378 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



A commission of ten per cent is charged against everyone, 

 besides a small icing charge to pay for icing the cars while 

 they are being loaded. Under this sheet is another one with 

 the same headings and between them is a piece of carbon paper, 

 so that a copy is made of this record. At the end of the month, 

 if the grower draws out his money, the date and amount are 

 written in columns provided and the , duplicate torn out and 

 given to the grower, so that he has a complete record of all his 

 dealings with the association. The rest of the accounting is 

 ordinary bookkeeping — a cash book, etc., and could be varied to 

 suit the wants of the growers at any time. 



The association ships the fruit of nonmembers and charges 

 them 10 per cent commission, the same as members. Ten per 

 cent, however, each year more than pays the expenses of han- 

 dling the fruit, so that at the end of every year dividends are 

 declared on the earnings of the association, which goes back 

 to the members as a per cent on the fruit they have shipped 

 during the year. Nonmembers, of course, receive no divi- 

 dends. 



The amount of the dividends is usually around 4 per cent, 

 reducing the actual commission of the members to about 6 per 

 cent. The association's gross receipts for the year 1913 were 

 $65,542.07. Of this $8,451.15, or over one-seventh, was handled 

 for nonmembers. This figure, however, is not a fair average 

 showing, as in 1912 we handled $83,674 worth and in 1911 over 

 $100,000 worth. This last amount, however, includes the 

 Omaha fruit. In 1907 we sold over $120,000 worth of fruit. 



The association rents two stalls on the Omalia market and 

 also sells to local grocers, etc. The local sales in Council Bluffs 

 and Omaha, however, run well under 8 per cent of the total sales, 

 leaving 92 per cent on the general market of the country. Be- 

 sides this, the association buys boxes, crates, baskets, chemicals 

 for spraying, ink for stamping, etc., in large quantities at whole- 

 sale price and sells to members at cost plus a small handling 

 cost. Nonmembers may also buy material, but at a slightly 

 higher price than members. However, even at this nonmem- 

 bers find the association price cheaper than the price generally 

 charged by dealers. 



A box and crate factory is run during the winter months, 

 making up the berry boxes and crates for the coming season. 

 A good deal of this work can be done in slack seasons by the 



