306 Fruit-growing in Arid Regions 



be responsible for a number of car-loads of a very perish- 

 able product, all on the road at once. Much supervision 

 on the part of the board of directors, who usually have 

 small knowledge of the business, only hampers the mana- 

 ger and restricts his personality. If he cannot make 

 a success of the association in his own way, the advice 

 or help of the directors will be of little value. A much 

 better plan is to give the manager a fair chance to work 

 out his own ideas, and then if he fails, try another. But 

 here is the cause of most of the failures : too much super- 

 vision by the directors and unjust criticism and fault- 

 finding on the part of the stockholders. 



A common source of discontent is the rumor that a 

 neighbor in another association has received a higher 

 price for his produce, or that an outside buyer is offering 

 attractive prices. Unscrupulous firms frequently adopt 

 the latter method of getting consignments, only to swindle 

 the grower. If there was not some decided advantage 

 in buying direct from the growers, these firms would not 

 go to the expense of maintaining an agent in the field when 

 just as good or better fruit could be had from the as- 

 sociation. 



The association idea is no longer an experiment, and 

 when each one does his share to maintain the reputation 

 of the fruit, and the volume of business is sufficient to 

 pay expenses, there is small chance of failure. The his- 

 tory of associations, the country over, shows that petty 

 jealousies and distrust on the part of the members is 

 a common cause of failure. 



Growers who are not members may ship through the 

 association on the same terms, but they are usually re- 



