IS BULLETIN 1237. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
returns received for fruit delivered by the grower to the association. 
The usual amount deducted is 5 or 10 cents per box or per 100 
pounds of fruit shipped. Some associations require a grower to pay 
for his stock in cash at the time he becomes a member, but as a gen- 
eral rule the investment per acre is comparatively low in associations 
in which this provision is in force. In other instances, the grower 
pays cash for one-fifth of his total subscription, and gives the associa- 
tion four interest-bearing notes, payable in 1. 2. 3, and 4 years. 
Money paid by members for the stock of their association is a defi- 
nite amount in all cases, except when stock is issued on the basis of 
the quantity of fruit shipped. Here, too. there is often a provision 
that the number of shares held by one member shall not exceed a 
specified number or amount per acre. 
The ownership of stock does not necessarily constitute active mem- 
bership in an association. The by-laws of most associations provide 
that the grower must sign a crop contract, or a copy of the by-laws 
containing certain provisions with regard to the marketing of his crop, 
before he can have any voice in the management of the organization. 
It has been attempted in some instances to make stock certificates 
appurtenant to the orchard property for which they were originally 
issued. This restriction, however, has not been upheld by the courts: 
and it has been necessary to solve the vexed cmestion of stock owner- 
ship by nonproducers, at which the restriction was aimed, in other 
ways. The associations have accomplished this in a fairly satisfac- 
tory manner by the generally adopted provision that no dividends or 
interest shall be paid for money invested in the capital stock of the 
association, and that stockholders shall have no voice in the manage- 
ment of the enterprise unless the fruit grown upon the orchards repre- 
sented by their stock shall be under contract to the association. The 
stock, therefore, has no value as an investment. A few associations. 
make periodical stock assessments largely for the purpose of inducing 
nonproducers or nonpatrons to dispose of stock they may hold. 
A grower disposing of his property, therefore, usually sells his as- 
sociation stock to the purchaser of the orchard property. If he can 
not dispose of his stock in this way. he delivers the certificates to the 
^secretary of the association who sells them to a new member or to a 
member who must have additional stock to cover orchard property 
just coming into bearing. These transactions are usually made at 
less than the par value of the stock. Nearly all associations, how- 
ever, have a few shares of stock in the hands of individuals who are not 
active members. In many cases an individual holds his stock because 
he expects to become again an owner of grove property. Others 
merely neglect to dispose of their stock after withdrawing from the 
organization. This holding of stock by ex-members does not con- 
stitute a serious problem as a rule, although the association manage- 
ment prefers that all stock shall be in the hands of active members. 
Each active member is entitled to one vote for each share of stock 
he own-, payments for which have been completed. As a matter of 
fact, members seldom vote according to shares, except in the case of 
the election of a board of directors, or in case there are irreconcilable 
differences of opinion with regard to policy. In the election of direct- 
ors it is the custom in many organizations for the members by a viva 
voce vote to instruct the secretary to cast a single ballot for the men 
