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foreign market. It was customary for these English houses 

 through their agents to advance to farmers a certain amount 

 per barrel, usually as much or a little more than the local 

 buyers were offering. The apples were then shipped in 

 the farmer's name, to be sold on commission by fne receivers 

 across the water. 



After making the sale, account sales were made up and 

 returned to the growers together with remittance for what- 

 ever the apples net over and above the advance. The indi- 

 vidual farmer in exporting his apples was at a disadvantage 

 and often fared as poorly as his neighbor who sold to the 

 local buyer or consigned to some domestic commission house. 

 In passing I may say that the apples put up for export were 

 packed rather poorly, and were not a good advertisement 

 for Maine apples. At the same time, well graded and 

 packed fruit when exported gave the farmer very satisfac- 

 tory returns. The main thing for which we have to thank 

 our English friends is that they opened our eyes to the pos- 

 sibilities of a market across the water. Owing to the fact 

 that only large growers were able to make up car lots, the 

 smallest unit economical to ship, it became customary for 

 several of the smaller ones to get together making up a 

 shipment. While there was no attempt at organization, 

 this was a step toward cooperation. 



In the spring of 1911 a young man from our town took 

 advantage of the opportunity to attend a short course in 

 fruit growing given at the State College at Orono. There 

 he learned, among other things, of the successful operation 

 of the well known cooperative associations in the West. He 

 came back with wonderful stories of how these organizations 

 were overcoming the obstacles of distance and unfamiliarity 

 of market conditions and were handling crops so as to 

 return the grower a profit sufficient to encourage the grow- 

 ing of better fruit. 



The young man began by interesting his brothers in a 

 scheme for better marketing. On numerous occasions there 

 were lively discussions, and it was finally decided to form 



