26 BULLETIN 1109, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
of equally grave concern to the association as an unduly low price. 
The grower has learned by experience that his best interest requires 
the custom of the great bulk of the consuming public — laborers and 
farmers. He has also learned that a retail price above 25 cents a 
pound cuts off this class of consumption. When to these two ac- 
cepted facts is added the further knowledge on the part of the growers' 
association that the custom lost when the fruit goes above 25 cents a 
pound retail is difficult to win back, it can readily be seen that it is 
not to the growers' best interests that fruit should be sold at high 
prices. Careful marketing studies have shown the growers that an 
association price to the wholesale trade above 15 cents a pound is 
likely to result in a retail price above 25 cents. Hence, it is to the 
advantage of the association to place the bulk of its supply on the 
market at a price below the 15-cent mark. 
The 1921-22 season illustrates this point. The crop was short. 
The demand for berries was good. If the association had distributed 
its supply during the normal selling period, the demand for berries 
would have caused the price to advance early in the season to a 
level that would have cut off a large class of people whose custom is val- 
uable during a season of normal production. In order to avoid this, 
the association kept pushing its berries on the market in order to 
satisfy the demand at rates that would permit a retail price of 25 
cents or less. As a result of this policy, the association's supply was 
practically exhausted before the end of December, whereas in a 
normal year the selling season continues until the latter part of 
February. 
Here is a concrete instance of a cooperative association throwing 
its supply upon the market to discourage unduly high prices. This 
action was in keeping with the best interests of the association as 
demonstrated by past experience. It was in line with a long-time 
sales policy designed to retain the volume of custom necessary to 
the disposal of a normal crop. 
When the good will of the consumer is such a dominant factor in 
the sucess of a marketing organization, it can hardly be said that the 
organization is in position to exert an artificial control over the price 
of its product. 
THE EXPENSE OF MARKETING CRANBERRIES. 
Cranberries are handled by the grower up to the time they are 
placed in the car for shipment. Picking, sorting, carting, packing, 
and a greater part of the storage is performed by the grower and is 
considered a part of his production cost. The local associations, how- 
ever, supervise the performance of some of these practices. In 
Massachusetts the cooperative association operates four screen houses 
where farmers may have their berries screened, sorted, and packed 
at cost. 
