228 Cooperation in Agriculture 



growers is united and sold together, and at the end of a 

 pool, the grower receives his pro rata of the proceeds based 

 on the number of pounds or packages of each grade that 

 he has contributed. 



In the peach business and in small-fruit shipping the 

 growers may adopt a daily or a weekly or a seasonal pooling 

 system ; in the citrus business a pool may extend over ten 

 to thirty days or even through an entire season; and 

 in the apple business the fruit of an entire season may 

 be handled through a single pool, though a separate pool 

 may be made for each of the leading varieties, for the 

 different grades, and sometimes for the different sizes in 

 each grade. In the orange and lemon growers' associa- 

 tions the different grades are pooled separately, but the 

 sizes in each grade are generally pooled together. In 

 theory each grower has the right to contribute to each 

 pool his pro rata of the fruit of the association as a whole. 

 The manager of the association usually apportions to 

 each grower his quota of the fruit to be shipped in a 

 pool in accordance with his acreage. The pooling system 

 simplifies the business methods of an association and is 

 growing in favor as a practical working plan. 



There are a number of factors that are likely to con- 

 tribute to the success or failure of the pooling system. To 

 be successful, the handling, grading, and packing of the 

 fruit must be under the direction or control of the associa- 

 tion in order to insure uniformity. It is not often success- 

 ful when these matters are in the hands of the grower. It 

 depends further on having a large proportion of the fruit 

 of an association of similar character, otherwise a member 

 whose fruit grades largely into a low class becomes dis- 



