CO-OPERATION AMONG FRUIT GROWERS. 



537 



export, and in either the ooiong or cube 

 form. The half-barrel and the one bushel 

 sizes are specially recommended for the 

 apple trade. They are strong, light, easily 

 set up, packed, sealed and handled ; opened 

 again and resealed in a moment with as sim- 

 ple a tool as a hatchet, and when sealed may 

 be placed any side up and opened top or bot- 

 tom and refilled until worn out. Demon- 

 strations on these points were given. 



A simple fruit evaporator, with many 

 commendable features, was shown by Mr. 

 Geo. McKay, of Kilsythe. This evapora- 



tor was hung over one of the furnaces in 

 the fruit rink. These evaporators can be 

 used over kitchen stoves without interfer- 

 ing with any of the regular cooking opera- 

 tions. According to Mr. McKay he is able 

 to handle one-half bushel of apples per day 

 by means of his evaporator. Some evapo- 

 rated apples Mr. McKay had with him were 

 of excellent quality and indicated that the 

 evaporator was a good one. One of *ts 

 best features is that the heat can be regulated 

 by raising or lowering the evaporator while 

 the cost of the evaporator is trifling. 



CO-OPERATION AMONG ONTARIO FRUIT GROWERS 



(Continued from page 512.) 



At this point ^Ir. D. Johnson, of Forest, 

 president of the Forest Fruit Growers and 

 Forwarding Association, was called to the 

 front and asked to explain the methods that 

 have been followed by his association. 



■' Our association," said Mr. Johnson, 

 " was only formed last spring. Its organi- 

 zation was the result of two interesting 

 meetings held in our section by Mr. Sher- 

 rington. My father and I had been ship- 

 ping apples to Great Britain for years and 

 had won a name for our fruit. We thought, 

 at first, that cooperation might be desirable 

 for small growers, but that if was not neces- 

 sary for large growers like ourselves. At 

 my request Mr. Sherrington visited our 

 neighborhood and held two very successful 

 meetings. After hearing him 12 of us final- 

 ly agreed to ship together and we sent a 

 salesman to the Northwest to introduce our 

 fruit. We thought there were a number 

 of other growers in the section who would 

 like to join us and "we invited them to do so 

 but insisted that they must submit to our 

 rules, as we had too much at stake to care 

 to risk loss through any selfish action on the 

 part of a few growers. 



" When it was first decided to cooperate 

 each man was allowed to pack his own 

 apples and to send his fruit to a central 



packing house but we soon found that this 

 would not do. The grow-ers all had their 

 own ideas as to how their fruit should be 

 packed, so it was finally decided to establish 

 two central packing places, one on my own 

 farm and one at Forest, which was done. 

 Many growers were afraid their fruit would 

 be bruised by being handled in this way and 

 refused to send their apples to these packing 

 houses. A fiumber, however, sent their 

 ^ fruit, and it was not long before more fruit 

 was received than we could well attend to. 

 We followed Mr. Sherrington's plan of 

 placing hay in the bottom of the wagons and 

 found it worked very satisfactorily." 



Question: "What did you realize for 

 your fruit?" 



Mr, Johnson : " At first we were offered 

 $2.75 per barrel for No. i F. O. B. These 

 prices, however, were soon forced down 

 through competition. The average price 

 realized during the season was $1.90 F. O. 

 B. for No. I fruit and $1.55 for No. 2. As 

 high as $2.25 was paid for some. We have 

 shipped large quantities and have not e- 

 ceived a single complaint from the buyers 

 in regard to the quality of our fruit." 



Question : " What did other growers In 

 your district, who uid not belong to your as- 

 sociation, obtain for their fruit?" 



(To be continued in the January issue.) 



