Handling, Distributing, and Sale of Fruit 241 



making it a merchandizing rather than an uncertain 

 speculative business. The present system is the leading 

 factor that insures the stability of the citrus industry and 

 protects the two hundred million dollars that are invested 

 in the groves and packing-houses. 



Selling the California Citrus-fruit Crop 



The California orange and lemon crop now equals nearly 

 fifty thousand carloads, or twenty million boxes. There 

 are more than twelve thousand growers engaged in the 

 culture of the fruit. Probably three-fourths of them are 

 organized into cooperative associations, sixty-five per cent 

 of which are federated into the California Fruit-growers' 

 Exchange. These associations build a packing-house in 

 which the fruit of the members is assembled, graded, 

 packed, and made ready for shipment. The methods 

 under which these organizations operate will be under- 

 stood by a brief description of the principles underlying 

 the exchange system. 



The California Fruit-growers' Exchange 



The California Fruit-growers' Exchange is an organiza- 

 tion which acts as a clearing house in providing the facili- 

 ties through which sixty-five hundred growers distribute 

 and market their fruit. The exchange system is built on 

 three foundation stones : the local associations of growers, 

 through which the fruit is prepared for market ; the dis- 

 trict exchanges into which the associations of a community 

 are federated and which act as clearing houses for the local 

 associations; and the central exchange, which provides 

 agents through which the district exchanges in coopera- 



