Part II.] FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 183 



our association. There are a good many interesting stories con- 

 nected with its life that I would enjoy telling you if time would 

 allow. It is sometimes said that success is made up of failures. 

 In our six seasons of activity, all has not been easy sailing. 

 Mistakes have been made, but they have not been serious 

 mistakes, or, at least, we have discovered them in time to 

 correct them. 



In closing I will say that I attribute what success we have 

 had to four things. 



First. — We have had leadership, not of a few, but of many, 

 &s manifested in the true spirit of co-operation. 



Second. — We have always employed a good system of 

 accounting. 



Third. — The board of directors and the manager have 

 always been businesslike in their methods. 



Fourth. — All-important, square dealing has formed the 

 cornerstone of all our business. 



Mr. Rogers. I would like to ask the gentleman what is the 

 cost for packing a barrel of apples and getting them into the 

 foreign markets this year. 



Mr. CoNANT. Why, according to what the barrel sells for 

 when it gets there, — something from $2.95 to $3 a box. You 

 see it is sold on 5 per cent, and the higher it sells the more it 

 costs to get it there and get the money back with the expense 

 of selling. You'll see on this card that some of our apples net 

 up to $7.69; now, they must sell for over $10. 



A Member. Does that include the packing and getting them 

 ready for the market? 



Mr. CoNANT. No, after loading on the cars. These nets are 

 all back to loaded stations. 



A Member. How much does your packing cost? 



Mr. CoNANT. The labor of packing, as I went over the 

 books, was from 10 to 13 cents a barrel to a member, according 

 to the way his apples grew; the poorer the apple the more it 

 cost to pack them. 



A Member. Are they packed in the central packing house? 



Mr. CoNANT. No, we have to go around to the farmer to 



