Page Two
THE CAROLINA UNION FARMER
[Thursday, August 22, 191-
o •
Agricultural Co-operation
By CLARENCE POE
In Ireland
in.—The Tzvofold Problem of Business Organization.
“Making business men of farmers’’
—this is what I first called this series
or articles on rural co-operation in
Ireland because this title seems to
suggest the most notable result of
the movement.
And our farmers must become
business men if our rural civilization
is not to lose pace helplessly with
world movement and our country dis
tricts become centers of stagnation
instead of centers of hopeful prog
ress. Organization and co-operation
have re-made our city industries;
they must now re-make our rural in
dustries also.
Town Jndusliy Organized; Rural In
dustry Must Be.
A century ago, for example, most
slioes were made by individual slioe-
makers, each man working for him
self; now they are made in great fac
tories wliere the use of modern, elab
orate, labor-saving machinery, the
most scientific and economical meth
ods of production and the most care
fully planned systems of distribution
and selling, all go to increase the
profits of the shoe manufacturers.
A result something like this must
be accomplished in agriculture. Farm
ing, of course, cannot be so thorough
ly organized and systematized as city
business, nor can the same methods
be used for rural organization as for
city organization—as Sir Horace
Plunkett points out in a quotation we
have already printed; but our rural
producers must at least become “busi
ness men” in the same degree, in
proportion to tlieir opportunities, as
our city producers liave become.
.\ 'Pwofold I’lobleiu.
The wide-awake luisiness man
looks after two things—economy of
production and economy of distribu
tion. Tl\e wise farmer must also
look after both. He cannot afford to
neglect either. As Sir Horace Plun
kett says: “An ellicient department
[of agriculture] can help the farmer
to grow more crops and breed better
cuttle and do these things at less ex
penditure than when liis output was
smaller in amount and inferior in
quality. But he will not get a .full
reward of his intelligence and enter
prise, unless he learns to control the
distribution of his produce and ob
tains working capital on suitable
terms. This he cannot do until he
adopts the co-operative method. On
the other hand, what is the use of or
ganizing the farmers, if tliey are not
making good use of their land?”
The two things must indeed go
hand in hand, and those leaders are
not wise who tiy to encourage one
policy at the e.xpense of the other, or
try to make it ai)pear that one policy
is at enmity with the other. Tlie
farmer does need to learn how to pro
duce his beef more economically. He
also needs to know how to market
his beef more economically and there
by save to himself the millions the
Beef Trust takes in unnecessary tolls
between the farmer’s barnyard and
the city butcher-shop. The farmer
does need to know how to make his
cotton with the smallest i)ossible out
lay of sweat and i)urse. He also
needs to know to save to his own
pocket-book the millions and millions
appreciation in value between the
time the cotton leaves his hands in
November and the time the normal
price-level is reached in May.
Ireland’s Recognition «)!’ the Facts.
The prt‘Sent prosperity of the Irish
farmer seems to me to be largely due
to the fact that nearly all his leaders
have recognized the two-fold charac
ter of his problem. Sir Horace Plun
kett and other leaders, in organizing
the farmers, have strenuously insist
ed at the same time upon better
methods of farming, while the De
partment of Agriculture, always in
sistent upon more progressive farm
practice, has also searched the world
over for examples of agricultural co
operation and has been as careful to
give lessons in marketing farm crops
as in producing farm crops.
At the beginning of his movement
for organizing the farmers. Sir Hor
ace Plunkett saw clearly that there
would be no hope for the Irish farm
er’s linancial salvation unless he quit
the w'ays of his grandfathers and
learned to produce as economically
as the farmer on the Continent; and
he was so intent upon getting better
methods of farming that he braved
local prejudice and brought in agri
cultural experts from foreign coun
tries—for the very good and sufficient
reasons that at that time he could get
better men abroad than he could find
at home. And ever since he has
preached better methods of produc
tion as well as better methods of dis
tribution. Thus in his latest annual
report we find him saying:
“The Irish dairy farmer, by the
simple process of weighing each cow’s
milk daily and periodically testing the
milk for butter-fat, can eliminate all
his unprofitable milkers, and by ju-
diciojis breeding fill their places with
cows which would leave a handsome
margin of profit. In one reported
case, a farmer gave figures to show
that one cow in his herd had given
him a return of £12 ($60) for her
milk, while another cow had produced
but £5 ($25). A25 per cent increase
in the milking capacity of our cows
would mean an increased turn-over
of close upon £50,000 ($2,500,000)
a year.”
And again with regard to poultry:
“It is no exaggeration to say that
the present output of eggs might be
almost doubled without increasing
the material cost of their keep or the
number of fowls wbich are kept. It
is not uncommon to find hens produc
ing 150 eggs per annum, while it is
pretty safe to say that the general
average of Irish laying fowls would
be little more than half this figure.
The 150-egg hen does not cost any
more to keep than the 75-egg pro
ducer.”
Tea‘liiiig Row to I'ack and Ship.
