DRIED FRITIT AXD NUT ASROfTATIONS. 4/0 



of their neighbors; ahnost every one was of the opinion that 

 his fruit was better than that of his neighbors, and that lie 

 would somehow lose if he allowed it to lose its identity. 

 Fruit prices opened that year at what was considered a mod- 

 erately fair rate, although lower than the year before, and one 

 by one the stockholders sold out. It began to look serious, 

 for the plan of operation involved the agreement that interest 

 at eight per cent upon all stock issued should be charged as 

 an item of expense, against the fruit handled, and it began to 

 appear as if the fruit of a very few growers would have to bear 

 the entire interest charge upon the cost of a plant large 

 enough to handle ten times the quantity. Fortunately for 

 the society, it was a year of large fruit crops, and the buyers 

 soon began to get enough, and prices began to fall, and when 

 they reached a point lower than fruit had ever before brought 

 in the valley, the few who had not sold out, agreed, with some 

 apparent misgivings, to patronize their own business, instead 

 of competing with it. In all there were seventeen out of the 

 eighty who took the fearsome venture. The fruit was dried 

 and sold, and when settlement was made, it was found that 

 those who had been so reckless as to trust themselves with 

 their own product, had all made a handsome gain as com- 

 pared with the average of those who refused to stand by, and 

 that in the face of bearing the burden of interest on all the 

 stock. The result was so encouraging that the next year 

 nearly one-half of the stockholders had the full courage of 

 their convictions, and marketed the fruit through the associa- 

 tion. It was a short crop, but buyers 0{)cned the market with 

 very moderate offers, but prices went up towards the close of 

 the season to as high a figure as they had ever reached — $00 

 a ton for fresh prunes, which, if it could be had regularly, 

 would soon make millionaires of the growers. At this figure it 

 was almost impossible to hold the stockholders, and many of 

 them sold ; indeed, some had done so long before, at $40 to 

 $48 per ton. When the settlement was made by the associa- 

 tion, however, an average of $85 per ton, fresh, was distributed 

 after paying all expenses. Another similar society which had 

 that year been started near by, had a similar experience, and 



