632 Californian Poultry Raising and Marketing. [Oct., 



his business, and not as profit-making concerns. They are to 

 provide assistance to the farmer in proportion to the size of his 

 business through them, and to ensure that none but he and his 

 associates have the controlhng interest. The constitution of 

 the Poultry Producers of Central California Incorporated, 

 follows the main principles v^hich have now been accepted in 

 this country as essential for bona- fide co-operative concerns. 

 The initial capital is supplied by local poultry farmers and 

 subsequent issues are governed by the size of the applicant's 

 poultry ranch, i.e., he can only be allotted one $10.00 share 

 for every 1,000 hens or majority fraction thereof owned by 

 him. Since he must, upon joining, sign an agreement to sell 

 and deliver to the society all the eggs and poultry which he 

 markets, it will be seen that the stock is fairly equitably 

 divided. 



The society is governed by a board of eleven directors, all of 

 whom must themselves be poultry producers. An exception 

 is made in the case of one of the directors, who is nominated 

 by the State Market Director of California. There is an 

 Executive Committee of five directors, and a salaried general 

 manager. In addition to the usual annual accounts, the society 

 issues a monthly auditor's financial statement showing the 

 assets and liabilities, and the volume of business and operating 

 costs during the month in question. 



Methods of Selling.— The society sells the eggs at the best 

 price it can get, and hands over the proceeds at the average price 

 for the week to the producer, less the cost of the egg-boxes and 

 certain other expenses. These include transportation, and a 

 charge not exceeding 1 cent, per dozen eggs for operating and 

 selling expenses. At the end of the fiscal year a reasonable 

 amount is put aside for reserves, dividend, advertising, etc., 

 and the balance of the surplus, if any, is divided among the 

 members according to their deliveries. 



In addition to this, 1 cent per dozen is deducted from the 

 selling price of the eggs handed to the producer, and placed to 

 his credit towards the purchase of further shares. As soon as 

 $10.00 is made up in this manner the producer is given a further 

 sh are in the society. This procedure will, however, cease as 

 soon as the authorised capital has been paid up. 



In times of plenty, the society, at its discretion, places a 

 proportion of the eggs delivered in store, paying the producers 

 at the end of the week at the current market price. When it 

 is considered w^ise to sell these, the producers generally are 



