabbit."
Many a grower who understands fairly well how to produce good fruit is lost when it comes to selling it to an advantage to himself. ”

“ The culture of these fruits is extending rapidly, with a corresponding increase in production, but, despite this, our prices have been better during the past season than for some years, as the quality of our fruit is such that it will command a good market. When properly handled, it has good keeping qualities, and I have no doubt that we will, in time, be able to supply the markets of the Old and New Worlds with good fruit, in the best of condition, at the time of the year that their markets are bare of locally-grown citrus fruit. ”

“ In the interim the day of small things must not be despised. In our climate the Yellow Transparent and the Duchess do not ripen until early September, and I was therefore at home in time to gather and market the little crop from my six hundred trees. The apples were carefully picked, for they do not bear handling well, and the perfect ones were placed in half-bushel boxes and sent to my city grocer. Not one defective apple was packed, for I was determined that the Four Oaks stencil should be as favorably known for fruit as for other products.
The grocer allowed me fifty cents a box. ”

“ FRUIT-SELLERS IN THE MARKET-PLACE.
"These fruit-sellers were so numerous near the entrance of the market that it was no easy matter to get past them into the open space beyond. A medio would buy all the oranges, bananas, or mangoes that one would care for. Frank and I invested two medios (twelve cents) in oranges, and distributed them to a lot of boys that were strolling through the place. They took the fruit with an air of gratitude combined with dignity, and during the rest of our stay several of them followed us about in the hope that our princely generosity would be renewed. ”

“ The Eastern fruit grower must bear in mind that he has to meet in his market the competition of the Pacific coast growers, who excel in fine packing; and although our Eastern grown cherries are of a finer flavor, they are sent to the market in such a crude manner and in such unattractive condition that they sell for much less than the California fruit. ”

“ Budd shows that, in Delaware, crates and baskets could be made sufficiently cheap for this practice.
PICKING Having procured the baskets which suit us best, the next thing is to fill them properly, and get them into market looking fresh and attractive. It is just at this point that very many wrong themselves, or permit themselves to be wronged, The time is past when all strawberries will sell as such, at so much per quart. Appearance often doubles the price, or makes it difficult to sell the fruit at all. ”