34 BULLETIN 547, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



from $5 to $100, and the memberships are nontransferable in prac- 

 tically all cases. In a few instances the mere signing of contracts 

 to deliver all of certain products to the association for sale, con- 

 stitutes membership. These contracts are continuous and the 

 grower's right to cancel them is restricted to certain periods of each 

 year. 



New companies. — Cooperation among fruit and produce associa- 

 tions is passing through a stage of experimental development in most 

 sections of the country, and is developing rapidly in many of the 

 truck and newer fruit producing sections of the United States, es- 

 pecially in the South. New concerns are launched each year. 

 Although some of them endure but a short time, indications point 

 toward a rapid development in the next few years in cooperative 

 methods of handling perishable products in the producing sections of 

 the country. 



Fruit and vegetable canneries. — Forty-five of the companies which 

 are classed as fruit and produce associations in this study operate 

 canneries. Practically all of these organizations are engaged pri- 

 marily in canning fruit and vegetable products, but most of them ship 

 products in the fresh state when markets are considered good. The 

 largest number of farmers' canneries are found hi Indiana and the 

 North Pacific States; the business ranges from $10,000 to $1,500,000 

 each per year. Various small berries, larger fruits, and vegetables 

 are canned. A few of these concerns operate vinegar plants and 

 evaporators in conjunction with the canning business. 



About $3,500,000 was received for canned and dried fruits and 

 vegetables by cooperative canning plants in 1914. This is a com- 

 paratively small amount, since the value of this business as a whole 

 in the United States for 1914 was in excess of $158,000,000. Few 

 farmers' canneries have succeeded. In one State alone 80 canneries 

 which were organized during a period of 10 years by local farmers 

 are noW out of existence. None attained any degree of success. 



COTTON ORGANIZATIONS. 



Reports were received from 213 cotton associations distributed 

 among 14 States. Over one-half of them are located hi the States 

 of Texas and Georgia, the former reporting 71 and the latter 44. 

 Alabama reported 19, Arkansas 15, South Carolina 14, Oklahoma 13, 

 Mississippi 11, and North Carolina 10; and the remainder are scat- 

 tered over the other cotton-producing States of the South. Prac- 

 tically all are cotton warehousing associations. Comparing the 

 number of grain elevators and the number of cotton associations, it 

 is evident that the cotton growers of the South are not nearly as 

 well organized as the gram growers of the North Central States., 



