COOPERATIVE PURCHASING AND MARKETING ORGANIZATIONS. 43 



Pools are maintained for each variety of fancy grade and the ex- 

 penses of each pool are kept separate and charged to the almonds in 

 that pooL The almonds that are not of the fancy grade are sold 

 separately. Sales are made over a large part of the United States 

 and as many as 600 wholesale dealers have handled the organization's 

 output in one season. A nut-shelling plant has been erected, and it 

 is planned to develop the eastern demand for shelled almonds. The 

 present annual volume of business is about $750,000, which will be 

 increased within the next few years because of the large acreage 

 planted to this crop which as yet is not in bearing. 



THE DELTA CREAMERY CO., CALIFORNIA. 



The Delta Creamery Co. was formed in 1910. Its membership is 

 composed of dairymen and the business is operated for their mutual 

 benefit. The returns from products handled by the company have 

 been much more satisfactory than those received when the members 

 marketed them individually. 



The creamery has established a wholesale house in San Diego and 

 at present about one-third of its output is marketed through this 

 outlet with good results. It is planned to extend this method of sell- 

 ing so that the entire output can be sold in this way. The manager 

 states that he believes the creamery owes its success in a large measure 

 to its efficient employees and to the businesslike methods used in 

 conducting the operations. 



THE FLORIDA CITRUS EXCHANGE. 



The Florida Citrus Exchange is a cooperative nonstock association 

 which was formed on account of unsatisfactory conditions surround- 

 ing the marketing of the citrus fruit of Florida. Before this organi- 

 zation was formed each grower attended to the marketing of his own 

 fruit and, as a consequence, proper supervision was lacking and suffi- 

 cient attention was not given to grading and packing. Most of the 

 packing was done in sheds, barns, and similar places, and little atten- 

 tion was given to the appearance of the fruit. During a period of six 

 years a number of packing houses were built, and at present the 

 Florida Citrus Exchange with its allied membership has about 

 $600,000 invested in such plants. An idea of the growth of the ex- 

 change is obtained from the statement that about 700,000 boxes of 

 fruit were handled during its second year, while in 1915 it handled 

 over 2,000,000 boxes. At first the loss on account of decay was large, 

 but because of improved methods this loss has been greatly reduced, 

 until at the present time it is comparatively small. 



The exchange has been instrumental in securing new markets for 

 Florida fruit. In the early days of the organization fruit was shipped 

 to but 18 or 20 markets, while at the present time there are approxi- 

 mately 135 agencies throughout the United States and Canada which 



