9i2 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W, [iV^oz;. 2, 190S. 



he wiis little, it' anv, tlic gainer, 'i'licsc wefc tliH condit inns in the cai-K' 

 nineties, when the citrus tVuitsof California orchards were less than one-tenth 

 the present value. 



" Various expedients were resorted to for the hctlcnnent of tlicbc conditions. 

 Speculators attemjited to form a compact to a])p()rtion among themsf-lves the 

 territory where the fruit was grown, to fix maxim uni prices to be 2)aid for 

 fruit, and also to establish f.o.b. pi-ices, regulate credits and ecjualise distri- 

 bution in consuming markets. (Irowers and speculators togetliei- sought to 

 regulate prices, consignments, and otlicr impoitant ijucstions. The most 

 disasti'ous year so far as net returns were concerned that the citi'us fruit 

 industry in this State has ever experienced was l<sy2-3. Tn Fuverside and 

 all other sections, where there was any quantity of fruit to shiji at that time, 

 account sales in " red ink " wei-e received without number. In many instances 

 gro\\('rs not oidy furnished their entire cro|)s for nothing, but were also 

 requir(>d to pay freight and packing charges, which the gross sale of their fiaiit 

 did not co^•er. All of these clibrts to improve marketing conditions were 

 inade(iuate and short-livetl. In the very nature of things they could not be 

 more than partially successful, since the interests of growers and s]>eculators 

 are necessarily divergent on important points. In several localities a few 

 growers had associated themselves to secure better packing facilities, and foi- 

 mutual protection. Tn some instances these associations l:ad marketed on a 

 mutual basis. 



" As a result of the above-mentioned failure of speculati\e shifters to sell 

 the year's crop at fair prices, and particularly stinudatKl by the association 

 experiences, a large pei'centage of growers sought to solve the vexed pi'olilcm 

 by an enlargement of the association idea. 



" A convention of growers assembled at the Chamber of Commei'ce, Los 

 Angeles, on the 4th April, 1903, the declared purpose of the meeting being : 



" To provide for marketing of all the citrus fruit at the lowest possible cost 

 under uniform methods, and in a manner to secure to each grower a oertaui 

 marketing of his fruit, and the full average price to be obtained in the market 

 for the entire season." 



"Following the recommendations of this convention of gi'owers, organisation 

 of associations and district exchanges was etl'ected in all the princi{)al citrus 

 fruit districts, the packing to be done by the association at .cost, and the 

 marketing thi'ough an executiveconnnittee, com})osed of one member from each 

 district. This arrangement for the marketing of the fruit continued during 

 two seasons, viz., those of 1S93 4 and 1S94-5, but not being entirely satis- 

 factory, on October 21, 1895, the Southern California Fruit Exchange was 

 organised,since which date the marketing of the fruit controlled l)ythe various 

 disti'ict exchanges and their associations has been exclusi\ely in the hands of the 

 Southern California Fruit Exchange, and its successor, the California Fruit- 

 Growers' Exchange, except during the period of seventeen months, from April 

 1, 1903, to August 31, 1904, dui-ing which time the Exchange interests com- 

 bined in the sale of their fruit with the principal non-Exchange shipping 

 interests under the name of the California Fruit Agency. The net results 

 obtained during the Agencv iteriod were not satisfactory to the growers, and 

 on Sep'eudjer 1, 1904, the Exchange resumed the sale of the fruit it con- 

 trolled, independently of any other factor. 



"On resuming its marketing operations, the Exchange passed the following 



resolution as a basis on which to operate : 



On May '20tli, we issued a circular advising all growers of the dissolution of the Cali- 

 fornia Fruit Agency, to take eti'ect Septeml)er 1st next. 



