Handling, Distributing, and Sale of Fruit 219 



that require a degree of skill that is seldom possessed by 

 the individual fruit-grower. No community can reach 

 the highest efficiency as a fruit-growing section where its 

 reputation depends on the fruit packed and graded by the 

 individual growers, unless the growers are organized and 

 the grading and packing are uniformly done in accordance 

 with established rules. The average fruit-grower will not, 

 and cannot, grade and pack fruit either uniformly or ar- 

 tistically. Many do not pack it honestly. The frauds 

 that are deliberately perpetrated by many of the farmers 

 in grading and preparing their products for sale are fully 

 as reprehensible as the practices that have already been 

 ascribed to the dishonest middlemen. In fact, in an unor- 

 ganized fruit district it is the exception rather than the 

 rule to find a package of fruit that is packed and graded 

 uniformly by the average fruit-grower. Wormy apples 

 are mixed with the sound fruit, the sizes are mixed, the 

 color is not uniform, and small fruit is found in the middle 

 or bottom of the package. A community, therefore, in 

 which the fruit is graded, packed, and sold by the individ- 

 ual fruit-grower seldom acquires a high reputation as a 

 fruit-growing section. On the other hand, a region that 

 contains a similar class of growers and produces similar 

 grades of fruit may become a better fruit-growing region, 

 it may increase the proportion of high-grade fruit produced 

 and increase the net returns to the individual grower by 

 handling the grading, packing, and marketing problems 

 under a comprehensive business system through a coop- 

 erative association. 



