Marketing Fruit 307 



quired to pay more for supplies. All of the larger con- 

 cerns require both members and non-members, for whom 

 they ship, to bring all their fruit to the association. 

 Formerly stockholders were allowed to sell their own fruit 

 by paying the association a small premium. Neither 

 were objections made to members filling orders from 

 near-by towns. But, as these means of disposing of 

 fruit are manifestly unfair to a majority of the association 

 members, they have come to be looked on with disfavor 

 and in most instances are no longer allowed. 



One of the strong points in the association idea is the 

 possibility of securing a fairly uniform pack. This results 

 in better prices, since buyers have the assurance that all 

 associations strive to make their goods as nearly uniform 

 as possible. Contrary to the idea often advanced that 

 poor fruit brings as great a price as good, the most rigid 

 grading must be practiced, and the intention is to place 

 each fruit in its proper grade; thus the best grade com- 

 mands the price that it deserves, and the grower of in- 

 ferior fruit is fortunate to dispose of his crop at all. 



Hood River Methods 



A system of association packing has been worked out 

 in the Northwest, notably at Hood River, Oregon, that 

 is giving good satisfaction under their conditions. The 

 association does all the packing, but sends crews of trained 

 packers to the various orchards to do the work. An 

 inspector is assigned to each crew of four packers, and 

 as a further assurance that honest packing shall be done, 

 horse-back inspectors are employed. These men drop 

 in on the various crews unawares, and thus serve as a 



