CITRUS GROWERS' EXCHANGES 75 



noon. The orchardists, their wives and sometimes their 

 children are present; the local banker, editor and minister 

 are apt to look in at part of the meeting; members and 

 managers of other associations are on hand, seeking point- 

 ers; in fact, anybody interested in growing and packing 

 citrus fruits is likely to be seen. In order to allow growers 

 to see what their neighbors in other associations are doing 

 a kind of schedule of dates is arranged for the meetings 

 of a district, but the accepted time for all meetings is the 

 early part of September, a time when one fruit year has 

 practically closed and before a new one is opened. 



The president of the board of directors is in the chair, 

 and the meeting is organized by determining whether a 

 quorum is present and what proxies are to be recognized. 

 Then the manager of the association reviews the year's 

 activities in a report which is more or less edifying accord- 

 ing as he has or has not literary and statistical skill. Copies 

 of the report or at least the important figures in the year's 

 operations are usually prepared and presented to the mem- 

 bers in advance so that they can follow the manager's 

 thought intelligently. After reviewing those general fea- 

 tures of the business which seem to call for attention the 

 manager takes up in detail the amount of fruit handled, 

 the cost of handling, the total proceeds from the sales of 

 fruit, the average gross and average net price a box. Com- 

 parisons are likely to be made with former years to indicate 

 progress or to show why the business has not come up to 

 previous records. Constructive suggestions frequently con- 

 clude the report : recommendations that the picking be more 

 rigidly standardized, that new or improved machinery be 

 purchased, that the packing house be enlarged, that a new 

 brand be established, or what not. 



Following the manager, some representative of the bank 

 which has been designated as treasury reads a review of 



