By far the greater part of the plum crop now finds its way to consumers through the following costly distributive system: 1st. Local buyers who ship to centers of consumption. 2nd. Transportation companies. 3rd. Commission companies who collect and distribute the crop in consuming centers. 4th. Retailers who parcel out the quantities and the qualities demanded by the consumer. The great defect in handling the crop is, that there are too many men and too much machinery to do the work cheaply—moreover, the risks of depreciation are great, and the fruit is not handled on a large scale chiefly because of a lack of capital by the grower or local buyer. These defects in the present distribution of plums in New York make the price received by the grower about half that paid by the consumer and the selling of the crop a more or less speculative business. The plum industry, as is the case with all fruits, is greatly hampered by the present marketing systems. Unfortunately there is yet but a small outlet for surplus plums as manufactured products. As a rule the commercial outlook is best for those fruits of which the surplus can be turned into by-products. The only outlet for the plum in the East is in canning, as this region is unable to compete with the West in the making of prunes[155] and as the several plum products of the Old World are not in demand in the New World. Beyond question there are a number of products, as preserves, jellies from the native plums, glacé fruits, plum butter, marmalades and the like, which could be made profitable for the markets and thus a great help in utilizing surplus plums. DISEASES. Plums are subject to a considerable number of fungus diseases, several of which are often virulent, the virulence depending on locality, season, weather and variety. Happily for the plum industry, knowledge of plant pathology has made such advancements in recent years that nearly all of the diseases of this fruit are now controlled by preventive or remedial measures.