NINETEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 



241 



that gives us a sufficient income to pay the cost of handling 

 the work. That brings sulphur pretty low. It is the same 

 thing with lime-sulphur. We get ten and five off that 

 amount. That brings it much lower than the regular price, 

 very much lower than the individual grower can get it for. 



O. How much do you charge your members — so much 

 a package on their fruit? 



Mr. Thompson: We are handling lines of fruit in 

 baskets like these. The great bulk is handled subject to the 

 inspection of the Association. When those are brought in 

 they are given to the Association to sell. Of course, there is. 

 a two per cent charge for that to everyone. That is, to mem- 

 bers and outsiders. At the end of the season that two per 

 cent is rebated to members, so that the outsider pays two 

 per cent, and that covers all the expense of handling. Take 

 pears and peaches, when those are brought in to be packed by 

 our Association, by our girls and others, that we employ, we 

 charge five cents for packing without wrapping pears, and 

 we have been charging fifteen cents for pears and the wrap- 

 ping. It should be about twelve and a half. Peaches 

 wrapped for eight cents a box. That covers the paper and 

 covers all the trouble in connection with it. 



Q. Have you any idea how much you save? How were 

 the expenses before you came into it? 



Mr. Thompson : I can answer that by taking an illus- 

 tration. The charge for bone meal was about thirty-three 

 dollars a ton. To-day we are getting it for from twenty- 

 seven to twenty-eight dollars, beside getting a standard guar- 

 antee so that we know exactly what we are getting. Of 

 course, the price of some of these other commodities came 

 down also. On others there is not so much change. On 

 muriate and nitrate the price has varied from year to year, 

 but we do save. We saved five dollars a ton over the price 

 that the agents were selling for, even where they were bring- 

 ing it in in carload lots and distributing it out to the far- 



