THE CANADIAN HORTTC UT.TU RT S T 



March, 191 4. 



Cooperation in Marketing Apples 



S. C. Parker, Berwick, N. 



THE apple growing- area in Nova Scotia 

 is limited and always will be. For 

 practical, commercial purposes the An- 

 napolis Valley is the orchard area of 

 Noya Scotia. This valley is about one hun- 

 dred miles long and from two to ten miles 

 • in width, protected on the north and south 

 by ranges of hills, called by courtesy moun- 

 tains. This is where we grew two million 

 barrels in 1911, and expect to grow five mil- 

 lion barrels before 1920. 



The beginning of apple growing in Nova 

 Scotia was many years ago. The early 

 Acadians had their apple trees, and small 

 orchards were planted up and down the 

 Valley from Annapolis to Windsor. There 

 are trees now bearing apples that are known 

 to be more than two hundred years old. Pro- 

 ducing apples on a commercial basis, how- 

 ever, is ofimuch more recent origin. About 

 thirty years ago the increase was such that 

 the growers began to look for markets away 

 from home. The English market seemed 

 the best opening and shipments were made 

 from time to time to those markets. There 

 were few local buyers, the business was too 

 small to draw in outside capital and these 

 early shipments were usually consigned. 

 The farmer was not only grower but packer 

 and consignor. Out of this method grew a 

 system of cooperation. .\ number of grow- 

 ers would often be represented in the same 

 carload and hundreds in the same cargo. 

 In the meantime the English commission 

 houses were catering to the growing trade 

 and placing representatives in the orchard 

 sections to solicit consignments. More 

 than a score of English houses had their 

 representatives in the Annapolis Valley. 

 These had their agents and sub-agents at 

 every station in the fruit district, and these 

 subs had subs. Indeed, it recalled the 

 old story of the parasites : 



"The greater fleas had little fleas 

 Upon their backs to bite 'em ; 

 The lesser fleas had smaller fleas, 

 .And so ad infinitum." 



Thus, there was an army of middlemen 

 preying on the producer. These people 

 would take charge of a consignment, no 

 matter how small, combine them in carload 

 lots, and forward to the English houses. 

 The return commission, rebates and steals 

 often gave them fifty cents a barrel on the 

 fiirmers' crop; and when this crop ran into 

 the hundreds of thousands of barrels it was 

 ^1 good business. This was a species of 

 cooperation but under this system the mid- 

 dleman was getting rich and the producer 

 often growing poorer. 



METHOD OF ORG \NI7.ATION 



The question of cooperation had been 

 talked about manv times. Several attempts 

 were made and failed, possibly because the 

 proposed scheme was too ambitious. About 

 seven years aeo the first successful scheme 

 was launched on a very modest scale. The 

 Berwick Fruit Company. Limited, was or- 

 ganized, made up of six members with a 

 pominal capital of -$10,000. . In the first 

 rear this companv handled about seven 

 fhousnnd barrels. It was a success from its 

 inception. The second year the member- 

 hip increased and eighteen thousand bar- 

 vels were handled. The third year, although 



•An addreso d<»livered before the annual con- 

 ventio-' of the Ontario Fruit Growere' As»<:cia- 

 tion, NoTomber. 1913. 



S., Put President N.S.F.G.A. 



the capital was increased, the stock was 

 quickly taken up and it was found neces- 

 sary to refuse any more members admis- 

 sion. That year the company packed and 

 shipped thirty thousand barrels. 



At the end of seven years they have a 

 packing house one hundred and seventy- 

 five by sixty feet, an evaporator and all 

 facilities for handling seventy-five 'thou- 

 sand barrels annually. Encouraged by the 

 signal success of the Berwick Company new 

 organizations sprang up. Three others 

 were organized at Berwick and some thirty- 

 five or forty operated in the Valley this 

 season. 



The organization is extremely simple. A 

 general act was passed by the Provincial 

 Legislature entitled : An .Act to Encourage 

 the Organization of Cooperative Fruit - 

 Packing and Shipping Companies. This 

 act provides that any three persons may 

 organize for the purpose of packing, ship- 

 ping, marketing, warehousing fruit or farm 

 produce, buying and selling flour, feed, fer- 

 tilizers, farming tools, making barrels or 

 practically anything used on the farm. 



The barrels used are often made by the 

 farmer, usually in cooper shops near the 

 farm. Every village has its cooper shop. 

 The Nova Scotia barrel is crude in appear- 

 ance but it is cheap and strong. I do not 

 think we would consent to change it ; it 

 serves as a trade mark in markets where 

 best known. 



In the cooperatives there is no individual 

 packing. The farmer picks his apples and 

 delivers them in barrels to the packing 

 house. There they lose their identity and 

 become part of the company output. Each 

 variety is averaged and the farmer is paid 

 the price of his apples, less the packing 

 charges. 



