238 Cooperation in Agriculture 



inadequate Avhen a section produces a large quantity of 

 perishable fruit. In California, for example, the F.O.B. 

 method of selling either to local buyers, or on order from 

 distant firms, was satisfactory when the deciduous fruit 

 business was small. But as the fruit business increased, 

 the buyers were unable to develop markets satisfactory 

 to the shippers, and the associations of shippers were 

 obliged to do their own distributing and to depend on 

 the auction markets in the larger cities as a means of get- 

 ting a larger quantity of fruit before the retail trade. 

 The jobbing and commission firms who handled the Cali- 

 fornia fruit were unable to develop a trade that would 

 give the California producer a profit on his business. 

 Now fifty per cent of the deciduous fruit of California 

 is sold at public auction in the large cities. 



Fruit with Long-keeping Qualities. The distribution 

 and sale of fruit that can be kept a long time without 

 deterioration from decay or over-ripeness can be handled 

 by a cooperative association more easily than the highly 

 perishable kinds. Apples and citrus fruits can be shipped 

 long distances and may be stored several weeks or months 

 without excessive loss. They are more like the staple 

 farm crops and can be handled under a system that would 

 not be practical with fruits of a shorter season, or of a 

 highly perishable nature. With these products a compre- 

 hensive marketing system can be developed by the growers 

 themselves which will insure uniformity in the distribu- 

 tion of the product throughout the country and over the 

 season. Whether they should sell the fruit at the point 

 of production or in the centers of consumption depends 

 on local conditions, the competition or absence of competi- 



