No. 4.] FRUIT GROWING IN NOVA SCOTIA. 43 



panics' apples. During the season 400,000 barrels of apples 

 were shipped on its bills of lading. 



In the matter of marine insurance a great saving was effected. 

 The fact that the Central had some 400,000 barrels to insure, 

 secured for the company an exceptionally low premium, and 

 materially reduced that little item seen on most accounts of 

 sales, which in the course of a year amounts to a considerable 

 sum. Insurance of the warehouses and contents was also 

 effected at a very close rate, the Central earning the commission 

 usually going to the agents. 



Supplies were bought at very low figures. An order for 

 1,250,000 pulp heads and 500 kegs of nails naturally secured 

 inside prices. The largest saving, however, was made in the 

 purchase of fertilizers. Many companies who had stood loyally 

 by their Central throughout the apple deals backed out when 

 it came to buying fertilizers. Only a few companies, therefore, 

 were working with the Central in this field, but even then 

 2,283 tons were handled. The fertilizer was bought at a saving, 

 compared with the lowest price quoted by the agent, of about 

 S3 per ton. Fertilizer agents assured the companies that they 

 would guarantee them as low a price as the Central could give 

 them, and others advertised openly in the press that they would 

 supply fertilizer at even lower prices than could be obtained 

 through the Central. Thanks, however, to the business acumen 

 of the managers, the fertilizer agents were soon glad to with- 

 draw those advertisements, and the companies who stood by 

 the Central were able to divide a net saving of $6,800 on their 

 fertilizer deal, 



I know some companies whose lack of faith in their Central 

 cost them $4 per ton on their fertilizer supplies. One should 

 not be too ready, however, to blame those companies; after all 

 it was only an experimental year, and it is not strange that 

 some should look askance at the idea of giving their order 

 blindly without knowing how much their goods would cost 

 them. At the same time all the more credit is due to those 

 who were sufficiently imbued with the right spirit of co-opera- 

 tion to do this. 



The great thing for the individual to remember, however, 

 in a co-operative movement, is that after all it is not a Central 



