Ill 



the trees if the Exchange hoped to establish a reputation for 

 excellent apples. The men took the advice seriously and 

 immediately ordered large quantities of nicotine sulphate, 

 arsenate of lead and lime sulfur. 



During the spring and summer of 1917 they applied the 

 chemicals painstakingly so that September found our or- 

 chards with fruit which was absolutely free from aphis and 

 of a much higher grade than the fruit of preceding years. 

 But it was very evident that the men who raised fruit as a 

 '"side-line" had apples which were very inferior to those of 

 the men who raised fruit for a living. The latter gentlemen 

 were not inclined to sell at a loss again,simply for the sake of 

 helping out a co-operative marketing scheme. Briefly the 

 problems which confronted the manager were: 



1. How to get the members to market the 



fruit through the Exchange. 



2. How to induce those whose fruit was still 



below the desired standard to put forth the 

 necessary effort to improve its quality. 

 3. How to secure the best prices for the fruit. 



Early in August I communicated with several buyers in- 

 forming them that we had 2000 barrels of apples which 

 would be ready to dispose of in a few weeks and that we 

 would be glad to take their representatives through the or- 

 chards and to list their bids on the apples. They replied im- 

 mediately and during the month of September they sent 

 their representatives to Marlboro. In two instances mem- 

 bers of the firms appeared in person. They asked many 

 questions about the exchange and appeared delighted to 

 think that they could transact the business for a dozen farms 

 through one man. 



They were given to understand that they were to sub 

 mit a separate set of bids for each orchard and that the in- 

 dividual growers could accept the bids through the manager 

 of the Exchange whenever they were satisfied that they had 

 secured the best price possible. Naturally the various 

 growers asked what their neighbors were offered. When ;i 



