Arizona republican., 1908-04-01
Mesa, Arizona. March. IS. 1908

Editor Republican,:
 With the enormous profits to be made from winter gardening in the Mesa
 section came the cry for a systametic
 market and the car lot shipment plan, which would insure for the producer ! a certain avenue for disposing of his | crops to the best possible advantage. It was from this necessity that the Mesa Produce Growers Association 1 was born. The local market is splen-
 did and with one of the best -commis- sion houses in the territory located in Mesa the difficulty of finding an out let, has been reduced to a minimum,
 but sooner or later the market problem would have become d serious one had not the Produce organization been ef- fected
 It Is an admitted fact that produce growers associations are a success.
 Mesa has a Grape Growers association. Cantaloupe growers association and an orange growers association. which
 have all been highly successful and
 pronounced by the stockholders as the
 best possible way to dispose of their
 crops. It is the logical way of mar
 keting where the produce Is made . specially. While AriZonians eat can taloupes the same as other people yet
 it would be impossible for them to consume two hundred carloads during the month of July. It would be just as impossible for the local markets to handle car load of cabbage at the present time or a carload of onions or a carload of cauliflower.
 The Mesa Produce Growers assO- citation is only about three months old but it has begun to make itself &C., quainted to the buyers of vegetables and fruits all through the east. It is the intention of the stockholders to ship their goods as one man They will hire a manager whose business it will be to attend to all correspondence see that cars are placed on the Mesa switch at the proper time and attend to the icing and loading and the hun dred and one other things that ten men could not handle separately by working one at a time. It goes with out question that an association can command and receive better prices for their produce than single individuals pulling against each other in the en- lO Btl Ilu Slutl -NOl only has the Mesa Produce Growers association decided to market their crops as a unit. but they will plant the same kind of seed. For instance the Florida Favorite watermelons will be planted. It happens in Mesa just as it would happen any place else, that there are men who believe that the Sweetheart or the Cuban Queen would do better and they so expressed them selves at the open meetings. The matter is threshed out pro and con and they govern their planting by the de- cision of the stockholders. On the watermelon proposition it was brought out that there were other melons with merit which the Florida Favorite did not have. but the Favorite melon has stood the test as a shipper and has made good where others have failed 1 and it was given the honor of repre- | senting the association. Other lines of | produce are taken up in the same way i so that the crops may be sown with | and marketed in the same 1 manner The systematic crop growing 1 of a hundred men working together | as one man is the plane which all as- SoclationS nope to reach.
 The Mesa association immediately i after it's incorporation. began to get in | touch with eastern houses who are in | terested in winter produce. Five hun 1 dred circular letters were sent out | to the trade that Mesa | had produce growers association and | a few of the things she | had for sale and when she would | have them on the market. The result | of those letters was a surprise to the l gardeners and produce men generally. l It brought out the fact that there is a market in the east along through the winter months which can be filled | only by place located in a warm cli- mate with plenty of sunshine and a soil capable of producing vegetables and fruit to their highest perfection.
 A committee has been appointed, whose business it is to look after the freight rates and try to secure the best possible accommodations for the asso- ci9tion. There is also a standing com mittee to attend to the crates. boxes and packages. It is expected that special package will be originated | which will stand for the produce ship ped from this association thereby giv- ing it an exclusiveness which will aid in placing the vegetables and fruit before the consumers who are particular and want only the best.
 The membership fees. or in other words, one share of stock is sold at ten dollars. The stock is non-asses- sable, but a certain per cent of the sales may be held out for the purpose 'f meeting the current running ex- penses. The association has an active energetic membership and is being built up by the gardeners and fruit growers generally throughout the Mesa section.
 Yours very truly,
 CHAS. F. JONES.