The Rural New-Yorker 
The Business Farmer’s Paper 
Vor,. LXXVI. NKW YOIUv. INIATICII LM. No. 41122. 
Weekly, One Dollar Per Year 
Postpaid 
Single Copies, Five Cents 
Published by 
The Rural Publishing Co. 
333 W. 30th Street 
New York 
The Citrus Industry 
Co-operation Through the California Fruit Growers’ 
Exchange 
1‘akt I. 
XTENT OF I’RODUCTIOX.-—In discussing nn 
industry, it is (iiiiictdt (o undt'rst.nnd its ex¬ 
tent or vaiue, except tiirougii .some gtuierai shite- 
iiKuit, by lignres wiiicli siiow in tiio most comienst'd 
form and letist sitace its imjtortanee or tlie i)osition 
it oecupie.s. Tlio citrus industry in tiic TTnitcd 
States is lindted practically to two States, Cali¬ 
fornia and Florida. In Californi.a it repre.senfs an 
investment of altotit .');200,()00,(KX), emltracing 200,- 
000 acres of land devoted to tlie growing of orange.s, 
lemons and grapcfiaiil. 'I'wenty years ago, alK)nt 
r>.000 cars of orang(!S were prndnec'd. ’I’liese W(!re 
liad llie fruit graded to :i standard, and IxMler 
I)acked Ilian was done liy tlu' individual grower.s. 
Finding Unit even with this advanced step in bet¬ 
ter grading and packing, local pnrcliasors did not 
pay .satisfactory prices and tlio distant sliipping wiis 
still nnsatisfaclory. many of tlie local associations 
wci-e formed into a <‘entral organization known ;is 
tlie “(’alifornia Fruit-Growers’ Fxcliange”—wliicli 
undertook to estalilisli a goiKM’al marketing .system liy 
olilaining a knowledgi* of market conditions willi 
tlie view to giving a lief ter distrilintion of tlic fruit 
ami sliipping it to iioints tliat wore not lieavily 
overstock(‘d, thendiy mideavoring to obtain better 
vaiue for It. 
SOUUCKS OF TUOTIT’.GF.—While tlie central, 
as also I lie local, organizations were formed upon 
the basis of a non-protit corjiorat ion, embodying 
of .\gricnltnre at Washington wlio discovered tin* 
first eau.se of so mueli decayed fruit in transiiorla- 
tion was ip tlu* careless liandling of the fruit in tlie 
groves, from scratclie.s, and sliglit liriiise.s upon tlu* 
skill of the orange.s and l(*m()ns in [licking. Some 
defects in liandling were akso discover(*d in tlie [lack¬ 
ing bouso.s. Tliis investigational work resulted in a 
g(*neral r(*organization of tlie [loliey of tlie Central 
Fxcliange, which embodied the work of 18 district 
exclianges (*oni[)osed of 171 local associations of 
from no to 200 m(*ml)(*rs (*acli, made up of over 
8,000 growers wlio now [irodnce 0.1 p(*r cent, of tlu* 
citrus fruit of tlie State, estimati'd for 1017 to la* 
40,000 cars. Tlie exchange has introduced tin* mosi 
[iractieal edueatioual hel[) to aid this large iiumher 
of [iroducer.s, known in any agricultural organiza¬ 
tion in the world. 
A California Bungalow, Showing Possibilities of Adornment in that Climate. Fig. 186 
sold to local tuiyers. or coiisigru*!! on conimi.ssiou 
to markets from I,.n00 to .‘l.OOO miles away, witli 
r(*lurii.s often tliat did not cover tlu* fr(*iglit and 
oilier cliarg**s. As tlie cost of liringing an acre of 
oranges or l(*mon.s into hearing is not less tlian 
.$1,(100 tlie growers met witli losses and discourage¬ 
ment in tlieir lirst y(*ars of i‘xp(*ri(*nce in tlie Inisi- 
n(*ss. ’I’lu* local h'>.'‘*'’>^ did not offer (*nongli for tin* 
fruit to [lay for tlu* cost of [iroduction, wliile llie 
distant commission man often .sent due Iiills for 
payment of freiglit, ratlier tlian cliecks for the 
fruit. 
MFTi'FR llANDLlXfJ NFFl >FI).—Under these 
conditions tlu* growers were (lriv(»n to tlu* consid¬ 
eration of .some ditTerent and l)(*tter methods of 
handling tlielr fruit. They formed local as.socia- 
tions, built [lacking-houses and under a manager 
tlu* oor>i)erativ(* [iriiiciple, wlicreiii all prolils went 
to tlie [irodiicers, tlie l)u.siiu*ss did not liring tlu* 
larg(*r r(*turns tliat W(*r(? aiitici[»at(*d. 'i'lie Central 
10x<*liange succeeded in organizing a Indter distrib¬ 
uting syst(*in, luit heavy losses w(*re freipiently re- 
[lorted from long distant .sliiimients, tlirougli di*- 
eayed fruit that reaclu*d np to and lieyond $1,.’)()(),- 
000 annually. Tlie causes for this lieavy annual 
loss were laid to railroad eompani(*s and to [laek- 
ing-liouse nianagenu*nt, witli lawsuits inaugurated 
to [ilace tlie res[)on.sihility and for tlu* collection of 
damages. In the meantime a general investigation 
was begun to ascertain the real causes for this un¬ 
satisfactory condition of the iiidu.stry tliat had 
steadily grown to larger [irojiortions. 
(WUSF OF DFIj.VY.—A force of .sclentitie investi¬ 
gators was [)ut into the field from the Department 
'i'lLF F.Xl’IIAXGF AS AN FI )UCA'l’i IR. -While 
the exchange is a strictly distrihnting and .selling 
organization, it has i*stahlislu*d a deiiartincnt of 
field work where trained men go to the [laeking- 
lionses and insiiect the work done, aiding [lacking- 
honse managers to correct defective or careless 
work in grading and packing, and aiding llieiii to 
look more carefully after tlu* work of the grower, 
that they bring in the fruit in tlie liest [lo.ssilile 
condition, ('[ion tlie work done in tlie groves, de¬ 
pend the h(*st results that may he obtained by the 
exchange in selling and in obtaining tlie highest 
value for the fruit. 
TllF MARKFTTNG FND.—Farmers and fruit 
growers generally do not, and cannot fully under¬ 
stand the conditions and reiiuirements of the mar¬ 
keting end of their Imsine.ss. They neither fully 
