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^IMPORTANCE OF
REQUIREMENTS OF
Witb Understanding of Grades and Clas
Pork Breeders and Feeders May Judg^
Yield and Regulate His Feeding
cordingly—Several Factors
Not Appreciated.
(By L. D. HALL.)
Breeders, feeders, or investigators
who consider only the cost of produc¬
tion and the market value of the live
animal, ignoring the demands of the
meat trade, overlook one of the most
important factors that affect the live¬
stock market and may thus fail to fol¬
low the most rational lines of im¬
provement in breeding and feeding.
With an understanding of meat-trade
requirements it is possible for a stock
man to judge the carcass yield and
quality of his animals intelligently
as buyers at the stock yards, because
his knowledge of the feeds used,
length of feeding period, and gains
made are as essential in making such
estimates as the apparent form, con¬
dition, which and quality points' of the fat animal,
ut>oh the buyer must
chiefly rely.
The descriptions presented are
based on data secured in an investiga¬
tion at wholesale meat markets at the
Union stock yards, Chicago, and also
at prominent wholesale and retail
markets in Chicago and other cities
which are supplied from the large
houses at the Union stock yards, and
may be considered standard for all
the great packing centers of this
country; and since most American
wholesale markets are supplied from
these centers, the classification may
be regarded as standard for the coun¬
try. It should be borne in mind that
the classifications are those of the
wholesale meat trade and not of the
live stock market, and that the
weights given refer to dressed car¬
casses and cuts, and in no case to live
animals.
Carcass Beef. —This includes both
full sides and quarters. The classes
are steers, heifers, cows and bulls and
stags. The classes differ not only in
sgx, but also in the uses to which they
are adapted.
The grades within the classes are
prime, choice, good, medium, common
Beef Carcass.
Cuts of beef: 3. rqjmd; 4, B, 6, loin:
7. ehaiM, II*; 8. 13.—round chi. tMiugKO. 11. plate; 12.
(rump and mfs*Wnanlc off); 3, rump; 4,
6, loin en3; 6, plnbone loin; B, 6, flatbone
loin: 10. navel; 11, brisket; 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 6, 9,
hind quarter; 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, fore quarter;
7, 8, back; 7, 10, piece; 8. 11, 12, Kosher
chuck: 8, 10, 11, 12, triangle; a, aitch-bone;
b rump-bone; c, crotch; d, cod; e, chine
hones; f, “buttons;" g, skirt; h, breast¬
bone; r, ribs.
and canners. The grades are based on
differences In form, thickness, finish,
quality, soundness and weight.
“Native” carcass beef has sufficient
finish to indicate grain feeding, is com¬
paratively compact in form, thickly
fleshed, mature In proportion to age,
and consists chiefly of medium to
ENVIABLE RECORD OF HOLSTEIN
The Holstein cow has made su o h an
enviable record and is such a useful
j animal, and is filling her place so well,
that it will behoove all other dairy
breeds to change the old order that
Forests and Birds.
This is a busy world, but the ma
f-ity of our people do not consid
the importance of forests and bird
oduction. Our forests have been
down as though they were a posi
menace rather than a necessity to
p.e welfare of the race, and our
.birds have been in like manner sacri¬
ficed. There have arisen a few men
and women who have urged the
^preservation ‘ of forests scarcely and heeded birds, but in
their wants are
the new race for present wealth, rath¬
er than with the wise regard for the
future. Some will say: “What mat¬
ters it 100 years hence after we are
dead and gone?” but if those who
have lived in the past had reasoned
Jn the same way, consider what we of
the present day would have lost.
The Horse’s Collar.
See that each horse’s collar is clean
each morning before putting it on
Prevention is worth the proverbial
amount of cure and consists in care¬
fully fitted collars.
The use of pads is largely a matter
of choice: nads should be used only
prime steers, heifers and cows of tbs
heavier weights. "Westerns” are rela¬
tively “rangy” In form, "grassy” in
color and general appearance, coarser
in quality and inferior to "natives” in
finish, consisting largely of common
to good cows and steers. "Texas”
beeves are light weight carcasses.
“Butcher cattle” are those especially
adapted to “butcher-shop" trade and
consists principally of medium to
choice heifers, steers and cows.
“Kosher” cattle are beeves that have
been slaughtered, inspected, cleansed,
Hog Carcass.
Cuts of pork: English cuts—A, long-cut
ham; B, long side or middle. Domestic
cuts—1, short-cut ham; 2, loin; 3, belly; 4,
picnic butt; 5, Boston butt; 6, Jowl; 7,
hock; 8, fat back; 9, clear plate; 2, 8,
back; 2, 3, 8, side; 4, 7, picnic shoulder;
B, 9. shoulder butt; 8, 9, long fat back;
4, S, 7, 9, rough shoulder; R, ribs. '
and labeled in accordance with Jewish
rites, and include medium to choice
steers, cows and heifers. “Distillers”
are steers, bulls and stags that have
soft, “washy,” flesh and ‘‘high color,”
characteristic of cattle fattened on
distillery slops.
