NINETEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 233 



fruits and vegetables, and those are bringing us more money 

 to the acre than our land would if planted with other mixed 

 crops. By doing that, it brings it so that we are making 

 more out of a profit at one cent a pound than we made twelve 

 or fifteen years ago at five. We will make more at a cent 

 or two cents a pound by lessening the cost of production and 

 by lessening the cost of distribution in every way, and it is 

 up now to the consumer at the other end to lessen the cost 

 of distribution at home. I will give you a few instances 

 where we have lessened this cost of production. In St. 

 Catherines, — that was one of the first districts to adopt the 

 principle of co-operation. About twelve years ago a large 

 proportion of our peaches were not being picked, the local 

 population would not take the crop. The growers talked the 

 matter over. We could not see why we should be working 

 for the expressman and the basket man, and not get a fair 

 share of the business ourselves. When we shipped our 

 peaches to market we used to get a price that would not pay 

 the cost of expressage, baskets and the commission. When 

 we got through paying those expenses there would be noth- 

 ing left. The growers got together and determined to see 

 what they could do to change that condition. That was the 

 commencement. From that time we have gone on and grown 

 until to-day we have almost all of the growers. We have 

 a few others that have come in that are not in the associa- 

 tion that get the benefit of the carload rates. That has been 

 one of the big points that we have got, — shipping our fruit 

 by bulking it together at carload rates. Just to give you 

 one instance : Our through rate on a certain number of cars 

 was twenty-eight thousand and a few odd dollars. I think, 

 $28,300. In round numbers, it was $28,000. Those cars 

 were sent out in carload lots. They were all iced, so that no 

 icing was necessary by the transportation company. We put 

 up our own ice, and iced the cars, so there would not be any 

 further charge to deliver, so there would not be any charge 



