214 Cooperation in Agriculture 



in cutting the oranges or lemons from the tree, by punc- 

 tures from stems that have been cut too long, by gravel 

 in the picking boxes, or twigs in the sacks, by the finger 

 nails of the pickers, and by various factors in the packing- 

 house. The mechanical injuries often result from igno- 

 rance, carelessness, or improper supervision of the labor. 

 They are generally found in fruit handled by labor that is 

 paid by the bushel, sack, or package a system that places 

 a premium on the quantity rather than the quality of the 

 work performed. Among different pickers working side 

 by side, one laborer may pick the fruit perfectly, while 

 another injures seventy-five per cent ; and comparing the 

 fruit of ten individual growers, the amount of injury in 

 the product of each, taken as a whole, may show an equally 

 wide variation. 



The careful handling of fruit is an art that is not ac- 

 quired by the average fruit-grower, it is not commonly 

 acquired by the laborer, and it is seldom developed unless 

 the business of the growers is organized so as to insure 

 the careful handling of the product as a whole. The phys- 

 ical injuries that result from handling are the most serious 

 where each grower in an association picks and handles 

 his own fruit. It is least where they are organized so that 

 careful handling methods can be universally applied as a 

 part of the fruit-handling system. Cooperation is the 

 only method by which the fruit of all the growers of a 

 community can be handled with similar care. Through 

 the cooperative organization a system of inspection can be 

 inaugurated, an educational campaign vigorously pro- 

 moted, and, when practical, the orchards of the members 

 can be harvested and the fruit graded and packed by 



