CANNED GOODS FOR MARKET Money in Preserving Pruit.—In addition to the importance of pre serving fruit for home use there is a large and constantly increasing mar ket both locally and in the large cities for a fine grade of homemade canned fruit and preserves. Prices ranging from seventy-five cents to $1.50 per quart at retail for a high grade domestic article are not infre quent. After deducting the cost of fruit, sugar, and other materials in cluding jars, rings, bottle wax, labels, the cost of packing and transporta tion, and the labor cost (at a nominal figure, say, ten or fifteen cents an hour) for all time actually engaged in picking the fruit, preserving, and packing it, there should be a profit of at least 100 per cent clear to the maker. And after a reputation has been established for a product of uniformly high quality, even better prices can be realized. This is not only a practical way for any bouse keeper to earn extra pin money, but in many localities it is the only feasi ble method of marketing the fruit crop.
Ordinarily so much fruit ripens in about the same time in villages and rural communities, that there is no sale for it at any price. And the comparatively small amount of fruit grown by one family, together with the distance to the nearest market, makes it unprofitable to pack and ship the fruit as it ripens to a com mission merchant. But the smallest quantities of ripe fruit can be gath ered and canned from day to day during the season, and thus a suffi cient quantity can be accumulated to justify the time and cost of packing and shipping by freight to the near est city.
Or if the quantity is large enough, it may be worth while to make a trip in person, taking a sample of the product, in order to make an advan tageous sale to some large consumer. Commission merchants and wholesale grocery houses are usually glad to buy, at fair prices, all the homemade goods of this sort they can obtain. But the stewards of the finest hotels and clubs such as, for example, the country clubs that are springing up all over the United States, will often pay fancy prices for an especially fine article.
Even local merchants have 21 con siderable demand for these goods and will sometimes make a special effort to sell them for a good cus tomer. Or orders can be secured from neighbors by means of an ad vertisement in the local paper or by tactful solicitation.
The principal difficulty met in the sale of homemade goods is the com mon belief among merchants and oth ers tbat they may not be of uniformly high quality. Factory-made goods are nowadays done up with scientific care and accuracy. The jars are carefully inspected and tbe fruit very rarely molds or sours.
Unless one is willing, therefore, to take every step with the most rigid and painstaking thorouglmess, it is useless to attempt to compete with the factory product. But once a well - deserved reputation has been built up, a demand will have been created for all that one will ordi narily wish to supply.
Many women earn a living for themselves or contribute largely to the family income by thus creating a market for all the fruit that their husbands can grow. Many others find it profitable to buy fruit from their neighbors, employ and carefully train assistants and put up hundreds of dollars' worth of fruit annually.
To Pack Canned Fruit for Xarket. —Use only the best quality of all glass fruit j ars. Do not attempt to economize on labels, but obtain the most attractive that money will buy. A distinctive label is an immensely important point in promoting sales and building up a reputation for one's product. Cement the labels neatly and securely in a uniform po sition on the jars. Wrap each jar in stout colored wrapping paper, fold and seal top and bottom with muci lage, or by means of a label gummed over all, and place a label on the out side of the wrapper in addition to that on the jar itself.