203 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



August, 1914. 



Success o! Cooperative Effort in Nova Scotia 



THE reports presented at the second 

 annual meeting of the United Fruit 

 Companies of Nova Scotia Lid., held 

 in Berwick .N.S., June 30 and July 

 1, showed that the principles of coopera- 

 tiom have become firmly established in Nova 

 Scotia. In spite of adverse conditions the 

 year was one during which great progress 

 was made by the company and a large vol- 

 ume of business transacted. 



Some idea of the business done may be 

 gained from the following extracts i-aken 

 from the annual report of the Board of 

 Managemont, composed of Messrs. John 

 Donaldson, president ; A. E. MacMahon, 

 F. W. Bishop, F. H. Johnson, B. W. 

 White, S. B. Chute, general manager, and 

 A. E. Adams, secretary. 



The year through which we have passed 

 has presented problems of a most extra- 

 ordinary and unusual character, and your 

 Board feel much gratified thar., even under 

 most trying and adverse conditions, they 

 are able to present a report which records 

 success in all its undertakings and a justi- 

 fication of the various policies which have 

 ■ been pursued. 



The previous year had, as you are aware, 

 been a year of low prices, and tha season 

 under review opened with indications of a 

 short crop all around. 



Speculators, aware of these facts, visited 

 cooperators and offered prices that in com- 

 , parisooi appeared large indeed. 

 " These prices would not have been offered 

 but for the cooperative movement, and we 

 are glad to report that practically all of our 

 members remained loyal to their fellows and 

 turned down all offers made, thus success- 

 fully defeating the efforts of self-interested 

 speculators to break up the cooperativ^e 

 movement. 



Not only did these cooperators demon- 

 strate thereby their loyalty to their fellows 

 and to their cause but they also showed 

 common sense in recognizing that specula- 

 tors were buying for profit and that their 

 central association had exactly the same 

 means of earning that profit as the speotv- 

 lators ; the only difference being that in one 

 case the growers marketing through their 

 own business would own and retain the 

 profit for themsielves, while in the other 

 case all the profits would go into the pockets 

 of the speculator." 



The test that tucse circumstances made 

 possible has shown what sterling qualities 

 are ix)ssessed by the majority of our mem- 

 bership, and should s«rve as a lesson that 

 it is futile to throw away money in bait to 

 cooperators now that the great superiority 

 of the cooperative method is so thoroughly 

 understood. 



During the year six Companies have tak- 

 en stock in the Company, making a total 

 of thirty-eight Compamies holding shares 

 in the Central Association and necessitat- 

 ing an increase of authorized capital. 



During the season vour Central has 

 handled 274,000 barrels of apples and 38.- 

 700 barrels of potatoes; a grand total of 

 312,700 barrels. 



Out of this quantity, however, there were 

 only 79,531 barrels No. 1, 36,459 barrels No 

 2, the balance, 158,000, being No. 3. 



There were also in this quantity no fewer 

 than 170 varieties, comprising a very large 

 percentage of apples difficult to market on 

 account of the fact that they are unknown. 

 Yet, in spite of that overwhelming pro- 

 portion of No. 3 and all those odd varieties, 

 your Central has been able to make a re- 

 tirrn which works out as a mean average 

 (including absolutely everything) at $2.57 

 per barrel, ones, twos and threes. 



While we are prepared to admit that a 

 general shortage of the apple crop has in a 

 meaisure been the reason for such high 

 prices, yet the system under which we have 

 marketed the apples entrusted to our care 

 has been principally instrumental in enab- 

 ling us to make such large returns for 

 such a percontage of the entire crop as we 

 handled. 



EXPi>N8B OF OPEUATION. 

 A meeting of your directors was held on 

 September 27th, and an estimate for the 

 ensuing year was submitted. According 

 10 this estimate, which was made before 

 the real business of the year started, the 

 expenses would work out at $]3,.'i00 for ap- 

 ples and ixjtatoes, and $2500 for supplies, 

 a total of $15,800. 



In actual fact the expenses for the year 

 only amounted to $12,300 for apple amd 

 potato accounts, and $5452.48 for supplies, 

 or a total of $14,663.48, about $1,100 less 

 than our estimate. 



That portion of expense applicable to ap- 

 ples and potatoes works oui at four cents 

 per barrel. 



We consider, and it is also the opinion 

 of the various Government Departments of 

 both Canada and the United States who 

 have investigated our system, that our ex- 

 penses are absurdly low, considering the 

 amount of work accomplished and the great 

 saving effected in the cost of handling, the 

 enhanced prices realized for the Valley's 

 crop and the reduced prices now paid for 

 nearly all necessities of the farm. 



We have, however, investigated the ex- 

 penses of various other organizations and 

 we find that our expenses are ridiculously 

 small in comparison. 



