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Show CircumTeniiAg the Middleman. After manj years of experimenting;, one portion of tho rural community at leaet have learned how to dictate their own terms to buj'ers. These are the frn.it growers of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They have formed the Fruit Growers' association, with a headquarters in each suitable central locality. lo-cality. . .. The gp-owers in western New York and Pennsylvania hare now a board of trade, with branches . in the fruit district. dis-trict. They watch the markets and send the fruit to points where the demand is most brisk and prices best. They are in constant communication by telegraph, and from time to time fix the price at which they will puffer the fruit to go. All stand together and the buyer must pay the price or go without the commodity. com-modity. At the same time proper precaution is taken against -putting inferior fruit upon the market, or giving dishonest welfht and measure. The grower's name is stamped plainly upon the basket. One fruit growers' union, the, New Jersey Fruit Exchange, has succeeded ii bringing down railroad freight charges and also the price of .fruit baskets. The Hammonton Fruit Growers' Union works more than any of the thers cm the co-operative plan. It collects col-lects the money due the grower and applies ap-plies the law when a consignment of fruit is not satisfactorily accounted for. All farmers and vegetable gardeners, an well as the fruit growers, could have such unions and stand by each other like the sticks in that old bundle of the fable. |