COOPERATIVE PURCHASING AND MARKETING ORGANIZATIONS. 43 
Pools are maintained for each, variety of fancy grade and the ex- 
penses of each pool are kept separate and charged to the almonds in 
that pool. The almonds that are not of the fancy grade are sold 
separately. Sales are made over a large part of the United States 
and as many as 600 wholesale dealers have handled the organization's 
output in one season. A nut-shelling plant has been erected, and it 
is planned to develop the eastern demand for shelled almonds. The 
present annual volume of business is about $750,000, which will be 
increased within the next few years because of the large acreage 
planted to this crop which as yet is not in bearing. 
THE DELTA CREAMERY CO., CALIFORNIA. 
The Delta Creamery Co, was formed in 1910. Its membership is 
composed of dairymen and the business is operated for their mutual 
benefit. The returns from products handled by the company have 
been much more satisfactory than those received when the members 
marketed them individually. 
The creamery has established a wholesale house in San Diego and 
at present about one-third of its output is marketed through this 
outlet with good results. It is planned to extend this method of sell- 
ing so that the entire output can be sold in this way. The manager 
states that he believes the creamery owes its success in a large measure 
to its efficient employees and to the businesslike methods used in 
conducting the operations. 
THE FLORIDA CITRUS EXCHANGE. 
The Florida Citrus Exchange is a cooperative nonstock association 
which was formed on account of unsatisfactory conditions surround- 
ing the marketing of the citrus fruit of Florida. Before this organi- 
zation was formed each grower attended to the marketing of his own 
fruit and, as a consequence, proper supervision was lacking and suffi- 
cient attention was not given to grading and packing. Most of the 
packing was done in sheds, barns , and similar places, and little atten- 
tion was given to the a.ppearance of the fruit. During a period of six 
years a number of packing houses were built, and at present the 
Florida Citrus Exchange with its allied membership, has about 
$600,000 invested in such plants. An idea of the growth of the ex- 
change is obtained from the statement that about 700,000 boxes of 
fruit were handled during its second year, while in 1915 it handled 
over 2,000,000 boxes. At first the loss on account of decay was large, 
but because of improved methods this loss has been greatly reduced, 
until at the present time it is comparatively small. 
The exchange has been instrumental in securing new markets for 
Florida fruit. In the early days of the organization fruit was shipped 
to but 18 or 20 markets, while at the present time there are approxi- 
mately 135 agencies throughout the United States and Canada which 
