^Q COOPERATIVE MARKETING 



ciation. Suppose twenty growers own a total of lOO acres, 

 twenty others own 200 acres, five own 75, four own 80, 

 and one owns 45 acres. Now assuming that the packing 

 house is estimated to cost $20,000, it is evident that a con- 

 tribution of $40 for each acre of orchard would be neces- 

 sary. In other words, those owning on the average five 

 acres would be involved to the extent of $200 each, those 

 owning ten acres would be liable for $400 each, and so on, 

 until the man owning forty-five acres would have to con- 

 tribute $1,800 as his share. 



However, it is easily possible that one of the five acre 

 men owns a grove of full maturity and heavy yield from 

 which he expects to pick eight boxes from each of the 

 ninety trees on each acre, or a total of 3,600 boxes. But 

 the forty-five acre grove may be but four or five years old 

 and just coming into bearing,* and the grower may expect 

 a yield of less than one box to a tree. In such a case the 

 man with five acres would use the facilities of the packing 

 house more than the man with forty-five acres, though the 

 latter's contribution for the plant would be nine times as 

 great. Besides, bringing an orange or lemon grove into 

 bearing is a long and costly process, and just before the 

 trees begin to make a substantial return is likely to be the 

 exact time when the grower is least able to undergo addi- 

 tional expense in the form of stock purchases. 



The illustration just given is, of course, extreme, and 

 was used merely to bring out the point that since large dif- 

 ferences in productiveness in different groves is the rule, 

 assessment for the plant according to acreage is not entirely 

 satisfactory. On the other hand, assessment according to 



*In actual practice, four or five years is commonly adopted as the 

 age at which stock must be taken in the association if fruit is to be 

 accepted. The insignificant amounts of fruit from younger trees are 

 accepted along with a member's fruit from older trees without addi- 

 tional stock ownership. 



