26 BULLETIN 547, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Requests for information were sent out at various times as new 
names were added to the list, and in the case of a number of asso- 
ciations several requests were made before any reply was received, 
This work extended over the years 1914 and 1915; consequently the 
volume of business reported by the organizations is distributed over 
a number of years. A few reported their business for 1912 and a 
few for 1915, but most of the reports cover the years 1913 and 1914. 
Many of the associations reported the volume of business for more 
than one year, therefore there are some duplications. In order to 
get the average volume of business, the reports for the four years 
have all been taken into consideration. The total shown for each 
year must not be taken as the total volume of all associations for 
that year. A total of 889 associations reported their volume of 
business for 1912; 3,099 reported for 1913; 2,877 reported for 1914; 
and 534 reported for 1915. The average volume shown for the years 
1912 and 1915 can not be taken as representative of the true average 
in every case because of the small proportions of the total number 
reporting for those years. 
The last three columns of Table II show the number of each class 
of organization and the total number of organizations reporting their 
membership ; the total membership and the average membership per 
association also is shown. (See also chart 4.) The average mem- 
bership of all the organizations reporting is 122. Tobacco associa- 
tions show the largest average, having 336; the miscellaneous asso- 
ciations, 231; stores, 220; live stock, 140; fruit and produce, 124; 
elevators, 102; cotton, 87; and creameries and cheese factories, 83. 
(See also chart 5.) 
All of the organizations did not report on every point concerning 
which information was requested, but using the average of those 
reporting as a basis, estimates have been made of the annual volume 
of business and the membership of all organizations reporting. These 
estimates are shown in Table III, and are presented graphically in 
charts 6 and 7. It is estimated that the 5,424 organizations reporting 
have an annual volume of business of $625,940,448 and a total mem- 
bership of 661,728. In the matter of volume of business the elevators 
take the lead with an estimated total of $234,529,716; next come 
fruit and produce associations with a total of $140,629,918; cream- 
eries and cheese factories are third with $83,360,648; then the miscel- 
laneous . marketing associations, $48,214,866; cotton associations, 
$34,392,258; stores, $14,552,725; live stock shipping associations, 
$9,482,592; and tobacco associations, $6,746,270. (See also chart 8.) 
