17 



fruit produced in that territory has been sold on the streets 

 of Spai'ta to buyers from large cilies in that viciniiy. The 

 grower is allowed to make his own bargain with' the buyer. 

 The association takes charge of the loading on the car, giv- 

 ing the grower a receipt for the fruit he delivers a', the car. 

 At the same time it guarantees to the buyer that his pur- 

 chase has been duly delivered to the transportation com- 

 pany. To pay the cost of this supervision it is agreed that 

 the city purchaser pays 1 l-2c. for each 16-quart case of 

 strawberries, and the grower 1 cent. The association keeps 

 in touch with all markets within reach, and frequently has 

 a personal representative in some of the leading markets, 

 particularly at the height of the season. His business is to 

 keep the members of the association informed as to prices 

 and market conditions. In this way the grower is enabled 

 to judge as to the advisability of selling for cash on the 

 street market as just indicated, or consigning. This asso- 

 ciation handles annually 60 to 100 cars of strawberries. 



Association work in the far west, while still compara- 

 tively young, is making progress. But there, in such states 

 as Oregon and Washington, where everything is handled 

 on an enormous scale, conditions differ materially from Mas- 

 sachusetts. The Hood River Apple Growers' union of Hood 

 River, Oregon, is a live affair, and believes in binding grow- 

 ers tp market their fruit through the association. The man- 

 ager nrges that a regular contract be signed by each grower 

 and officer of the union. The next work to be undertaken 

 there is the education of the people to grow good fruit, and 

 particularly to insist that they furnish first class fruit, 

 leaving out culls. 



Now let us note briefly what is being done in the mid- 

 dle south. About 125 farmers and fruit growers at Laurel, 

 Del., organized a fruit and produce union and shipped 

 strawberries very largely, last season 12,000 crates, to com- " 

 mission merchants. The cost to the union of handling these 

 berries last year was three cents a crate. The commission 

 merchants in the cities pay to the union 3% commission as 

 agents. This money is to defray the expense of handling 

 the fruit and office work, as all accounts of sales of individ- 

 uals center at the general office. The various growers de- 

 liver their produce to the manager who exercises the right 

 to either ship on consignment or sell outright in carload 

 lots. Net earnings of the union are distributed annually in 

 the way of dividends, based upon the gross sales of mem- 