-After a few years' experience of the local 

 companies it was felt that the time was 

 ripe for the next step in cooperation. There 

 were some twenty local companies at work, 

 each independent of the other and compet- 

 ing with the same goods in the same mar- 

 kets. After a year of experimenting the 

 lacal companies got together and organ- 

 ized a central company — the United Fruit 

 Companies of Nova Scotia. In this central 

 organization the local company is the unit, 

 taking the same place in the larger organ- 

 ization that the individual does in the 

 smaller. Each local unit must subscribe 

 twenty per cent, of its capital stock to 

 make up the capital of the central ; and 

 each local appoints a representative, usually 

 the manager, on the board of directors of 

 the central. All the apples packed by the 

 local companies arc marketed by the United 

 Fruit Companies, and in this organization 

 the fruit is also pooled, the local being paid 

 the average price for the season on the 

 output. 



.\ LARGR ENTERPRISE 



The most sanguine of the builders of 

 this organization did not realize what a 

 tremendous scheme they were floating. 

 Neither did they expect the great machine 

 would run without friction as it has done, 

 and become in one year a power in the fruit 

 . market of the world. In 1912 and 191.3, the 

 first year of its operation, the United Fruit 

 Companies handled three hundred and six- 

 ty-seven thousand barrels of apples, nearlv 

 one-half of the output of Nova Scotia. T-he 

 price returned was very satisfactorv,, for 

 instance : 



Gravensteins netted. No. 1, $2.07; No. 2, 

 $1.77; Duchess netted, No. 1, $2.09; No. 



2, $1.99; Kings netted. No. 1, $2.25; No. 



3, $2; Golden Russets netted. No. 1, $3.05; 

 No. 2, $2.32. 



The central office bought and distribut- 

 ed among the subsidiary companies : Eight 

 hundred thousand pulpheads, seventy-one 

 thousand pounds of grass seed, fifty-four 

 thousand pounds vetches, five thousand 

 eight hundred tons of fertilizer, eight hun- 

 dred and thirty-five barrels lime sulphur, 

 five hundred kegs nails, fourteen hundred 

 barrels of flour, eight thousand bags feed, 

 fifty-six thousand pounds of arsenate of 

 lead. 



It paid for the foregoing, spot cash, one 

 hundred and fifty-three thousand dollars. 

 It is estimated that on fertilizers alone we 

 saved eighteen thousand dollars to the 

 farmers in the companies, while those out- 

 side reaped a corresponding benefit, prices 

 falling generally, three dollars a ton. 



The United Fruit Companies have in ad- 

 dition to their office at Berwick, offices in 

 London and Halifax. They employed a 

 traveller during the fruit season, and an 

 organizer and instructor during the entire 

 year. Now, just a word in regard to the 

 cost of this efficient organization. The 

 total cost of the central association amount- 

 ed to fourteen thousand six hundred and 

 sixty-one dollars. In earning and saving 

 for the year, the central made twenty-four 

 thousand seven hundred and sixty-six dol- 

 lars. Thus the entire expenses of the Unit- 

 ed Fruit Companies, including salaries, 

 traveling, cable, telephone and telegraph, up- 

 keep of offices in Berwick, Halifax and 

 London, have been paid out of direct earn- 

 ings and savings, all effected, and could 

 only have been effected, by centralization. 

 In addition, five thousand dollars were plac- 

 ed in reserve on capital account and more 

 than five thousand dollars rebated to the 

 subsidiary companies. 



Just one concrete instance of how sav- 

 ings are effected by centralization. The 

 Carters' Union in London have from time 

 immemorial charged four pence per barrel, 

 cartagg. Our representative there last year 

 found people who would do the same work 

 for three pence. This one item saved the 

 companies eight thousand dollars. 



In conclusion I may say that the few 

 years' experience in cooperation, have prac- 

 tically revolutionized the fruit business in 

 Nova Scotia. Some" thirty-five local com- 

 panies are working this season, most of 

 them in cooperation with the central. The 

 people generally, are watching its progress 

 carefully. The machine seems to be work- 

 ing perfectly, and if no serious errors are 

 made a very few years will see the enor- 

 mous apple business of the .Annapolis Val- 

 ley controlled by one organization — the 

 L'nited Fruit Companies of Nova Scotia. 



Important Regulations 



The following additional regulation under 

 The Destructive Insect and Pest Act was 

 passed by Order in Council, December 

 4th, 1913: Regulation 18— "The importation 

 of all nursery stock, including trees, 

 ?ihrubs, plants, vines, grapes, scions, cut- 

 tings or buds, through the mail is pro- 

 hibited, excepting greenhouse-grown flor- 

 ists' stock, cut flowers, herbaceous peren- 

 nials, and bedding plants, which will be 

 admitted, provided that a detailed state- 

 ment of the contents is attached to such 

 parcels." This regulation is to take effect 

 on and after the first day of March, 1914. 



