Remember, you become absolute owner of the acre of land in your orchard unit. The land is cleared, the pecan trees are planted, cultivated and cared for as a whole on a large scale. This is co-operation under a system which relieves you of every worry and which makes for economy and large profits. “The pecan industry is a husky infant with almost boundless possibilities. We are building an industry, which, for generations, should yield its bountiful crop of delicious food and bring millions of dollars to our citizens.” Congressional Record of United States, page 1478, Vol. 54. The Practical Answer—The Unit Plan [Sidenote: Expert supervision at lower cost than hired help by our plan] There are many people who know of the great successes made in pecan growing in this district, who would be glad to buy five, ten or twenty acres of our Pecan Orchard Plantation. The land in itself would undoubtedly be a good investment, because cases are on record showing increase of double and treble value on land which does not have an orchard. But this would not be of any great advantage in solving the problem of supplying more of the finest pecans unless the purchaser had the knowledge, skill and time to bring his trees to the bearing point. Even assuming that he could himself bring the trees to bearing, his ability to market his product advantageously could not possibly equal that of a co-operative group of orchardists, who have the most skilled supervision service and the advantages regarding marketing which come from collective effort. [Sidenote: Co-operative marketing assures higher profits] With several carloads to ship instead of a few barrels, the large orchardist is in a position to command the very lowest rate and to reach the market in just the right season. Ask any member of a Citrus Fruit Exchange whether he has made more money since he joined that organization than he did before, and he will tell you an interesting story which cannot fail to convince you of the advantage of collective marketing. Yet oranges and grape fruit, the products of the members of these exchanges, are perishable in such a short time that the benefits derived are small compared with those gained by co-operative marketing of Paper Shell Pecans. There are other advantages of collective effort which exceed even the advantages in marketing. Among them is the advantage of skilled supervision at minimum cost. The professional or business man can live in the North, enjoying the income which his specialized efforts assure, yet be growing his pecan orchard in the South under the supervision of expert pecan horticulturists whom he could not possibly afford to retain for a plantation of less than a thousand acres and with labor costs reduced to a minimum by such skillful management and the use of the most modern mechanical appliances such as tractors, etc. [Sidenote: Live at home raise pecans in Georgia]