STATK POMOI.OGICAL SOCIETY. 49 



they are making an absolute success in their work in this di- 

 rection. 



Now why is co-operative work successful at the West and 

 so difficult to inaugurate here in the East? In the first place, 

 when this western land was taken up in these great northwest- 

 ern sections, the fruit growers who began to plant orchards 

 realized that they were at a disadvantage, being so far from 

 market. When they undertook to ship the products of their 

 orchards as individuals, the high cost of freights, the cost of 

 handling their products and getting them into our eastern mar- 

 kets, used up absolutely all the profits there were in the busi- 

 ness. They could get nothing out of their business so long 

 as they attempted to ship here to our eastern markets upon 

 tlie basis of the individual grower. Realizing this fact they 

 came together as growers. They organized fruit growers' asso- 

 ciations or unions. They entered into a compact that they 

 would put their product togetlier. More than that, in addition 

 to agreeing to have their fruit packed together upon this co- 

 operative basis, they established other rules and regulations. 

 They at once realized that it was important, shipping such long 

 distances and at a high cost in any event, that they put only 

 the very best product in the eastern markets, and hence they 

 established rules for grading and packing. They established 

 the size of the box. They established standard grades. They 

 required the packing of all of their fruit to be exactly to the 

 standard that was branded upon the box. Now individual grow- 

 ers could not do this by themselves, but they could do this just 

 as soon as they combined or organized and set up certain stand- 

 ards to which they should come in the grading and packing and 

 selling of their products. More than that, they saw the necessity 

 of producing fruit of the finest quality, and hence among their 

 rules and regulations was incorporated the obligation upon 

 every member of their union to spray his trees, to keep his 

 fruit absolutely free and clean from insect blemishes and from 

 the fungus troubles which they have at the West even more 

 than we have here in the East. And hence these intelligent 

 men, when they found themselves ofif there on the western 

 coast, so far from our markets, saw that their only salvation 

 was to work along these co-operative lines. I think I may say 

 here this afternoon, there has been no co-operative work in this 



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