Page 12 



BETTER FRUIT 



October 



slate of preservation for years. In this 

 way t'vo great advantages are secured: 

 First, the product can be stored in 

 much less space, and, second, it will 

 keep indefinitely. When the cider has 

 been reduced in volume in the ratio of 

 five gallons to one the product is of 

 such consistency as to be suitable for 

 handling and in no danger of ferment- 

 ing. This product is called cider syrup, 

 or boiled cider, and is widely used in 

 making apple butter, mince pies and 

 the various products of the culinary art. 

 Cider .Jelly — When evaporation is 

 carried further, reducing the volume in 

 the ratio of about seven to one, the 

 product is known as cider jelly. In 

 this form it is quite acceptable to those 

 who like a jelly somewhat tart. By 

 adding sugar it may be made to please 

 the taste of those who like jelly of a 

 milder, sweeter taste. The jelly may 

 be flavored to suit various tastes by 

 using any flavoring material that will 

 not evaporate readily. Apple jelly is 

 usually marketed in glass jars holding 

 two or three pints. 



Apple Butter — One of the chief uses 

 of cider syrup is in the making of apple 

 butter. Everybody knows the "good- 

 ness" of apple butter. Fond memory 

 will hark back to "bread, butter'n 

 ai)ple butter." This apple product, com- 

 bining as it does the essentials of the 

 best fruit known to man, well deserves 

 high rank as a staple food and table 

 delicacy. The slow, laborious method 

 our mothers used — making apple butter 

 in a big copper kettle — has given place 

 to the new steam cooker. A copper 

 coil quickly and easily converts a quan- 

 tity of pared apples and cider syrup to 

 a clearer, smoother and more delicious 

 product than even mother was able to 

 give us for our "piece." In the old 

 nielhoJ heat caramelized some of the 

 sugar, which gave the butter a dark 

 I'olor and a burnt-sugar taste. By the 

 use of the simple, inexpensive apple- 

 butter cooker these objections are 

 overcome. 



Pasteurized Cider — Still another 

 method of treating cider is the process 

 known as pasteurization. Many at- 



tempts have been made to preserve 

 cider sweet and pure, just as it comes 

 from the press. The use of preserva- 

 tives is very unsatisfactory and often 

 dangerous. It is well known that a 

 fruit juice can be preserved by heating 

 it and sealing it ui3, but the chief dilli- 

 culty in this is to heat to the proper 

 temperature and at the same time ex- 

 clude the air. A temperature of 160 

 degrees Fahrenheit is sufTicient to de- 

 stroy bacterial life and prevent fer- 

 mentation, but a temperature higher 

 than 170 degrees Fahrenheit will give 

 to the cider a baked-apple taste, ren- 

 dering it undesirable as a drink. A 

 simple pasteurizer will perfectly ster- 

 ilize, filter and seal up cider so that it 

 will keep indefinitely and retain the 

 same flavor that it had as it came from 

 the press. The health-giving properties 

 and the medicinal qualities of pure 

 apple cider give rise to a popular de- 

 mand for the product of a pasteurizer. 

 Pasteurized cider retails at prices that 

 net the cider maker a handsome profit. 



Fundamental Principles of Co-operation in Agriculture 



By G. Harold Powell, Manager Califoi'nia Fiuit Growers* Exchange, Los Angeles. California 



THIS discussion deals with some of 

 the fundamental principles of co- 

 operation as applied to business 

 problems in American agriculture. By 

 co-operation in the business of agricul- 

 ture is meant that foini of effort under 

 which a number of farmers associate 

 themselves together as members, create 

 an incorporated agency called an asso- 

 ciation, a society or an exchange, or 

 by other similar terms, through which 

 the business of the members is trans- 

 acted at cost. The operations of the 

 corporation are conducted under the 

 form of an industrial democracy for 

 the benefit of the members. The mem- 

 bers may .share equally in the responsi- 

 bility of the organization by having an 

 equal voting power, though in some 

 organizations the voting power is pro- 

 portional to the amount of business 

 each transacts through the association. 