For instance, we find, according to the 

 Bulletin of Economic and Social Intelli- 

 gence, that the Califoruian Fruit Growers' 

 Exchange show an expense of 7 2-3 cents 

 per box. The secretary of this company 

 claims that this is the lowest marketing 

 cost for any agricultural product in the 

 United States. 



The North Pacific Fruit Distributors 

 write us thait the cost of their central is 

 fifteen cents a barrel, while the sub-central's 

 expenses amounted to thirty cents a barrel. 

 They state that salaries vary all the way 

 from $1200 for a manager of a small local, 

 to $10,000 for their central manager. They 

 further sta,ie that it is the man who can 

 successfully manage the business they 

 want ; if successful he can secure about any 

 salary. We feel, therefore, we need make no 

 apology for the expense of only four cents a 

 barrel, especially in view of the fact that 

 another 200,000 barrels could have been 

 handled with practically no additional ex- 

 pense. 



During the season your Central loaded 

 apples and potatoes om to no less than 118 

 boat's. One steamer and three schooners 

 were chartered to carry potatoes to Cuba. 



Wilh reference to the pack of this year 

 we are able to report a vast improvement 

 in the direction of uniformity. This is 

 borne out by the daily report of our local 

 inspector and also by the detailed and tab- 

 ulated report of your European representa- 

 tive, who has met each boat and examined 

 all packs. It is also borne out by the trade 

 on the English market, who report a dis- 

 tinctly more uniform pack than at any time 

 previously. 



Reviewing the whole year we consider 

 that to have maintained the reputation of 

 the cooperative pack on a year when our 

 apples were so atrociously scabby and spot- 

 ted has been quite an achievement and re- 



flects the utmost credit on all concerned. 



We were gratified to note that, generaii 

 speaking, fiui'. growers have realized tl; 

 absolute necessity of spraying and that th 

 spring spraying has been carried on in 

 manner never before approached in the V,i 

 ley. 



As an indication of the increased atten- 

 tion that has been given to this vitally uu 

 portant master, we would state that yoh 

 office handled three times the quantity oi 

 spraying material this year compaied with 

 last. 



We wish to give some explanation in coi. 

 nection with our method of handling tl, 

 large tpot.ed apples. 



Durjng the first few weeks of the scasf; 

 we were permitted to pack such fruit .. 

 numbers twos but later in deference to ttj< 

 requirements of the Fruit Marks .\ct .hi 

 pack was discontinued. 



Your Board of Management did not fe. 

 that they , would be protecting the intercht 

 of the growers by allowing such splendid 

 fruit as represented by these apples to be 

 simply marked No. 3. They therefore in- 

 stituted a special pack known as Coopera- 

 tive No. 3. On the face of the end of th. 

 barrel was attached a label reading as hil 

 lows : 



"IMPORTANT." 



The apples in this barrel are guaran- 

 teed to be number one in size, but have 

 the defect of being either off-color or 

 spotted. The Dominion Fruit Marks 

 Act forbid this class of apple being 

 marked number one." 

 The idea of this label oiiginated in th. 

 mind of Mr. F. M. Chute, of Waterville, t 

 whom we accord the credit of an idea th.i 

 has put considerable money into the pockei 

 of the Cooperative Fruit Growers of tli 

 Valley. 



British Trade Prospects 



Writing to the Department of Trade an. 

 Commerce from Birmingham, Eng., Cana 

 dian Trade Commissioner J. E. Ray report 

 as follows : 



Canadian fruit is always saleable in thi 

 district, and direct shipments are becorn 

 mg more frequent every year. Complaint- 

 re quality and packing were frequent tci 

 years ago, but each season recently has 

 found buyers and sellers satisfied with their 

 transactions Apples, pears, peaches, and 

 plums are in demand, the most popular 

 variety of apple in Birmingham being th< 

 Golden Russet. Imports of Canadian ap 

 pies into Great Britain were £838,283 it. 

 1908 and £847,583 in 1912, while imports of 

 pears have declined from £13,541 to £7,996 

 during the same period. 



CANNED FRriT ,VN.T VECiKT.AULES. 



.Although Canadian canned fruits are on 

 sale here, observation shows that the oppor- 

 tunities for extension of sales are practi- 

 cally unlimited. All the retail stores carry 

 heavy stocks of canned fruits aaid vege- 

 tables from the United States, and several 

 packers in that country conduct extensive 

 advertising campaigns throughout the 

 British Ides. The quality of Canadian 

 fruits is highly appreciated in Birming- 

 ham, but very few buyers appear to differ- 

 entiate between the United States and 

 Canadiam products, both of them being in- 

 variably referred to as ".American." Can- 

 ned and bottled peas command good prices 

 and the trade is sufficiently large and re- 

 irular to repay Canadian packers. Inves- 

 tigation does not reveal the existence in 

 this district of Canadian peas thus pre- 

 pared. 



