SIXTHHNTII ANNUAL MEET INC. 110 



co-opcvation can help in solving these difficulties than by telling 

 yon of some ways in which it has aided ns in the fruit belt of 

 western Allegan County, Michigan. 



Co-OrERATlVE SllirPING ON CONSIGNMENT. 



One of the first drawbacks that we had to contend with was 

 the cost of transportation. The location of our orchards is 

 such that we can patronize either the railroad or the boat lines 

 to Chicago, but there has ])een no competition between them. 

 An express company operated over the fruit train for about 

 fourteen years, giving very poor service and stubb(jrnly main- 

 taining a rate of six and one-half cents for carrying a fifth of 

 a bushel less than 140 miles. Efforts of individual growers to 

 secure better or cheaper service were of no eft'ect. 



Alatters were going from bad to worse, when, in 1891, the 

 growers organized themselves into the Fennville Fruit Ship- 

 pers' Association and adopted the "granger" system of shipping 

 their fruit. Wq have a local agent, who receipts for and loads 

 the fruit into \entilate(l cars, holding about 2,500 fifth-bushel 

 baskets, for which he receives $2 per car. Our united effort 

 not only secured a better class of ventilated cars, but we secured 

 a special fast freight, which starts from Fennville every even- 

 ing, Saturdays excepted, for Chicago. The cars are all billed 

 to our Chicago consignee, who does the unloading, (hstributes 

 the fruit among the several commission firms to whom the 

 different shippers have consigned it, attends to tlie frciglit, 

 shortages, etc., receiving for his services $4 per car. 



As the result of this co-operation, w'e have been able to 

 secure the general adoption of a standard climax package, at 

 a saving in their cost of at least one-fourtli. 'Idie freight rate 

 has been lowered from the express rate of six and one-half to 

 two and onedialf cents, and, the boat lines having to meet this 

 reduction, every shipper in our fruit belt has been equally 

 benefited, whichever way he shipped. .Ml shortages have 

 been promptly paid. In one season our fruit section shipped 

 6,000,000 baskets of peaches and the saving to the growers 

 that year by the Association was not less than $200,000. 



Not only have we obtained better service at much less cost, 



