154 COOPERATIVE MARKETING 



Thus, much more than $1,000,000 is clearly ascribable 

 to cooperation, for the size of the average claim is only 

 about $20, and an individual would scarcely undertake to 

 sue a railroad for the restitution of such a sum. Because 

 the Exchange has never stopped to consider the amount 

 of the injury when a principle was at stake claims are now 

 settled with despatch and without litigation, for the rail- 

 roads know that unless an agreement is reached the case 

 will be fought through, and they know that the Exchange 

 has the data for winning most of its cases. 



Fourth among the enumerated purposes is the improve- 

 ment of the product and the package. The product is im- 

 proved in various ways. First, cultural skill is encouraged 

 by the rivalry of growers to obtain the greatest proportion 

 of their fruit in the higher grades under the pooling sys- 

 tem. To assist in this worthy competition the exchange 

 system, in connection with the Fruit Growers Supply Com- 

 pany and the Citrus Protective League, places before its 

 members any significant improvements in orchard methods 

 that may have been made. Effective fumigation and frost 

 protection have come in for considerable attention, and 

 a recent development that is likely to prove of the utmost 

 significance is the discovery that citrus trees vary tremen- 

 dously in productiveness. Mr. A. D. Shamel, of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, has made some epoch 

 making studies in which he has proved that variation in 

 yield, texture and regularity of bearing of citrus trees are 

 transmissible through budding. His investigations show 

 that by eliminating unprofitable trees by rebudding to 

 proved stocks the yield to the acre can probably be increased 

 by 50 per cent.* These discoveries were at once brought 



* Shamel : "A Study of the Improvement of Citrus Fruits Through 

 Bud Selection," U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, Circular No. 77, 191 1 ; cf., also a letter from A. D. Shamel 

 to G. Harold Powell, December, 1912. 



