No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 465 



ourselves the importance of the matter, let us inquire into the 

 conditions and methods of other fruit growing sections, where 

 modern business methods have already been applied. Perhaps th'e 

 most striking of these, and those in which we are most interested 

 are California, Huod Kiver, Oregon, Fenuville, Mich., and the Prov- 

 ince of Ontario, Canada. Of the history of co-operation in these 

 places we shall speak briefly, to dwell more at length on their busi- 

 ness organization and methods. 



The great difficulties which the individual fruit grower meets may 

 be briefly summarized under four heads: 



1st. The grading and packing of the fruit is not at all uniform 

 or satisfactory in quality. x\s a rule, fruit is poorly packed and low 

 in grade. It is unuuiforni both as to fruit and to package. 



2d. Transportation of fruit and its disposal in market is also 

 highly unsatisfactory. Most fruit is moved in less than car lots, 

 which makes the cost high and the service poor. 



3d. There is not the proper relation between producer and con- 

 sumer, between supply and demand. Too much of our fruit is han- 

 dled on consignment, and by too many middlemen, many of whom 

 are dishonest. 



4th. The individual fruit grower, working alone, has no power 

 to remedy this state of affairs. He is unable to trace shortages, 

 remedy losses in transit, or influence materially better service. 



But the aim of this paper is not so much to enumerate the losses 

 and difficulties incurred in handling fruit, with which the fruit 

 grower is only too familiai' already, as it is to suggest a remedy 

 by which these difficulties may be partially or altogether overcome; 

 and by familiarizing ourselves with the methods and results of the 

 most successful co-operative associations, to show how they are 

 now being met by the most progressive fruit growers in this country. 



California has perhaps as much experience as any horticultural 

 community. Two methods have been tried out there. The first of 

 these may be termed a pure democracy, i. e., an organization com 

 posed of many members throughout the State, who gather in one 

 great assembly to direct its affairs. It is only necessary to say that 

 this failed because of the difficulty in getting the widely separated 

 groups of members together and the consequent lack of responsi- 

 bility on the part of any one, which led to an absence of confidence 

 in the organization. This, together with various local difficulties, 

 caused the abandonment of this attemjjt at co-operation. 



The second method, that of a representative democracy which 

 meets our political needs so w^ell, was also found to meet the needs 

 of industrial life. Such an organization, by uniting with any other 

 permanent factor in its field of operation, has again and again 

 proved its practical efficiency. ''The Southern California Fruit Ex- 

 change," was the first to demonstrate the value of this method of 

 co-operation among citrous fruit growers. From a small beginning 

 they grew to a business of seven million dollars a year. Equal 

 success has attended the same method as worked out by the Cali- 

 fornia Fruit Exchange, in deciduous fruits at the north. 



30—6—1907. 



