The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-09-15
FLORIDA VEGETABLE
GROWERS BUREAU

The Florida Grower, organ Of the |
Citrus Fruit Exchange, and also one
of the leading agricultural papers of
the state, makes the following per-
tinent remarks about last weeks
meeting in Jacksonville:
A good start was made toward the
organization of the truckers Of Flor
ida into one big organization at the
meeting held at Jacksonville Tues
day OF this week OF course the COM
mission boys already have their ham
mers out and are sneeringly saying
that the whole move was engineered
lby Rooney because Rooney wants a
job. Now. Mr.. Rooney already has a
job, and is not looking for another,
l'being secretary of the Marion Coun-
i ty Board of Trade, which is big job
in itself and Rooney had no further
interest in engineering this meeting
than to better the condition of the
growers, and he publicly stated at
the Jacksonville meeting that he did
not want a job with the new organ
lization.
/ J. ID. Rooney was the active head
that brought about this meeting of
truckers, and was elected chairman
Iof the temporary organization, the
work of this body being to form rep
Preventative associations in each coun-
Ity, along the lines of the sub-ex-
loI.o~ -
change, the representatives of these
county bodies to form the permanent
organization. As / understand the
matter the next work will he to form
local associations to affiliate with the
county bodies, these associations to
consist of growers who will agree to
market their produce through the
selling organization which will aft
erwards be formed
1t was unanimously agreed that no
farmer packs could be accepted for
shipment; that all produce must be
delivered to a central packing house,
where it will be put up in uniform
manner in crates of a size that will
be uniform in every part of Florida.
AT this time each locality uses its
own special type of carrier, and the
result is very confusing. If nothing
other than the Standardization of
packages came from this movement
lit would be worth while.
I have never believed that any
truckers association could be sue
cessful if each grower packed his
would always be unsatisfactory be-
cause each grower has his own ideas
as to grades, and certainly many
growers do not understand what a
good package consists of, and some
of them still have the old idea of
putting poor stuff in the middle OF a
crate, the good stuff going to the top
and bottom A central packing house
for each section would do away with
this, and certainly such houses would
not be expensive, as NO machinery is
necessary; a roof and a few bins and
tables, together with storage room
flor boxes, crates, hampers and
labels.
) One of the head men of the South
; ern Express Company made a fine
, talk at the meeting, telling how the
: great bulk of the express shipments
! went to the large markets, while the
: Esmaller markets were begging fo1
7 produce, and he offered the free use
: of the company's 5000 agents
S throughout the country to solicit and
t take orders in the small town for ex
l press shipments. OF course it is ex
e pected that express shipments will be
: but a very small part of the business
f of the new organization, but ever
d little bit helps, and this certainly is ;
o promising start along the road t.
: success. The great bulk of the pro
: duce would of course go out in ca
: lots, to be handled for the organiZa
e ton on the other end. Under ordi
r nary circumstances the Organization
e of large sales force would be neces
e sary, but with a splendid force al
? ready in operation there is no nee
h of going to this trouble and expense
a Manager Jones offered the use OF TIL
1T district managers of the exchange I
N distribute this produce, though tn
Id vegetable growers organization wi
ut be entirely separate from that of tn
Ut FLORIDA Citrus Exchange.
OF The plan of the produce men is
es organize exactly along the lines
IN the exchange; wheels Within wheels
id a selling agency to be located i'm Jacl
sonviIIe, a minor association to
o. formed in each vegetable producir
is section, and those in each county
ed lbe tiled together with county o
of ganization, through which all bus