2 BULLETIN 1261, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
adopted a common plan for marketing the citrus fruit of their mem- 
ber associations. It was decided that each exchange should market 
the crop of its members independently but that the sales policies of 
the exchanges should be coordinated through an executive board to 
meet in Los Angeles weekly during the shipping season. 
The district exchanges operated independently for two seasons, 
except in so far as their activities were coordinated by the executive 
board. In the fall of 1895 the Southern California Fruit Exchange 
was organized. This exchange continued to operate until 1905, 
when its name was changed to the California Fruit Growers Exchange 
under which title it now operates. 
The California Fruit Growers Exchange is made up of 192 inde- 
pendent local units (May 1, 1923). For the most part these are local 
cooperative associations. Possibly 20 per cent are corporations or 
individuals who pack fruit from their own orchards, or companies 
engaged in the business of packing fruit for growers. All except 18 
of the local units are federated into district exchanges. There are 20 
district exchanges at the present time with a membership of from 
2 to 20 local organizations. Each local organization controls the 
harvesting and packing of the fruit of its members. The local 
associations are incorporated, many owning property valued at $300,- 
000 or more and doing a business up to $1,000,000 annually. Each 
local unit nominates a director or directors on the board of the dis- 
trict exchange with which it is affiliated. The district exchange 
nominates a representative who is elected a director of the California 
Fruit Growers Exchange. The California Fruit Growers Exchange 
is accordingly governed by a board of 20 directors, one from each 
district. 
Local associations or other organizations not affiliated with a dis- 
trict exchange are known as direct contract shippers. The direct 
contract shippers are not represented on the board of directors, but 
in other respects their status is the same as that of the units which 
make up the district exchanges. 
The local associations and other organizations affiliated with the 
California Fruit Growers Exchange also own the stock of a purchasing 
organization known as the Fruit Growers Supply Co. This company 
was formed in 1907 for the purpose of securing the supplies essential 
to the packing and marketing of citrus fruit. It also purchases 
orchard and miscellaneous supplies for the members of the local 
associations and other organizations, which are its stockholders. 
The 20 directors of the California Fruit Growers Exchange are also 
directors of the Fruit Growers Supply Co. The Fruit Growers 
Supply Co. is not a subsidiary of the California Fruit Growers Ex- 
change, but an organization formed by the associations to purchase 
Eackmg-house supplies, while the exchange is an organization formed 
y the same associations to provide facilities for the marketing of 
their citrus fruit. 
In a similar manner, a certain number of the lemon associations 
affiliated with the exchange have organized a lemon by-products 
company, known as the Exchange Lemon Products Co., and the 
associations shipping oranges have organized a company known as 
the Exchange Orange Products Co. The associations are the stock- 
holders of these corporations and control them independently of the 