 The money received for a product 

 which a member distributes or sells 

 through the association is returned to 

 him after the actual operating expenses 

 are deducted, including possibly a 

 charge for depreciation on the prop- 

 erty, a reserve fund and the usual rate 

 of interest on the capital used in the 

 business; this interest being limited to 

 a reasonable compensation for the use 

 of the money. The things he buys are 

 purchased at cost; cither at the whole- 

 sale cost plus the overhead charge, or 

 at the prevailing retail or competitive 

 prices with a refund at the end of the 

 year of the earnings or surplus pro 

 rated on the volume of his business. 



The co-operative organization differs 

 fundamentally from the capital stock 

 corporation conducted for profit. A 

 capital stock corporation for profit is 

 organized to return an earning and a 

 profit on the capital used in the busi- 

 ness. The basis of administration, con- 

 trol and the distribution of earnings is 



the capital invested in the undertaking. 

 In a co-operative organization the basis 

 of control is the membership, where 

 each votes equally, irrespective of the 

 volume of his business; though the basis 

 of control is often made the product of 

 the members, where each votes in pro- 

 portion to the volume of business con- 

 tributed, while the earnings in either 

 case, if they occur, are returned to the 

 member in proportion to the volume 

 of business he transacts through the 

 organization. The basis of the co-oper- 

 ative organization is men; of the capi- 

 tal stock corporation, money. Capital 

 cannot co-operate; products cannot 

 co-operate; only men can co-operate. 

 When the degree of co-operation of a 

 member is measured by the capital or 

 the volume of business contributed, 

 then the members as men are not 

 co-operating; either capital or a pro- 

 duct is the basis of co-operation, 

 through the member as the medium. 



There is much confusion in the use of 

 the term "co-operation" as applied to 

 agricultural efforts. It is commonly 

 applied to any group of farmers who 

 associate themselves together. They 

 may organize as members of a volun- 

 tary unincorporated association of in- 

 dividuals, or as an incorporated capital 

 stock association to handle farm crops 

 for profit or for other purposes, or as 

 nonprofit corporations without capital 

 stock. In California, for example, the 

 term is applied to both jirofit and non- 

 profit corporations organized to handle 

 farm products, whether organized and 

 controlled by the producers themselves 

 or by others. In other parts of the 

 country the same uncertain use of the 

 term is applied to various kinds of agri- 

 cultural movements. The term needs to 

 be defined by the federal and state 

 statutes. It is believed that its use as 

 api)lied to business organizations in 



agriculture should be restricted to in- 

 corporated associations, societies, ex- 

 changes or agencies w^hich are formed 

 exclusively for the benefit of the mem- 

 bers; whose voting power is based on 

 equality of membership; whose mem- 

 bership is confined exclusively to active 

 producers, the membership ceasing to 

 exist when the producer withdraws 

 from the organization, and whose earn- 

 ings are distributed on the basis of the 

 product, rather than on the capital con- 

 tributed by each member, after a fair 

 rate of interest is paid for the use of 

 capital actually employed in the busi- 

 ness, if any, and other overhead charges 

 are deducted. A co-operative organiza- 

 tion, therefore, is not a corporation in 

 which the capital is contributed prim- 

 arily in order that it may earn a profit; 

 nor one composed of producers and 

 nonproducers; nor one in which the 

 producer's product is handled by a cor- 

 poration for the benefit of the stock- 

 holders rather than the members; nor 

 one in which the membership is not 

 under the control of the organization; 

 nor one in which the members do not 

 actually control the organization. It is 

 an association of farmers who unite in 

 an effort to handle their connnon inter- 

 ests through an agency which is con- 

 trolled by them, on the principle of an 

 industrial democracy, and exclusively 

 for their benefit. 



A co-operative association may be 

 incorporated as a capital stock cor- 

 poration or as a nonprofit cori)oration 

 without capital stock. If formed as a 

 capital stock coi|)oration it may still be 

 legally co-o|)erative if the laws under 

 which it is formed permit tlie members 

 to manage its affairs along co-o|)erative 

 lines, or if the statute provides the 

 method of voting, the metliod of trans- 

 ferring stock, file limitafiiin of mem- 

 bership and the distribution of earnings 



