Vol. LXXVIII. 
Published Weekly by The Rural Publishing Co.. 
833 W. 30th St.. New York. Price One Dollar a Year. 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 6, 1910. 
Entered as Second-Class Matter. June 2 8 . 1879. at the Post 
Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. 
No. 4563. 
I 
Headquarters Beverly Co-operative Growers' Association. Fig. 578 
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Shipment Ready for Special Train. Fig. 579 
A RIVER-FRONT SECTION.— 
As an illustration of profit¬ 
able co-operation among farm¬ 
ers, the growers of corn, fruit 
and truck in the river-front 
section of Burlington County, 
New Jersey, point with pride to 
the Co-operative Growers’ Asso¬ 
ciation of Beverly, which has 
operated in that section during 
the past season. The river-front 
district of Burlington County, 
extending from Palmyra to Flor¬ 
ence, and comprising the impor¬ 
tant produce centers of Delanco, 
Beverly, Burlington and Flor¬ 
ence, has grown to be one of the 
most important and productive 
vegetable and fruit growing sec¬ 
tions in the country. Its chief 
markets are New York, Philadel¬ 
phia and Newark, which, with 
the other New Jersey cities, fur¬ 
nish an abundant outlet for the 
large quantities of produce grown 
in this section. 
BETTER TRANSPORTATION 
WANTED.—For years the cus¬ 
tom has been to haul to Philadel¬ 
phia by team, and in recent years 
by motor truck, and to ship to 
New York and Newark over the 
Amboy Division of the Pennsyl¬ 
vania Railroad. During the last 
10 years the growers of this dis¬ 
trict have found much fault with 
the fast freight service furnished 
them to New York. With a sin¬ 
gle track line and many small 
stations along the way, and with 
a great number of small-lot ship¬ 
ments, it has seemed almost im¬ 
possible for the railroad com¬ 
pany to get the train to New 
York in time to meet the best 
early morning market demand. 
For the past four years there 
has been a growing tendency to 
substitute large motor trucks for 
the railroad service. It was esti¬ 
mated that some days during 
August and September of 1918 
more than oue hundred of these 
large motor trucks left this 
section for New York. As the 
demand for this method of trans¬ 
portation increased, truck owners 
and operators raised the rates 
considerably. Some operators 
have found that after using their 
truck for two years on this 
eighty-mile haul, and often mak¬ 
ing three trips a week, their 
charges were too low to pay the 
running and overhead expenses. 
con- 
Loading the Special Train. Fig. 580 
realized something must be done 
to better marketing conditions. 
They were rather discouraged 
after the shipping season and 
asked for a conference with the 
State Bureau of Markets. Fol¬ 
lowing this conference a meeting 
was arranged at which the rail- 
/ . 
road officials and farmers could 
meet together to thrash out the 
problems of this section. 
FORMING AN ASSOCIA¬ 
TION.—As a result of several 
conferences the growers formed 
the Co-operative Growers’ Asso¬ 
ciation under by-laws suggested 
by the State Bureau of Markets. 
This association was incorporated 
under the State law for asso¬ 
ciations not for pecuniary profits. 
The membership fee was fixed at 
$2, and efforts were made to get 
all the growers in the river-front 
section to join, resulting in a 
paid-up membership of 150 by 
the middle of the season. 
A SPECIAL TRAIN. — Ar¬ 
rangements were made with the 
United States Railroad Admin¬ 
istration for a special train each 
day to be paid for by the asso¬ 
ciation. This train ran from 
June 10 to September 10, leaving 
Palmyra at 3 p. m. in the after¬ 
noon, stopping at the loading sta¬ 
tions from which the members of 
the association shipped, and, 
after leaving Florence at 4:30 
p. m. running direct to New York 
without stop. This train was run 
on passenger schedule after leav¬ 
ing Trenton, and arrived in Jer¬ 
sey City each night between 8 :30 
p. m. and 9:30 p. m. Here the 
cars were given first place on the 
unloading siding in the freight 
yards, thus insuring the prompt 
delivery of the association’s 
produce in New York before the 
opening of the early morning 
market This special train was 
composed of 10 to 20 cars daily, 
and at times during the season 
as many as 25 cars were neces¬ 
sary to carry the association’s 
shipments. The charge for this 
train was $1.25 per train mile in 
excess of regular charge, making 
a total charge of $108.56. The 
train was paid for by a definite 
charge for each article shipped 
as follows: 2c per basket, 3c per 
crate or hamper and 5c per bag, 
the shipments consisting of sweet 
corn, peas, beaus, cantaloupes, 
peppers, tomatoes, peaches, ap¬ 
ples, cherries and pears. 
SELLING ON COMMISSION. 
