HOME AM) FARM MAGAZINE RECTTOT7
Selling Home-Made Preserves
High Quality Farm-Canned Fruit Can Be Sold With Profit to
the Farm
IN SPITE of the excellence of our
modern canneries, there is a good
market for high quality farm ean
ned fruit, preserves and jellies. Many
town housewives, who prefer a home
product, ean not or will not take the
trouble to put up fruit themselves.
Some are busy with work outside the
heme; others have so many home duties
that they can not undertake this extra
work; and still others have not the
health or strength to do it.
On the other hand many a farm
iousewife sees quantities of fruit go
ing to waste on the home farm every
year, besides what is marketed. She
frcqnently puts up mueh more than she
really needs herself, and yet finds that
mueh goes to waste Yet if she but
realized it a neat profit might be made
on good fruit which for one reason or
another is not marketed fresh, by pre
serving and selling it to these town
housewives who prefer canned fruit
and jellies but do not make them for
themselves. Frequently much of the
work of preparing tho fruit for can
ning could be done by children of the
family, during the vacation time, and
by earcful management of the work a
h rgs amount of fruit could be put up
with littlo trouble. This would be espe
cially true if a good type of modern
home canning outfit be secured.
Mut Leara to Market.
Undoubtedly one of the reasons why
mora farm wives tin nnt nut m fruit
and jellies for sale is that they do not
know how to market them. Perhaps
they hnvo already tried it once and
have not been nble to dispose of their
products. Yet if their products are
high class and attractive in nnnear-
aneo and the cost of getting them to
customers is not excessive thero should
be no difficulty m disposing of them nt
good profit. It has been lono and the
field is by no means over crowded. The
first year, when a trade is bping estab
lished, will bo the most difficult. Af
ter that such products will, if they are
bigh class and have proved satisfac
tory to purchasers, almost sell theni
clven. One way to start such a business on
a small scalo is to secure orders, be
fore the fruit season commences, from
several housewives in town for a fam
ily supply of a specified number of jars
8nd glasses of tho different kinds of
fruit which you aro planning lo pre
serve. If you are not well known locally
it will bo advisable, if not necessary,
to show samples of your work to the
persona whom you are endeavoring to
secure as customers and perhaps to give
them nn opportunity of tas 'ing the
various kii-ds. Orders may be secured
by telephoning or calling upon persons
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ih ur.iiy luwjta n Hum juu Limit wuum
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have to offer, by sending out postal
M4ft k.lLII I. U an lilli.iumniit in ft
local paper, through an announcement
, mado at women's clubs and other meet
ings, through a "demonstration" which
persons arn invited to visi'. nt some
convenient place in town, and in vnri
oub other ways. Let people know that
you havo tho fruit and tho equipment
and will relieve them of canning trou
bles by putting up whatever they wish
jellies, jams or preserves.
Locate City Housewives.
If yon can not get enough customers
in nearby towns, where you can deliver
tho goods yonrself, it will be advisable,
if yon wish to sell di;-ertly to the con
sumer, to take the time and trouble to
locate in cities several housewives who
would bny from a dozen to three dozea
jars every fall, and ship them their
supplies by express.
, Much profitable trade is built on ac
quaintance. There are people you know,
at home or elsewhere, who can put you
in touch with city friends who wo M
be likely customers. You may have to
write several dozen letters to find your
eustomers, but once located thoro will
be little detail.
If your product is as good as it
ought to be there will be a tendency
for the trade to grow through oue per
son's tolling othors about it.
When you write, business like way
to offer your surplus is to take orders
in advance. Explaia tho situation
bow there is a surplus of peaches every
J oar, for instance, which you put up
lo- economy' sake. Then offer to take
family order in advance for a dozen
or two dozen quarts cf peaches put up
as tho customer wants them so many
brandied, so many canned and pre
served, so many tumblers of jelly. That
will mako a thoroughly attractive offer,
and many city housewives will be glad
to take advantage of it.
You will secure a greater profit on
your products by developing a list of
customers in some such way and sell
ing directly to them than would be the
case if you sell your goods through
merchants. But if the direct-delivery
plan is not convenient for you, the next
best step would be to visit the best
grocers in nearby towns, show them
samples of your products, and get one
or two who will handle yonr product.
