No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICUI/TURE. 471 



here as elsewhere the quality of the man determines largely the 

 amount of his salary. The work is pleasant and for the man thor- 

 oughly conversant with co-operative methods a great field lies open. 

 It will readily be seen, how-ever, that the duties of a manager who 

 does not only oversee the packing and shipping, biit to keep an ac- 

 curate account of all receipts of fruit, and in small lots, and of 

 their sales and prices, as well as keeping in touch with the markets, 

 are not by any means light. Several associations have, in fact, re- 

 lieved the manager of overseeing the packing by appointing a head 

 packer, and making him responsible for that part of the work. 



In California the receipts of growers, members of the associa- 

 tion, w^ere always a little higher than that of outsiders, except where 

 such outsiders were large growers, and for this reason had special 

 markets and advantages. The Newcastle Fruit Growers two years 

 ago received the highest price paid for apples in Canada, and packed 

 the highest quality of fruit — according to the government inspectors. 



As near as can be determined, the Ontario associations generally 

 received from 75 cents to .fl.SO per barrel more than individual 

 growers for their frui^. They put up a very high quality of fruit, 

 but they handled it at a much less cost than the average grower. 



But there are important items of saving expenses, as well as of 

 increasing the selling price and lessening the co.st of handling fruit. 

 All supplies as barrels and boxes, spraying material, etc., are quite 

 generally purchased by the associations in sufficient quantities to 

 make possible a considerable saving. These are of course sold to 

 growers at cost. Unsually at least three to five cents per barrel can 

 be saved in this way, and this year the Forrest Association saved 

 fourteen cents. Fifteen to thirty per cent, saved in spraying sup- 

 plies is not at all uncommon. Money saved in the delivery of the 

 finished product, is just as good as an additional price for the fruit, 

 and becomes a very important item on a large amount of fruit. 



Summary. 



We may conclude then that the following benefits have actually 

 been secured by co-operative associations: 



1. Co-operative packing has produced a higher class of fruit in 

 its respective grade than would be done by the average individual 

 packing his own fruit. 



2. The style and uniformity of tlie package and grade has been 

 greatly improved, securing the confidence of the buyer; the buyer 

 may also secure a larger quantity of a uniform brand. 



3. Since shipping is done in larger quantities, at least in car 

 lots, better transportation facilities and rates are obtained. Asso- 

 ciations of growers can demand a fair deal from the railroads where 

 individuals would be able to secure nothing. 



4. Cooperation has insured a better system of marketing, with 

 a much more complete knowledge of markets, has done this market- 

 ing with less losses, and is better able to make good its losses. 



5. Co-operative packing and ijiarketing, enables the grower not 

 only to secure better prices for his products, but to produce a better 

 product, because he can give his whole attention to the marketing 

 of the fruit. 



