FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
227 
the Florida Citrus Exchange, with M. E. 
Gillett as manager, was organized. 
In 1913 arrangements were made for 
the organization of the Florida Growers’ 
and Shippers’ Protective League. This 
agitation culminated in the employment 
of Prof. Lloyd S. Tenney as secretary 
and manager of the association. Prof. 
Tenney and Mr. L. B. Skinner will present 
the merits of this association to us tomor¬ 
row. Every good horticulturist ought to 
be a member of the league. 
LOSSES ACCRUING FROM LACK OF CO¬ 
OPERATION 
Almost every business with which we 
come in contact either on the selling or 
purchasing end of the business, we meet 
face tO ! face individuals who belong to 
strong organizations and who are not 
fighting as individuals but are fighting 
under the management of able leadership. 
The losses that accrue to us from lack of 
co-operation are many and below I give 
a few that have occurred to me. 
1. Losses at the Marketing End of 
Our Business. 
(a) Thousands of dollars every year 
are lost in the just claims that we have 
against transportation companies. Either 
our claims are so badly made that the 
transportation companies must look upon 
them with suspicion or if they are made 
correctly we are worn out by trying to 
unravel the endless red tape connected 
with the questions. My personal experi¬ 
ence in this matter is not very different 
from that cited to me by numerous other 
individuals. At one time I paid $16.35 011 
a shipment of live trees, the transportation 
expenses of which had been paid but the 
bill had become separated from the ship¬ 
ment. I paid the freight claim and was 
assured that it would be re-paid to me 
as soon as the prepaid bill arrived. When 
the documentary matter was all straight¬ 
ened out it was found that the cash had 
been sent to the treasury of the railroad. 
To make a long story short, I was about 
eight months in getting the refund, and 
by keeping actual account of my time, I 
found I had spent over $30 worth of time 
to get back that $16. 
(b) Our lack of organization has also 
made us the prey of dishonest and 
shady commission men. 
(c) Our lack of co-operation has also 
made it impossible to make collections 
from sales of our fruit when if we had 
been members of an organization the bills 
would have been paid promptly. 
2. Losses at the Growing End of 
Our Business. 
(a) We suffer immense losses in our 
citrus crop in making improper grading 
of our fruit. It does not make very much 
difference what the stencil is on the out¬ 
side of the box. When the box is opened 
and examined and found to contain a lot 
of seconds no matter if 75 per cent'of the 
box is firsts, the whole sells as seconds. 
(b) Rough handling,- either in the 
grove, packing house, or by the local rail- 
I a n d s is very largely eliminated by 
being thoroughly organized, making it a 
sei lous mattei for anyone who is haulin°' 
the fruit or transporting it, to handle it 
more roughly than should be. 
(c) Through lack of organization 
every man has to organize his own pick- 
ing crew. Tie has therefore no experi- 
