igo CO-OPERATIVE FRUIT-GRADING 



In Canada so much importance is attached to the 

 grading of apples, and the branding of packages with 

 well-defined descriptive marks, that a Fruit Marks 

 Act has been passed, which makes this system com- 

 pulsory on all fruit exporters, severe penalties for 

 neglect of the law being enacted. Canada, in fact, is 

 even keener than the United States in her efforts to 

 supply our markets with apples, and English growers 

 will have to bestir themselves, and take prompt action 

 in their own interests, if they want to do anything more 

 than supply merely local markets. 



Happily a very practical effort is being made to meet 

 the situation by the establishment of the Hereford 

 Co-operative Fruit-grading Society, Limited a body 

 whose objects and operations deserve the consideration 

 of British fruit-growers in general. The formation of 

 this society, in the autumn of 1905, was the outcome 

 of two papers read by Mr. H. P. Bulmer and Mr. J. 

 Read, before the Hereford Fruit-growers' Association, of 

 which Mr. John Riley is president. In those papers 

 emphasis was laid on the importance of securing some 

 business organization which would enable the growers 

 to get a better return on their fruit, especially in view 

 of the fall in prices following on the glut of apples in 

 1904. The great object to be aimed at was the effect- 

 ing of a system of grading, under which foreign or 

 colonial competition could be met on its own lines ; and 

 in the result, the formation of a Co-operative Fruit- 

 grading Society, in affiliation with the Agricultural Or- 

 ganization Society, was decided upon, Mr. H. P. Bulmer 

 being elected to the position of chairman. 



The special purposes which the society has in view 

 are thus expressed on the prospectus that was issued : 



To enable any person, from the smallest cottager to the largest 

 fruit-grower, to dispose of his fruit at the minimum of expense and 

 the maximum of profit. 



