116 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



tliis year for their fruit, through tlie association than if thej' had 

 sold independent^ And maybe some of them would have gotten, 

 nmre if they had sold independently. We had a gradually increasing 

 price offered us from the first of August, until the fruit was packed. 

 This was due, of course, to the unfavorable weather conditions all 

 over the country, which cut the crop down, and yet those same men 

 feel satisfied, and know we have gotten a good start. We have 

 organized and established our grades, and standardized our pack 

 and put about 40,000 barrels of those apples upon the principle mark- 

 ets of the country. The houses that we sold these apples to are 

 distributers. They put about 15,000 barrels of those apples in cold 

 storage in South Omaha, but they will move soon to Chicago, 

 Minneapolis, and Indianapolis. A buyer told me who was here yes- 

 terday that those apples would move through the south, down to 

 Tennessee, and Chattanooga. In lacl, we feel confident that tho 

 buyers Avho got those apples this year, will come back next year and 

 want more of the same kind of fruit. After we have been organized long 

 enough and get our association strong enough, so that we pack this 

 standard pack, and keep it uniform, we will certainly be offered a 

 premium for this fruit over the ordinary fruit, which does not bear 

 this brand. 



Now that is what we are working for, and I believe we can do 

 it. If we can get an output of fifty to one hundred or one hundred 

 and fifty thousand barrels a year, bearing the brand of the asso- 

 ciation, and if the inspection is carefully looked aft^r so that the 

 fruit is uniform, it seems to me that it won't be but a few years 

 until we will be getting offers that will be above the average market 

 price, for the fruit that does not have something to guarantee it. 



We have gone a little further. When we organized as I 

 said, we simply had a skeleton. And now v:e have provided to take 

 in local associations, or community units and treat those as one 

 individual, as we have treated- one individual up to this time. 

 tor instance, there may be a community over here, where they have 

 one or two small growers, and they are so far away that the associa- 

 tion could not do those individuals much good_ They Avould not be 

 very much benefit to the association, but as there are two or three 

 of those growers for this particular point, they can organize together, 

 and become an auxiliary association to the central body, and by 

 taking one share of stock, or one membership, the same as the indi- 

 vidual, they can get the same beenfit as the individual. The head 

 association will treat this body of men, and deal with them through 

 its manager or agent, just the same as it is dealing itself through 

 the individual who is a member. In that way we hope in a few years 

 to have the whole commercial fruit growing territory of Nebraska 

 organized, and working together to improve the quantity, and quality 

 of our fruit. 



