Thursday, June 13, 1912.]
THE CAROLINA UNION PARMER
Page Eleveii
Co-operation
Acting Together in Buying and Selling of Great
Benefit to Farmers.
A. C. Briggs in Farmers Home Journal.
This is fast becoming a co-opera
tive era. Through co-operation many
things are accomplished which would
he impossible if undertaken by an in
dividual. We have co-operative
stores, co-operative banks, mills, as
sociations, shops and farms. We
have had for a number of years poul
try associations, but none of them
have ever taken up the prevalent co
operative system.
New System Needed.
The urgent need of the present day
a plan to bring the producer and
Consumer nearer together and this
diay be brought about easiest and
luickest through co-operation.
No industry is in greater need of
this aid than the poultry business.
The present system for handling the
Poultry and egg produce for market
is a mixture of produce, retail, whole-
®^io, jobber, etc., round-about deal-
ipg, when money could be made and ,
®aved at both ends of this system by j
Proper co-operation of producer and
Consumer.
white, or select eggs. They are final
ly sold to a city wholesaler for a
profit of several cents more per doz
en than was paid for them in trade.
From the wholesaler they usually go
to a jobber at a satisfactory profit,
then to the retail grocer, from whom
the city consumer buys them.
From this it is readily seen why
eggs for which the producer gets fif
teen cents per dozen costs the city
consumer thirty to fifty cents a doz
en, according to their condition, and
the hands they go through, regard
less of whether they are ten days or
two months old at the time they are
used.
After the above facts are realized
by the city consumer do you believe
he would buy another dozen eggs of
his grocer if he could get them guar
anteed strictly fresh from the farm,
with name and address plainly print
ed on every package of eggs?
Community Co-operation.
Experimenting AVith New Plan.
So far only one instance of this
^ind has gained any prominence.
enterprising poultryman in an
^Pstern city has established- a co
operative system of egg farms, and
the results derived have been very
^^atifying. Last year the net aver-
price was forty-two cents a doz-
ep.
The eggs are delivered in cartons,
boxes, containing one dozen, and
Guaranteed fresh and clean. If for
^Py reason the contents are defec-
the consumer knows just whom
0 blame, as the name and address
the one at fault is before him. All
usses are made good. For this ad
vantage he is paying less money for
otter goods than under the old sys-
®Pi of buying from his city grocer,
a collection of market eggs that
ha
It may be a long time before the
direct selling plan is inaugurated
generally, but in the meantime the
people of any community can take
the matter up and make the system
highly successful.
In many ways community co-oper
ation is preferable to general co-op
eration in that it is possible to have
the details of the work conducted
by those who are well known and
of proven probity.
In every community there are a
number of people who keep poultry,
and if they know each other and can
trust each other sufficiently to put
their resources to some extent behind
a plan to co-operate in the disposi
tion of their produce, it would be a
good and wise thing to do.
The whole foundation of such a
plan must be based upon faith—
faith in the honesty and integrity of
those concerned.
In discussing co-operative work
y© been out of the hennery for no among dairymen, a woman with a
Qw ULIX VIX^ vXCaX1 ^ XXX^XI f Of ** Aiic*X* »» * vi**
knows how long or under what tou^h of acid on her tongue, remark
opditions. They may have passed
thr,
Pugh
^^th no
^I'oiled:
^Pder
half a
redress
dozen hands, and
if they are half
Sell
a co-operative system of
th
^ug, the producer sells direct to
ed that in all such undertakings
there is always a liar and a hog
among those who gather to discuss
such a venture. Keep a lookout for
such “cattle.”
guarantee of
The plan effcet-
eliminates the middle men or
. Consumer under
^yfectly good food
‘^aiiy
Advantages of Co-operation.
Pulators.
Eggs En Route.
Buying supplies, feed, etc., togeth
er, selling produce together, there are
many advantages to be derived. Buy
ing in larger quantities means lower
illustrate the workings of our prices; selling together means wider
. csent egg market system, let’s fol
.. . ..
ch
the eggs through the various
^hges that are ordinarily used in
Ij “bg eggs from the farm to the
in the city.
lipo^yst, the farmer usually depends
^Piling his produce to the local
man. This is due to several
egg^^bs. One is he hasn’t sufficient
to warrant shipping to a city
kiiQ ^®sion man, and he doesn’t
Pf a city consumer who will
b his goods.
markets and better prices.
Some lime ago in a Government
report, special mention was made
of the increase of farmers’ co-opera
tive associations. Two important
results were mentioned, viz., the
shipping of a better grade of stuff
and “the command, by the farmers
of a greater infiuence in the market.”
This reference was to organiza
tions in California covering fruits
and other products; rice from Texas,
cantaloupes from Tennessee, and va-
his home grocer is handy • rious other products from different
hig call and receive the eggs at sections of the country.
