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proportion to the acreage held by each 
or to the probable production of each 
member, or unequally without reference 
to either of these factors. It may be con- 
tributed by business men who are not 
fruit growers, but who desire to encour- 
age the formation of associations; or the 
capital stock may be subscribed as an in- 
vestment, and a high rate of interest paid 
on it before the profits are distributed to 
the growers. Some of the associations 
handle fruit on speculation or for non- 
members at a specified rate per package. 
All of these types of so-called co-opera- 
tive associations and many others are in 
operation with a greater or less degree 
of success. The most virile and effective 
from the standpoint of the producer are 
those which are strictly co-operative, non- 
profit in type, each member contributing 
an equal amount of capital and having an 
equal voice in its management or a vot- 
ing power and capital contribution in 
proportion to the acreage of bearing fruit 
held by each. The association handles 
the fruit of the members only and the 
fruit is under the control of the asso- 
ciation from the tree to the market. The 
objection urged against this form of or- 
ganization is that the small grower has 
an equal voice with the large grower in 
fixing the policies of the association. The 
objection to the voting power based on 
acreage is that the exceptional grower 
has no more influence than a poor grow- 
er of equal acreage. There is equally 
strong objection to the form of power 
based on production, as the pro rata of 
production may vary with the seasons. 
All of these objections are discussed in 
the following pages. 
Causes of Failure in Co-operative 
Associations 
Not all of the co-operative associations 
are successful. In fact, comparatively 
few of them have been distinctly success- 
ful, especially among the early associa- 
tions formed before the citrus-fruit grow- 
ers of California organized to distribute 
their products and to protect the capital 
invested in their industry. The citrus- 
fruit organizations, most of which are 
founded on the true co-operative, non- 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
profit basis, have had a far-reaching in- 
fluence on the co-operative movement in 
the United States. 
The orange and lemon growers of Cal- 
ifornia have the most powerful and suc- 
cessful organizations to be found in any 
agricultural industry in the United 
States, if not in the world, one organ- 
ization acting as an agent in distributing 
$15,000,000 worth of fruit a year for its 
6,000 members, organized into more than 
a hundred associations on a non-profit 
basis. This agency sends fruit to every 
part of the United States and Canada 
and to several foreign countries, main- 
taining its own exclusive representatives 
in all of the principal markets of Amer- 
ica. Many of the co-operative associa- 
tions organized in recent years have been 
formed on the principles that underlie 
the citrus-fruit associations, and these, 
when wisely managed, have shown great 
strength. 
The Management of a Co-operative 
Association 
several factors have contributed to the 
downfall of fruit growers’ associations. 
Many of them have been formed by im- 
practical, often unsuccessful, enthusiasts 
with high motives, but with no business 
experience and little standing in their 
communities. Others have been formed 
ahead of their time when the industry 
was too successful for the members to be 
held together. Many of them have been 
managed by incompetent, low-salaried 
men, not infrequently by those who have 
been unsuccessful in business. The suc- 
cessful handling of a co-operative associa- 
tion requires a manager who is compe- 
tent to assume the general direction of 
the affairs and business of the associa- 
tion. He must have a high order of 
business ability, sterling integrity, un- 
usual tact and judgment in handling men, 
and unlimited energy. An association 
under any other kind of management 
is not a serious business undertaking. 
It is more difficult to direct a co-oper- 
ative association than a stock company 
or corporation. In the latter the man- 
ager is responsible to a board of direc- 
tors, but the stockholders do not often 