Beef Cuts.—The "straight cuts” are
loins, ribs, rounds, .chucks, plates,
flanks and shawks.
The grade of a cut of beef depends
upon its thickness, covering, quality
weight.
Cured Beef Products. —These are
barreled, smoked and canned beef.
Barreled beef is packed in brina
The standard grades are extra India
mess, extra plate, regular plate,
packet, common plate, rolled boneless,
prime mess, extra mess, rump, butt
and mess chuck beef, beef hams, and
Scotch buttocks.
Smoked beef is cured in sweet
pickle, dried, and smoked. It consists
of dried beef hams, dried beef clods,
and smoked brisket beef.
Canned beef is sealed in tins or
glass jars, usually after partial curing
and cooking. It consists principally
of chopped beef, beef loat, corned beef,
— J roast beef.
•istinct gradqs of hfltR reco,.
eA only In the packfsg befcg and bacon
classes, the former based on
weight and the latter* chiefly on
quality and finish.
Pork Cuts.—The classes are hams,
sides, bellies, backs, loins, shoulders,
butts and plates, and miscellaneous,
these being determined by the parts
of the .carcass from which they are
made.
The grades and methods of grading
vary widely in the different classes of
cuts, and involve not only their
quality, shape, finish and weight, but
also the styles of cutting and meth¬
ods of packing used.
now rules In breeding, else they will
be outdistanced by the Holstein in the
big dairy race now being run in this
country. As things stand now, the
Holstein in this race is in the lead.
with the smaller and lighter collars
when used in heavy work. Galled
shoulders frequently result from the
use of a sweat-soaked pad or one
wet in a heavy rain.
Variety of Vegetables.
Every home gardener should at¬
tempt to have a liberal production of
a variety of vegetables throughout
the season. This cannot be accom¬
plished without planting in succes¬
sion. Peas, beans, sweet corn and
many other vegetables should be
planted at intervals of ten days to
two weeks.
To Save Moisture.
Keep the surface of the soil as loose
and fine as possible, and the soil will
not lose moisture by evaporation. A
good hoeing is often as beneficial as
good rain in dry weather.
Big Apple Crops.
In Ottawa county, a Missouri man
last fall sold $1,840 of Jonathan ap¬
ples from one acre, while a neighbor
sold $611 worth of Bartlett pears from
three acres.
Congress ushing Claims in *
4 EDWARD B.CLARK
T RIN'G the closing days of
the last session of con
B V H gress a filibuster was con
ducted In the house of
representatives against
the passage of certain
sections of what is known
as the Omnibus Claims
bill. All of the claims
which were included in the hill had
been passed upon by the courts and
congress had been requested to ap¬
propriate money to pay them, but it is
one thing to ask the legislators to do
something and another to get them to
do it. There are thousands of claims
filed against the government every
year. Many of them are justiable and
some of them are far from it, but
eventually each claimant gets a hear¬
ing.
Not long ago Senora Feliciana Men
diola, a woman of the Philippines, laid
a claim before the United States gov¬
ernment and eventually as memory
has it she received $30, in full dis¬
charge of the obligation as congress
looked at It.
The case of Senora Mendiola went
to the house committee on war claims
with a mass of papers containing In¬
formation concerning It together with
the finding of a board of army officers
specially convened to consider the
lady’s case against the government.
On the papers in this case in which
the claimant received $30 as compen¬
sation, there were the endorsements
of thirty-five army officers, major gen¬
erals, brigadier generals, colonels,
lieutenant colonels and so on down
to the end of the list which ends with
the name of a corporal.
Senora Feliciana Mendiola’s case
will pass into history as having been
tangled up with more red tape than
It hitherto was thought possible for
even a government of official factory
to turn out. Senora Feliciana lived at
Abgeles, Pampanga, Philippine Isl¬
ands, and she rented a house to Uncle
Sam for the use of soma erf his team¬
sters. The mule driving contingent
lived In it for a short time, and when
the senora moved into it again sha
found, so she declared under oath,
that some of the siding boards were
missing from the wall of the kitchen.
She asked for $200 in gold to repay
her for the damage to her property.
A board of officers were convened
to pass on the validity of Feliciana’s
claim. The board was in session for
days. Teamster Picgle was a witness.
He swore that when he and his com¬
rades took possession of Feliciana’s
house for quarters the kitchen siding
boards were rotten, and that when
the men put their feet on the wall, as
Is a teamster’s wont after dinner when
he wishes; to smoke, their boots went
through -Me wall to the open air with
no force "behind them except the
weight of the man who was tipping
back in his chair. As Pickle esujres
sivelk put it, “Them board;
pun
Af; 'Captain V^BUne
t arnard of val
•title great &Uglu. Nrjr
Ham X. ngworthy swore
ciana’s boards were chewedf up
eaten by red ants. Teamiter Sum
merfielti made affidavit that the boards
dropped out of place of their own
weight.
