Fort Pierce news. (Fort Pierce, Fla.) 190?-1920, 1909-07-02
THE MARKETING OF PINEAPPLES
Some Observations Anent This
Important Problem.
Fort Pierce Fla, June 81, '09,

Dear Sir;-The pineapple season of
1909 has passed into history, the season
of 1910 is prophecy.
AS a grower interested in both years
have a word to say that may perhaps
be interesting to others in the same
line Of business.
The controversy being carried on in
the newspapers of our section should
be suppressed as it cannot be productive
of good and the writer's should lay
down their weapons when it comes to
personal attacks, and join hands in the
common cause for the good of our sec
ton.
1t would be the height of folly for an
editor to attack the cause of his sup
porters. 1t leads to being disllked and
that is not only not pleasant but it
means falling off of subscriptions and
a lowering of advertising rates and it
hits the editor in his pocket book, the
most vital spot of all in country
editor.
An editor should be man of great
deal of discrimination, and tact.
He should have sense enough to not
call his subscribes fools or say they
were lacking in intelligence.
One of our editors ascribed the cause
of our low market to three things
slow tariff, competition of Cuba, and
lack of intelligence in the grower in
tieing up his crops with distributors"
OF course the editor did not mean to
create the impression that the growers
were fools but many of the growers
have ranking feeling in their breasts
that that is just what he did mean.
What that editor can learn about
handling crop of pineapples would
ill several volumes. At the time he
wrote that article he thought he was
fully posted and perhaps he was, on one
side. only of the question.
Personally have given the matter
of marketing pineapples as close a
study as the editor in question and
must say after 10 years experience that
do no know positively Just what to do
This year tied up with Crutchfeld
and Voolfolk. Last year | tied up
with Chase and Co. Next year don't
know what l will do, but know am
not going to an editor for advice when
he never sold pineapple in his life
and all he knows about marketing
pines is from listening to some sore
head commission mans agent, who has
an advertisement in his paper and isn't
getting the business because the dis
tributors have practically the control
of the market.
Let us analyze the different ways of
marketing our product.
In dsposing of our fruit there are
three methods open to the growers.
In all cases he is between the rail-
roads, the devil and the deep blue sea.
Ist. We may load our fruit on
platform or in a box car and when the
pick up train comes along a niger grabs
crate of the fruit and passes it to
another niger who slams it on the floor
OF the car in which it goes, another
Niger grabs it and slams it on to
pile of other crates and mashes a pine
or two in the cratel The car passes on
and when 1t gets up the road the
niggers repeat the performance several
times in reloading mixed shipments TO
get the cars straightend out, so that
crates billed to St. Augustine will not
go on to CINCINNATI, as they probably
do. sometimes.
The crates are again slammed out
OF the car at Jacksonville to go on
steamer,if toNew York; several pines
mashed by this time.
Then they are put in hot storage and
get to New York, where they are
slammed out on the dock to wait for
purchaser; they may be slammed onto
truck and Their slammed into the
commission mau's store, where they
are opened up and the commission man
calls to his clerk Hey, Bill, write to
that fellow down in Florida that his
pines show 20 per cent. decay, and
give him so cents per crate for them
and charge him 5 cents for carriage, but
don't forget to take out 10 per cent, for
our taking care of him.
That plan we call sending on consign-
ment,