878 , READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



and seemed to be in perfect condition. The charge for cold 

 storage was 15 francs per month for 100 kilos. 



There is another system of shipping fruit which, though 

 unlawful, is still practiced. Men go to the sections where the 

 peach season is at its height, buy in fairly large quantities, and 

 ship to Paris or some other center where the local peach season 

 is just beginning. They send the fruit in their own names and 

 travel at the same time to the destination of the fruit. Here 

 this buyer sells on the market which is supposed to be strictly 

 limited to growers selling their own locally grown fruit, his only 

 expense besides his own car fare being the small tax which he 

 must pay for a place on the growers' market. This is, of course, 

 an unfair form of competition, both for the growers near Paris 

 or other centers and for the dealers handling fruit from the large 

 producing sections through regular channels. 



At Millery, a small town near Lyons, about one hundred 

 farmers have formed a society which is one of the very few 

 which have made a success of the cooperative shipment of 

 peaches and other fruit. It has now been running five years 

 and has proved to be a great help to the farmers, who were 

 formerly at the mercy of a few shippers who combined to pay 

 very low prices. Up to 191 2 no entrance fee was charged, but 

 in that year new members were taxed five centimes per tree, 

 and in 191 3 the tax was raised to 10 centimes per tree. The 

 method of doing business is very simple, as it depends almost 

 entirely on the president, who has active charge of all the affairs 

 of the society. The farmers bring in the peaches to the office of 

 the society, where they are sorted into four grades and packed by 

 experts. The president then sells the fruit according to his own 

 judgment. From the price received for each 100 kilos the presi- 

 dent gets 5.50 francs from which he must pay all the expenses 

 of selling except the cost of the materials of packing. These 

 expenses include the wages of the packers (30 centimes an hour) 

 and the cost of cartage to the railroad (which is 30 centimes the 

 100 kilos). If the price received by the grower is as much or 

 more than 50 francs the 100 kilos, the president is entitled to a 

 commission of 2 per cent in addition to the 5.50 francs before 



