New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-08-05
FRUIT TRADE A VAST ONE
RECENT REVOLUTION N METHODS OF
DISTRIBUTION IN THIS CITY.

New-Yorkers in these days have become so
thoroughly accustomed TO seeing the finest fresh
fruits Of all chimes and nearly all lands piled I'M
before almost every grocery store heaped in
hundreds Of pedlers' carts stacked on thou
sands OF street corner fruit stands and offered
for sale at low figures that they take # ALI as
6 matter Of course, giving little thought 10 the
vast, swift and intricate agencies which alone
make this profusion possible Yesterday one
might buy at hundred places in the streets of
this city for p cents sixteen downy skinned
luscious peaches frail. perishable. dead" rpe
hut with not a hruise q b,emsh on them
Three days before they hung on the trees of n
Georgia orchard thousand miles away More
ever, they would probably have cost as n,ucb
at retail in Atlanta they did here The story
OF how these things are possible is only ona
chapter in the history Of NETWORKS CONNER
cal supremacy.
II is not often that the yearly product of
single Industry assumes proportions more than
one-third as great as the authorized cap,ta1 o.,
al the National banks in the land and still moro
infTeQuent is the attainment Of this huge volume
from meagre beg ming within comparativelv
brief period; Yet both these records have heen
made by the fruit and vegetable trade of Amer
ica- which has grown in the last thirty years to
annual value of upward Of 1919 100000
one Of the most significant changes which have
rtCeLtIS DeeH nlSue IN the habits of Americans is
the widespread substitution OF perishable food
products in the place of dried sailed canned Or
preserved foods for summer diet Fresh fruit
and fresh vegetables were. not so MANY years
ago, regarded as Injuries on the table of the
workingman, especially if he lived in a CITY. To-
day they are looked upon as necessities so com
mon has their'use become. This is due primarily
10 the improved and constantly improving trans
portation facilities which the great railroad and
steamship lines afford. secondariIy to the in
crease in the industry of raising fruit and vege-
table crops and thereby 70 the brains and ability
Of the men who collect and distribute the prod
uct to the retailer.
JOINING PRODUCER AND CONSUMER.
Years ago the inhabitants Of towns and cities
were dependent upon the farms and gardens
Immediately surrounding them for sparse sup
ply Of fresh fruits and vegetables which lasted
only for a brief season at the most They were
always ready for more but only the richest
could buy fruit of season that was raised
IN hothouses brought from afar at great
expense The demand was there but il could
not be met At the time the farmers
would gladly have raised fruit for the consump-
ton Of city folk, but could not send it 10 them
before It persisted. So they dried or canned
what they did not need themselves or feed fresh
20 the pigs, and perhaps wondered why the pigs
seemed 10 want more OF 1t than the people
Then came the railroads, the fast freight trains
the merchant express. the ''perishabe limited"
and finally the refrigerator These did not
develop all at once. but the arrival Of each