THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 143 



within the next few years— I would say three years — produce twice as 

 many Thompson Seedless as we produce today. There have been thou- 

 sands and thousands of acres planted to thai rariety within the last 

 four or li and they are all coming into hearing. Even with the 



loss from the rain this year we will exceed our last production 



by 20 or 25 per cenl and it will increase more rapidly within the next 

 two or thi rs. Therefore, ii seems to me that this may be the 



proper place to throw ou1 thai warning to the producers of the state. 

 I would recommend today, if yon are going to plant a vineyard, to plant 

 Muscats and Sultanas. 1 believe the Sultana would be the most 

 profitable wherever the soil conditions are satisfactory. 



ORGANIZATION FOR CALIFORNIA PRUNE AND APRICOT 



GROWERS. 



' ::". E. Merrill, San Josi 



li is no doubl true that we are rapidly passing from the age of 

 individualism to that of collectivism. Collectivism is impossible with- 

 out organization. Farmers, because of their environment and training, 

 are aboul the lasl group to perceive the advantages of collective action, 

 but no class of farmers in the United States, a1 least, has made better 

 progress in cooperation than the Eruit growers of California. The 

 citrus Eruit producers, the almond growers, the raisin growers all have 



records of long years of su ssful cooperation in the marketing of 



the Emits of their toil, and the success of the peach, walnut and olive 

 growers' associations bids Eair to be as greal as that of their older 

 brothers. Of all the Eruits extensively grown in California, prunes and 

 apricots alone have no state-wide marketing association. During the 

 pasl twenty years there have been many attempts, of varying degrees 

 of success, to Eorm comprehensive marketing associations Tor these 

 Eruits. 1 say of varying degrees of success advisedly, because not one 

 of these attempts, however miserably it may have seemed to fail, bul 

 has done its pari towards paving the way for the present organization, 

 which we believe is so planned and begun that its success must be 

 assured. My purpose in this paper is to give a brief outline of the 

 genesis of the movemenl ; a short discussion of the agreements by which 

 the growers are organizing, and a few thoughts regarding the reasons 

 for and the benefits of the organization. 



Early in the season of L915 some wide-awake prune and apricot 



growers living at Cupertino, in Santa Clara C ity, discovered that 



speculative packing interests had sold short in the Easl at low prices 

 a large proportion, 35 per cent perhaps, of the 1915 prune crop. Many 



short sales had he. n cons aated while the prunes were still in the 



blossom, and when u ie had any intelligent idea of how large the crop 



would be. The progressive growers who had informed themselves of 

 these conditions realized thai if their knowledge could be disseminated 

 and the growers as a whole or any large proportion of them could be 

 induced to hold their crops until they knew whether the conditions 

 involved justified the low price named in the early sales contracts, thai 

 they would have taken the Srs1 step toward securing what their goods 



