10 BULLETIN 1261, U. S. DEPARTMEXT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the loss is distributed among all the shippers in a pool, under ordinary 
conditions no hardship is incurred. 
The pooling system also permits the association manager to handle 
the crop in such a way that labor will be employed most efficiently and 
economically. At the same time he is able to conform reasonably 
closely to the distribution schedule of the central organization. This 
is seldom possible when shipments are not pooled. There is always a 
period during the season when the demand is more active than at 
other times, or when it is expected that there will be an active demand 
and relatively high prices. Every grower is anxious to ship at this 
time, and, on the contrary, has no desire to ship when prices are low, 
or when there is the expectation of low prices. This desire on the 
part of the growers to secure the highest market price often defeats 
itself. If everyone ships when higher prices are expected, excessive 
supplies will hold prices at a low level. Shipments must be made in 
accordance with the actual or anticipated demand, otherwise disas- 
trous market gluts or market shortages are inevitable. Efficient 
distribution can be secured much more easily under the pooling sys- 
tem than under a system of individual returns. 
Oranges and lemons are always pooled by grade. As a rule, the 
proportion contributed by each grower to a pool is determined by 
securing the weight of the fruit with the culls eliminated. Some 
associations pool not only by grade but by size: In such cases three 
sizes only are considered: "Large-ofT" (larger than 126), "standard" 
(126 to 216), and u small-off" (smaller than 216). This means that 
each lot of fruit must be packed and the number of boxes and sizes 
checked before a second lot is sized. Associations which do not pool 
by size claim that any disparity in sizes is equalized over the season, 
or at least over three or four seasons, and that the results do not jus- 
tify the additional labor and records required. Although the pool 
records are secured on the basis of the weight of the fruit contributed 
by each grower, these are sometimes converted into packed boxes 
when returns are made. 
Lemons, like oranges, are weighed immediately after they are 
graded, and returns to the growers are made on the basis of these 
weights. Lemons, as a rule, are pooled over approximately a six- 
weeks period, or whenever the picking crews have <*one over all 
orchards in the association. In other words, "a pick: is a pool." 
Some associations make a season's pool for Washington Navel oranges 
and another for Valencia oranges, and in some instances lemons are 
pooled for the season. Where this is done, partial payments are made 
to the growers from time to time. Such payments are a percentage 
of the estimated returns for the season. At the end of the season or 
at the end of the fiscal year final settlement is made with all members 
of the association. If fruit is graded and weighed within a certain 
pooling period, it is included in that pool, although it may not be 
shipped until one or two days after the pool has closed. The date of 
sale does not determine the pool in which the fruit shall be included. 
REGULAR PACKING-HOUSE OPERATIONS. 
Oranges, as received from the orchards in field boxes, are weighed 
and the weights recorded. The fruit of the various growers is held 
in separate stacks. When a sufficient supply of one grower's fruit 
