266 RURAL A'ETF y07?7v 



keep in closer touch with marketing produce condi- 

 tions than is possible to the average individual; the 

 large volume and variety of produce permit a regular 

 trade to be established and the organization brings 

 the producer and consumer nearer together and on 

 a more equitable economic footing than is possible 

 to individuals working alone. With similar begin- 

 nings, the fruit-growers of Nova Scotia and Onta- 

 rio, Canada, have made large progress. There, the 

 central packing-house has become established and 

 sales agencies have been developed made up of more 

 than forty of these local concerns and handling as 

 much as 460,000 barrels of fruit under a single label. 

 Still another phase of the distribution is the 

 county farm bureaus. These institutions, financed 

 primarily at public expense and supervised by State 

 agencies, do not and should not take a direct part in 

 the sale of products or the purchase of supplies. 

 But being locally established and in touch with the 

 producers of a county, they serve as the clearing- 

 house for information about farm produce and enable 

 different regions conveniently and directly to get in 

 touch for business purposes. For example, the 

 northern counties of the State produce an excellent 

 quality of potato that is especially suitable for seed 

 for the early crop on Long Island, and by means of 

 the farm bureau officers these two interests have 

 been brought into touch with each other. As it be- 

 comes better known, the farm bureau is increasingly 

 being made a means of information touching farm 



