Handling, Distributing, and Sale of Fruit 215 



trained gangs of laborers working under the control of 

 the association. 



Cooperation in the Harvesting of Fruit 



In the citrus fruit industry in California a large propor- 

 tion of the oranges and lemons grown by 12,000 to 15,000 

 farmers are picked, graded, and packed by labor working 

 under the control of cooperative associations. The phys- 

 ical handling of the fruit is thereby standardized. For- 

 merly the individual member of the association picked 

 his own fruit and delivered it to the packing-house. It was 

 pooled with the fruit of the other members. One grower 

 would deliver his fruit to the packing-house with an aver- 

 age of three per cent physically injured; another with 

 equally good fruit, but handling it carelessly, would in- 

 jure fifty per cent of his oranges in picking. The abra- 

 sions in the skin being too small to be seen readily, the fruit 

 of similar grade of both growers was mixed and sold in a 

 pool. A car containing part of the first member's fruit 

 would arrive in Boston in sound condition, while a car 

 containing a part of the fruit of the latter might develop 

 twenty per cent decay in transit. The first grower was the 

 loser and the second was the gainer under this condition. 

 Before the nature of the citrus fruit decays was understood, 

 damage claims were usually filed against the railroads to 

 cover the loss from decay, the shipper thinking that the 

 loss was due to the improper handling of the refrigerator 

 cars while in transit. The merchant who bought the 

 latter member's fruit was dissatisfied, and so was the 

 consumer, who may have received one or two decayed 

 oranges in the dozen for which he paid fifty cents. De- 



