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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



CO-OPERATIVE FRUIT PACKING AND 

 MARKETING. 



WHEN the stockholders of an induS'try 

 are meeting- with successful re- 

 sults in the disposal of their pro- 

 ducts, little thought or attention 

 is given to competitors along the 

 same line, until competition, over-production or 

 under-consumption depreciates the value of 

 their product to little more than the actual cost 

 price of same; they then give their attention to 

 methods that will better their conditions and 

 devise ways and means by which hey may re- 

 duce the cost price and competition. 



How is this change for the betterment of their 

 conditions usually brought about ? Invariably 

 through the same channel, by organization, bv 

 trusts and by co-operative associations. What 

 Is true of the manufacturer in this direction is 

 also true with the farmer and horticulturist in 

 the disposal of their products. 



The Californians were probably the first to 

 co-operate in marketing their vast product of 

 fruit, which was really the result of necessity. 

 for their industry rapidly expanded, until their 

 local markets could not consume the enormous 

 production, and they were obliged to seek other 

 and mpre distant markets. This they founi 

 could not be accomplished individually, but 

 throug^h powerful corporations they have suc- 

 ceeded in gaining low rates and improved meth- 

 ods in handling and shipping. How well they 

 have succeeded we are all familiar, and now we 

 •find their fruits in nearly every market of th"? 

 country — ^even competing with our own pro- 

 ducts in our local markets. Organizations, ju- 

 diciously managed, have placed the Californians 

 in the lead, in the way of distributing and mar- 

 keting their fruits. Through their efforts is 

 due the credit of perfecting the present re- 

 frigerator service, by which they are enabled to 

 ship their more perishable fruits, 'even to the 

 great markets on the Atlantic seaboard. 



Missouri is fast accepting the profitable 

 teachings and examples of the Californians, and 

 her vast fruit products are now largely handled 

 through companies and shipping associations. 



Michigan, having the greatest market in the 

 world at her very doors, had no occasion to look 

 elsewhere than Chicago or Milwaukee for her 

 markets. However, the Wolverines have dis- 

 covered in recent years that the enormous con- 

 tributions of fruit from Missouri, Southern Illi- 

 nois and Indiana to these markets has in a mea- 

 sure forced them to look elsewhere for a portion 

 of their markets. They now ship hundreds of 

 carloads of peaches annually to eastern mar- 

 kets and the Western and Northwestern States 

 This was not brought about, however, until co- 

 operation among the growers in different locali- 

 ties was .instituted. 



The extreme eastern peach growing States — 

 New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania 

 and New York, are so favorably located In re- 

 ference to so many large consuming markets 

 that organization to them has not been so para- 



mount to their success as it is to the Middle and 

 Western States. 



Handling Peaches. 



The further from market the greater need of 

 getting together, as the risk increases with the 

 distance. 



I will confine my discussion principally to the 

 advantages in organization for handling one of 

 the most perishable of the tree fruits, viz., 

 peaches. 



Peach shipping associations have been ope- 

 rated with more or less success throughout the 

 peach belt of Michigan and Ohio, but in ship- 

 ping in carload lots, although complying with 

 rigid rules laid down by the association, there 

 was an objectionable feature to the trade, and 

 that was the lack of uniformity of grades and 

 packing. To be more explicit on this point, you 

 have all probably visited some of the various 

 markets during the peach season, and have no- 

 ticed the very great difference prevailing Ir 

 grades of different packs. That is, some pack- 

 ers, B or XX grades were just as good as some 

 other packers, A or XXX grade. Therefore, the 

 grade marks of the general run of consigned 

 fruit, where not put up by one set of hands, as 

 a rule, are not of very great assistance to the 

 purchaser, and he still is oibliged to resort to his 

 own judgment and eyesight in his selections. 

 Now for a shipper to make up a carload of this 

 indiscriminate packing of fruit, where it is 

 packed by many growers, each contributor hav- 

 ing a different way and idea of how peaches 

 should be packed and kind of packages used — 

 conceding that they are all honestly packed — 

 how is the shipper going to bill that indiscrimi- 

 nate lot of fruit, and can he warrant the pack- 

 ing ? This serious objection of lack of uni- 

 formity confronted the Michigan fruit growers 

 and has resulted in the adoption of the Central 

 Packing-house system by their principal asso- 

 ciations. This system was originated and es- 

 tablished in the peach industry at Catawba Is- 

 land, Ohio, in 1891, and it has resulted in untold 

 savings and benefits to the peach grower wher- 

 ever the system has been adopted. 



A Central Packing House. 



The mere shipping association, where each 

 grower prepares his own fruit and delivers it to 

 the association, by which it is shipped with 

 other packs and packages, either in carload lots 

 or local shipments, is a step in advance over tlie 

 old or individual method of shipment ; but the 

 Central Packing-house System is a much great- 

 er step In advance over the mere shipping as- 

 sociation. 



The old adage of " In union there is strength," 

 is most aptly exemplified through the many ad- 

 vantages that may be attained through an or- 

 ganization of fruit growers, organized for the 

 purpose of bettering their conditions in ship- 

 ping and marketing their fruit The many dis- 

 couraging problems that confront the grower in 

 the satisfactory marketing of his product, I be- 

 lieve are satisfactorily solved through the adop- 

 tion of the Central Packing-house System. ^^ 