Grocers Will Purchase.
Grocers are usually glad to get regu
lar supplies of real home-made canned
fruit and preserves in glass, and by
taking some samples with you and call
ing on the leading grocers in a town or
two, a good market for your products
can frequently be assured. Moreover,
the grocer can frequently give you valu
able advice and sound business infor
mation about the demand, prices, the
best way to put up your fruit to meet
loe.il tsste, etc. Usually siteh merchant?
aro willing to buy outright, if you guar
antee quality, so there will be no neces
sity of leaving your goods to be sold
on commission. Sometimes, however, it
may be necessary to have them sold
on commission. In this ease it is well
to be sure that the goods will be suit
ably displayed and advertised, or to
advertise them yourself, stating where
your products can be secured. If you
do the advertising, less commission
should be paid.
If you adopt an attractive label with
tho namo of yonr farm printed on it,
rnit up fruit in jars of neat shape, and
secure one grocer in a town or two near
by so that orders can be filled prompt
ly, you will find that in the course of
a year, provided your product is of
good quality, quite a quantity of it can
bo sold, and with little selling effort
on your part after the first arrange
ment has been made.
Attractive appearance will have mueh
to do with promoting sales. In choosing
a glass container, and a label, great
care should be taken to have them at
tractive and distinctive. A net con
tainer hrlps to sell goods. It bears the
saino relation to high grade produce
that, a suitable framo bears to a bean
tiful picture. Mako your label attract
ive and distinctive. The products of
some manufacturers aro labeled ia such
ways that they stand out and draw at
tention no matter v hcre the merchant
places them on bis shelves.
Products Advertise.
Fine preserved fruits are ono of (hp
tilings which readily advertise them
selves if given a chance. They are food.
They make a direct appeal to tho palate.
Everybody is interested because every
body eats and practically everybody
likes frnit. They aro rich in color.
With a line of clear home-made jel
lies and jams, the Inbel should not be
too large, for it should be possible to
seo tho attractive tints of the product
through the glass. Much stuff of this
sort reaches the grocer soiled with dust
from packing material. If yon sell your
product throngh grocers, be mire that
the jars are in spotless condition when
they reaeh him. Tell him that yon think
the colnr of your goods is a strong sell
ing point, and ask him to display some
of them where the light can shine
through the glass.
When endeavoring to secure custom
ers, whether the consumers himself or
grocers, explain reasons why your pro
ducts are better than others why they
should bo purchased. Cleanliness, su
perior flavor, and convenience are all
sound selling arguments.
Keep List of Customers.
After securing customers, if yon sell
directly to housewives, keep a list of
cutsomers, their address, notes as to
their special likes and dislikes in the
fruit line, the amount of preserved
fruit thev aro apt to nes in 8 year, etc.
This will help you to dispose of your
uroduets noxt year. When delivering
goods to eustomers tell or write them
that job hone the fruit will be pleasing
and that jou will be glad to know
what the cutsomer thinks of it, and to
make good any shortcoming. When a
jsecond order is secured if you have a
surplus of youi products to dispose of,
tell the cutsomer that if she has been
pleased with yonr goods yon will be
glad to lave her recommend them to
friends and relatives who might be in
terested. Or ask her if she is willing to
give you the names of a few friends who
might like to buy your goods, that yon
may see them or write them about yonr
products.
With high elase products, attractive
ly put up, and delivered with the great
est possible convenience to the con
sumer, there should not be any diffi
culty for a farm housewife in marketing
a considerable amount of canned fruit
and preserves. Good quality is of course
essential but the numerous government
and station bulletins on the canning of
fruit, to say nothing of other publica
tions on the same subject, make this
easy to secure. Farmers' bulletin 203,
will be found especially useful. Not
every farm housewife ean or should at
tempt to do this kind of work, of course.
But for some it would undoubtedly
prove a pleasing way to add to the income.
China yearly sends $30,000 worth of
peanuts to the United States.
OS BE BBSS
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8BBBBBES
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