Moreover, the Department of Agri
cultural and Technical Instruction, in
addition to all its usual departmental
labors, has taught better methods of
handling, packing and shipping all
kinds of farm products-a work
which should be more generally pros
ecuted by our Departments of Agri
culture in the South. In Western
North Carolina, for example, we have
a great apple-growing country, but
the fanuers will never half realize
upon their opportunities until they
learn better methods of packing and
shipping. Nor shall we ever receive
one-tenth of our possible dairy wealth
until we learn better methods of
handling our milk and butter. I have
before me now some typical bulletins
issued by the Irish Department of
Apriculture: “The Packing of But
ter”; “Tlie Marketing of Fruit”;
“Better Milk” (issued for (he pur*-
pose of insisting upon absolute clean
liness, essential wherever any profit
able milk market is to bo maintidn-
ed), etc. The Department has also
issued leaflets on agricultural co-op
eration in Denmark, Germany, Switz-
erUnd, and Belgltim.
Whedt or Straw?
On some of the best wheat land the crop runs to
straw. This is because there are not cnougli avail
able mineral foods to balance the manure or clover.
A field test on such land showed that Potash
increased the grain from 20 bushels on unfertil
ized soil to 31 bushels where
POTASH
was used, and to 37 bushels where Potash and
phosphate were used. Both were profitable.
Supplement the humus of such land w'ith 200 lbs.
acid phosphate and 30 lbs. Muriate of Potash or
125 lbs. Kainit per acre. Potash Pays.
If your dealer does not sell Potash, write us for prices
statin? quantities required and ask for our free book on
“Fall Fertilizers.” Study of the fertilizer question
means savin? and profit to you.
RIGHT PROPOR
TION OF HEAD
TO STRAW
GERMAN KALI WORK.S. Inc.
NEW YORK-42 BROADWAY
CHICAGO—Mnnadnocii Block
NEW ORLEAN.S-Whltney Bank Bld^.
SAVANNAH-Bank & Trust Bldd.
CROP RUNS
TO
STRAW
A Wise Method of Agricultural In
struction.
The general method of agricultn-
ral instruction adopted by the Irish
Department, moreover, are so unique
in some respects that it will be well to
outline them briefly. In every coun
ty in Ireland there is one of more
general agricultural instructor, one
Uorticultural instructor, and one wo
man instructor in poultry alone or in
poultry and dairy work combined, all
of whom visit tlie farmers, confer
with them, and conduct experiments,
etc., somewhat as our demonstration
woikers do in the South. These
county instructors conduct winter
classes in agriculture in every coun
ty, mainly for the purpose of teach
ing the farm boys, though older men
are welcomed as well. The instruc
tors in agriculture, for example, will
select two or three centers in each
county, spending two consecutive days
each week at each center for from
sixteen to twenty weeks. The dairy
and poultry classes, however, are not
rotated in this fashion. The dairy
short course lasts usually one month
without break, and poultry classes
four or five days at the time. These
short courses are very popular and
many of the farm boys who acquire
in them a taste for better farming
methods later attend the short
courses in the provincial agricultural
colleges. 1 notice one statement made
by the Department which is in line
with what institute workers in the
South have told me of their own ex
periences: “Towns and the larger
villages are to be avoided, as experi
ence has shown that the greatest
class attends those lectures which
are given in the rural parts of the
country.”
Direi't Financial Enconragenient anil
Aid.
The county instructor in horticul
ture is expected to teach not only bet
ter methods of fruit growing, but
spraying, pruning, grafting, and the
packing of fruit. The Department
has also arranged to grant loans of
$100 and upwards to associations of
farmers preparing to undertake com
mercial fruit growing on satisfactory
terms, these loans to be repaid in ten
yearly installments, witli interest at
II per cent. The Department lias also
done much to encourage the beauti
fying of farm homes and the farms
themselves through a system of
prizes awarded in county contests
each year. In making awards, the
considerations aro cleanliness, free
dom from weeds, variety of flowers,
fruits and vegetables; proper ar
rangement of pig pens poultry houses,
barnes, etc.; wise rotation of crops;
proper keeping of farm accounts,
etc.
The Department also lends money
for the eroctlon of village halls, these
halls being built for the purpose of
providing suitable places for
tiires, entertainments, public meet
ings, dances, etc. The money ad
vanced by the Department is not to
exceed two-thirds of the total cost.
The community pays one-third out
right, and then repays the borrowed
two-thirds in ten annual installment*
with interest at 2 V2 per cent.
THE LINCOLN COUNTY FARMFHI?’
UNION RALLY.
On August 1st. The Lincoln Coun
ty Farmers’ Union held a picnic aod
rally. It was entertained by the Ash
bury Local, three miles east of the
county seat. The local decided to
have the address in a grove and
built a nice stand and prepared seats
for the occasion.
An executive session was held at
10 o’clock. It was short but intoT-
esting.
After the executive session Dr. B-
Q. Alexander was introduced and, aS
usual, the Doctor made a fine speech-
It was highly praised by all. .
At the close of the morning speec
dinner was served. A table one hun- ■
dred feet or more was loaded au
twelve hundred or more enjoyed th^
noon meal.
At 2 o’clock Prof. W. C. Crosb)'
addressed the people on ediicatioa?
This, too, was a splendid discourse-
At this point of time the course 0 ,
the programme was changed and th^
people of Lincoln County gladly 1 ® _
tened to Mr. .1. E. Walker, who
an, address on the East. Everybo j
was highly pleased with Mr. Walk^’’’
and was sorry tliat time would a
allow him to talk longerrt ,
In adidtion to the above the
had secured the services of a. bras’
band for the occasion.
WAVERLY A. UUDISILL,
County Conductor-
t i>ockotful or monej -j
rs for our srand tailorlPj ipt(-
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