232 THE FARMER AS A COOPERATOR. 



liands of the purchaser at the earliest possible moment; tliis 

 the owner of the money secured by it will insist upon at all 

 hazards, and it will ordinarily be done regardless of any 

 promises to growers. 



Perlia])s the main object of the cooperative fruit associa- 

 tions of California has been to relieve the selling pressure 

 during the first month or two of eacli season, by providing 

 means whereby growers can obtain reasonable advances for a 

 short time, upon their ])roduct, while still retaining control of 

 its sale. It is considered that since the crop requires the 

 entire year for its consumption, during which time it will 

 necessarily be ''carried " by some one, it will be to the grow- 

 er's interest to avoid a forced sale of the entire crop during 

 the first month or two, by "carrying" some portion of it 

 himself, not, however, in a speculative spirit, or with any 

 special expectation of more than the proper slight advance to 

 offstt interest and shrinkage, which a dealer would expect. 



This, however, the grower can not do, if he loads up his 

 {)roduct with advances approaching its market value; when 

 he does that liis product will have to move ; the inducements 

 which commission houses sometimes offer of very large ad- 

 vances, as against comparatively small advances attainable 

 through a cooperative society, are in reality no advantage to 

 the grower; in almost every instance when his circumstances 

 require him to immediately realize nearly the full value of 

 his crop, lie will do better to sell outright to some person able 

 to hold it if he desires. 



Dried fruit, nuts, raisins, etc., in a fruit warehouse in 

 California, in charge of experienced men who are responsible 

 for its condition, is security for fifty per cent of its current 

 value, and would now probably be so considered by most Cali- 

 fornia banks, for a short loan, with the understanding that 

 no renewal was to be asked, but the fruit sold before the 

 maturity of the advance upon it; this would probably be 

 all that a banker would advance, and it should be all that 

 any cooperative society should advance. Holding any prod- 

 uct which you can sell, and the proceeds of which you need, 

 is speculation, and he who speculates on borrowed money is 



