THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



unable to obtain this amount when the buy- 

 ers settled." 



" .A. few of us," continued Mr. Lick, 

 '■ combined and shipped our fruit together, 

 and 1 believe we are going to obtain better 

 prices than the growers who sold privately. 

 Now that we are forming so many coopera- 

 tive associations throughout the country 't 

 has struck me that wc need a central head, 

 to combine and watch the interests of all. 

 Such a body might be called The Ontario 

 Fruit Growers' l^iion, and the various sub- 

 divisions might be called the Forest Branch, 

 the Whitby IJranch, etc." 



Mr. Sherrington : " Jt has been inti- 

 mated that the reason the fruit growers 

 in t..e Forest and Walkerton districts have 

 been able to cooperate was because the buy- 

 ers did not oppose the movement. That 

 was not the case in our district. The buycs 

 tried the same game with us that they did 

 with Mr. Lick. Some of our growers were 

 coaxed off, but they were afterwards sorry 

 and were glad to come back. It was the 

 same at Forest." 



COOPICU.VTION IN the; NIAGARA DISTRICT. 



Mr. Robert Thompson, of St. Catharines : 

 '■ The fruit growers in the St. Catharines 

 district became incorporated several years 

 ago and lately we have been devoting our 

 efforts largely to improving the freight ser- 

 vice. Last year, in spite of the heavy crop 

 of plums, we obtained fairly satisfactory 

 prices, and we now find that our members 

 expect higher prices for their crops than 

 they used to before we cooperated. La^t 

 spring we held a number of meetings along 

 the line of the railways to urge greater co- 

 operation, but as this year's crop has been 

 rather small and the prices good we did not 

 push the matter as we would otherwise have 

 done. We do quite a little in the line of co- 

 operative spraying. In the township of 

 Louth the fruit growers bought an outfit 

 and did good work. In our township some 

 of the threshers took charge of the work and 



the growers agreed to pay their share of the 

 expense. The results of this spraying have 

 encouraged the growers to grow more fruit. 

 The response of the trees to this treatment 

 has been very encouraging as the spraying 

 not only prevents but acts as a remedy for 

 the scale and has an equally beneficial effect 

 on the curl leaf and other kindred diseases. 

 The residts have greatly encouraged the 

 grow'ers. 



" W'e have also cooperated in the purchas- 

 ing of i)aris green, blue stone, boxes, etc., 

 and, thereby, have made a nice saving. 

 When purchased in large quantities we find 

 that the quality of the spraying material 

 secured is much better than where growers 

 buy individually in small (|uantities. 



In regard to the trial shipment of fruit 

 l(j W innii)eg i ma)- say that the fruit grow- 

 ers in the vicinit}- of St. Catharines are suffi- 

 ciently well satisfied with the results that 

 they are willing to continue such shipments 

 provided proper oversight is given and the 

 interests of growers are safe guarded at th'; 

 other end." 



Question: "What is the largest district 

 that can safely be included in a cooperative 

 association ?" 



Mr. Sherrington : " About ten miles. I 

 am not in favor of districts that are too 

 large. Where the district is too large I 

 would like to see a number of smaller asso- 

 ciations put in charge, which in turn would 

 ship to a large central station. I am strong- 

 ly in favor of F. O. B. salts. W hen grow- 

 ers do not know what they are going to ob- 

 tain for their fruit it keeps them on the 

 rack. Buyers with whom I have talked as- 

 sure me that they are willing to do anything 

 they can to assist the formation of coopera- 

 tive associations but they desire to be as- 

 sured of the proper grading of the fruit." 

 riip; liURijNGTON FRUIT gro\vi':rs associa- 

 tion. 



The methods that have been adopted by a 

 number of the fruit growers in the vicinity 