Pt exchanging trade for them If co-operation brings farmers
% » -
Pj^j,/ban the prevailing price in the of those products, there is no reason
^hout ten to fifteen cents a dozen ' “greater infiuence” in the marketing
Pogg,®*- ^b which they are to be dis-
^P1(J f wholesale. The eggs are
*^°bi one day to two weeks, and
'■Pbg ^'^blly stored in open boxes and
'^egg^^^Ppg side coal oil, decaying
\^l^V*^eS’ meats, molasses, etc.
the grocer an egg’s an egg
tiojj bless
why poultrymen may not profit by
adopting the plan.
of size, shape or condi-
count out for any that are
Maud—“Now, Auntie, be s’lie and
have gas when you have your tocih
taken out.”
Auntie—“Never fear, Maud,
won’t be left in the dark with
bor nothing for extra big,
it"
ALFALFA SEED PRODUCTION.
Commercial Aspects of This Crop—
Farmers’ Bulletin 495, U. S. De
partment of Agriculture.
In addition to the greater ease of
marketing alfalfa seed than of mar
keting alfalfa hay, owing to its much
less bulk for a given value, other im
portant commercial aspects deserve
consideration. Among these prob
lems is that of suitably cleaning the
seed so that it will command good
prices when it reaches the distribut
ing centers. The seed of any one
community is usually bulked before
shipping to the distributing centers,
and unfortunately the grade of seed j
Is often determined by the presence
of a few poor Iocs of seed among
those of higher grade. For this rear
son it is very important that the seed
of any given section be reduced as
nearly as possible to a uniform ba
sis before entering the ordinary
channels of trade. At present this
is done to a certain extent by local
merchants, some of whom install
machines with which they clean the I
seed Either before or after purchas- |
ing It from the individual farmer
It is suggested that a co-operative
arrangement among different farm
ers might result in a more satis
factory solution of these some
what difficult problems of hull-'
ing, cleaning, and marketing the
seed. With co-operation once start
ed it need not be confined to clean
ing and marketing the seed crop to
the best advantage, but might be ex
tended to the undertaking of co-op
erative experiments on the individual
farms to determine the best of sev
eral possible methods of handling
the seed crop in their particular sec- i
tion. With a number of farmers'
trying different treatments on their
fields, experience could be obtained
in one season which would otherwise
require a number of years to procure.
This plan of co-operation could also
be utilized in the establishment of
some trade variety of seed. A pre
mium could be commanded for such
seed if it was of good quality, and
especially if of a variety in strong de
mand in some particular section of
the country. The extreme Northern
seed-producing sections might take
up the production of a hardy strain
such as the Grimm alfalfa, an un-
usualy hardy variety which has been
grown for over fifty years in the se
vere winter climate of Minnesota.
The demand for this variety will for
years probably far exceed the sup
ply. * Farmers located in the south
western part of the country with
equal advantage might undertake the
production of the Peruvian alfalfa
seed, which is obtained only in very
small quantities and with great diffi
culty in South America.’ When
once established this variety pro
duces satisfactory seed crops in the
milder sections of California and
Arizona. In the same manner farm
ers in the semi-arid sections could
determine by preliminary experi
ments the most valuable strain for
their sections of the country and
could then develop this strain so
that it would have a recognized su
perior value on the market. Since
large quantities of seed are annually
imported to meet the increasing de
mand it is probable that it will be
some years before the home-grown
supply will equal the demand.
The lowest price of the season
usually prevails shortly after the
hulling season is over. Better
prices could be obtained if means
were at hand for holding the seed
until the desired price was secured.
If a co-operative associtaion were or
ganized in a proper manner, each
member could store his seed in the
association’s wmrehouse and, if de
sired, receive an advance of at least
two-thirds the market value of his
seed in cash at a nominal rate of in
terest pending the time he decided
to sell his seed.
This bulletin also gives the best
methods of cultivation and should be
in the library of every farmer who is
interested in forage crops. Applica
tion to your Congressman will obtain
it.
A teacher in one of our elementary
schools had noticed a striking platon
ic friendship that existed between
Tommy and little Mary, two of her
pupils.
Tommy was a bright enough young
ster, but he wasn’t disposed to prose
cute his studies with much energy,
and his teacher saw that unless he
stirred himself before the end of the
year he wouldn’t be promoted.
^‘You must study harder,” she told
him, “or else you won’t pass. How
would you like to stay back in this
class another year and have little
Mary go ahead of you?”
“Aw,” said Tommy, “I guess there
will be other little Marys.”
EL,ON COl-l-EeE.
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gle case of dangerous sickness. Clean athletics. A
distingoisbed Bostonian writes t “Of all the colleges
I have visited in six years as International Field
Secretary of Christian Endeavor, the spirit of Elon
College seems to be the most ttnuintly Christian."
—Karl Lehman. Write at once for catalogue and
views.
President, W. A. HARPER,
Box Elon CoUese, N. G.
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