Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-11-07
THE FARM.
AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULT.
URAL TOPICS AND HINTS.
Cooperative Fruit Shipments-The
Poultry Business-AIfalfa for Pork
Origin of the Cereal Grains.

The rain, which has finally commenced
to come to US, has already been sufficient to
be OF great value to summer-fallow sown
lands, and the winter work of farmers is
already in hand. If the rain should con-
| tinue sufficient, within few days, to give
say three inches, of rainfall, blowing would
be engaged in very generally, and decided
relief would be experienced on the part of
numerous class Of farm bands and labor
| ers,w who have been compelled to idleness by
the fact that the long-continued drought had
rendered most kinds of farm work far more
impossible at this time of year than usual.
This, it is to be hoped, will now soon be a.
matter of the past. Good rains now will
soon brighten the prospects for better times
very materially.
NEWCASTLE COOPERATIVE FRUIT COMPANY
In letter to the Rural Press, J. f. Farms
worth manager of one of the Cooperative
Fruit Companies at Newcastle, says Inote
with interest the discussion of cooperative
fruit shipments and as | have had one full
years experience in that line, and have
made a success of our branch of the CO.
operative plan, like to see others opinion
OF the matter. | can say this for our bust
ness, that we started here last January with
Is Of the largest growers around this sec
ton. They were dissatisfied with the
treatment of the dealers here and thought
they had not been well used, and made up
their minds that they would try selling
their own fruits. 1t is important to re-
member that there had not been a full car
load of fruit ever shipped from this point.
and yet they had plenty of fruit. We have
shipped through the season IS full carloads
of fruit from our house as through freight,
and fully 80 carloads local freight and ex-
press. Our 10 members have received from
10 to % cents per box more for their fruit
than in any other part of the State. They
are all well pleased, and we have a nice
little nest-egg for the company to start with
another season.
This was done by hearty coz peration. |
have managed the business to the best of
my ability, but it is nothing more than a
State institution of the same kind could be
managed and my ideas are that the grow
ers of the State will, in time, come to-
gether and form just such an institution as
we have here, and make it pay, doing away
with the middlemen almost entirely. and
manage their own business both here and
in the East.
Our laws are very simple. We trust
mostly to our own good judgment, and do
not tie ourselves down to laws and rules.
Too much law is not good Each member
OF our company was Director, yet but few
of them availed themselves of the privilege
of attending the meetings of the Directors.
We started without one dollar of capital.
and the company has not been called upon
to raise dollar to run our business, and
yet all bills have been paid within thirty
days Of making them. From the day we
commenced shipping we have paid our
running expenses out of the business and
believe that State institution can be run
just as well as we have managed ours.
will simply say this that the more
fruit can be concentrated, the better it can
be handled, for had we a State institution,
no mans fruit would come in competition
with his neighbours, for each carload could
be placed just where it was wanted the
most, and where it would sell for the most
money. But this can only be done by
strong cooperation. Our plan has worked
SO well here that majority of the growers
OF this section wish to come in with us for
another seasons work, and in time be-
lleve that every grower here will wish to
be with us. The experience of a State CO.
operative Fruit Company would be pretty
much the same.