The board thought it was very
doubtful, if, In strict justice, any
money should be allowed, but consid¬
ered it expedient to grant $30 in gold.
The officers doubtless were led to this
charitable finding by receipt of the
news while in session that Feliciana
was sick in a Manila hospital because
of the loss of her kitchen sidings.
This case of Senora Feliciana Men¬
diola takes up fourteen pages of a
house document. It contains a long
letter from the secretary of war on
the question of kitchen sidings, an¬
other letter from the quartermaster
general of the United States and fifty
three communications from army offi¬
cers and civilians of various rank and
condition.
The committee on war claims is
composed of members noted for their
gallantry. In due course of time
much time—Senora Feliciana received
her $30 in gold and it might have been
some satisfaction to her oriental mind
to know that Uncle Sam had spent
about $1,000 to get authority to pay
for the sidings which went to destruc¬
tion either by way of a teamster’s feet
or a red ant’s stomach.
Senora Feliciana Mendiola's trou¬
bles in getting $30 from the United
States for damage done to her kitchen
walls by the feet of Uncle Sam’s
lounging teamsters have been record¬
ed, and her tribulations bring to mind
those of Captain C. H. Conrad, Third
United States Cavalryman, who for
“conviction’s sake” insisted that the
United States government pay him
$32.85 which the captain knew was
due him.
This case of Captain Conrad's hung
fire for years, but he finally secured
his money, though he probably earned
"bout a hundred times the sum in-
HOW TREES ARE PROPAGATED
Elms Help to Make the Popular Road
Hedges of England—Animals
and Birds Help.
Trees which have their own individ¬
ual methods of production are inter¬
esting. The way of the elm is one of
the most remarkable, says the London
Spectator, because the elm actually
makes hedges, or, rather, it fits in
with our English method of bordering
our trees and roads with hedges, and
In a very accommodating way helps
us with material.
The hhbit of the elm is to send out
its roots in every direction and then
to push up suckers from its spreading
roots. When an elm seeds itself or
Is planted in a hedgerow and becomes
established there it sends out its roots
and pushes up its suckers on all
sides of it, but except on two sides
the young suckers get killed; they are
trodden down in the path or cut up by
the plow or gnawed down by grazing
animals.
But they flourish on each side of
the elm In the direction in which the
I WILL INVESTIGATE
THt«> THOmuCHLN
volved by the hard work he did to get
what admittedly was justice In the
case. The captain did not want a bad
precedent established and so even
though the amount was small as it
was he made a fight for his own.
Captain Conrad paid $32.85 extra
duty money to certain enlisted men.
The men had earned it and were en¬
titled to the money by a regulation
which had existed for years. The cap¬
tain discovered that Uncle Sam had
revoked the extra pay regulation, but
had neglected to notify the quarter¬
masters. Uncle Sam is unreasonable
at times. He stopped $32.85 out of
Captain Conrad’s pay and practically
told the officer he should have known
in some mysterious way that the gov¬
ernment had an order showed away in
a vault somewhere that extra duty pay
had been cut out.
Captain Conrad was over five years
trying to get back his $32.85, and he
stuck to the task like the good fighter
that he is. Permission finally was
granted by the secretary of war, the
lieutenant general of the army and
the quartermaster general to Captain
Conrad to try to get a bill passed by
congress to reimburse him for the
robbery perpetrated by Uncle Sam
some time prior to the Spanish war.
Dr. T. S. Palmer who for years has
had charge of the general matter of
game bird protection for the depart¬
ment of agriculture frequently has
sent out warnings to the effect that
the wild fowl of the country were be¬
ing exterminated Rapidly and if this
valuable food supply assets were to
be saved something must be done to
check the slaughter of the ducks and
the geese.
A Massachusetts member of con¬
gress aided an^abetted ‘^ by a western
jJhiH? yeararwBch SMI t0 s thinks before* If the
house for he put
Into effect will compass the salvajtion
of the ducks, the geese, the swans and
for that matter all birds that are mi¬
gratory im their habits. If this plan is
ever allowed to reach the floor of con¬
gress for debate there will be more
constitutional points raised than were
brought up during the rapid fire of
verbal interchanges between the great
constitutional lawyers of the senate
■when the railroad rate question was
under consideration.
There was success in getting the
bird saving plan before congress, but
not in the form that would allow
open discussion in the house. The bill
was drawn, Introduced and sent to the
committee on judiciary where it was
the subject of both humorous and se¬
rious comment. If this bill were ever
to become a law it unquestionably
would tend to save the game birds of
the country from extermination and
congress has been told, what most
people have realized, that the game of
the United States is a valuable econo¬
mic asset and that it is possible to
eat the game birds and still have
them.
The member who fathered the meas
use said that the only way to save
the game birds was to pass a national
law against their destruction except In
certain short, close seasons. Of course
the general understanding is that the
states alone must legislate on the
game birds within their borders. The
western members declared that inas¬
much as game birds were migratory
and took their Bight from one state to
another they were subject to the laws
governing interstate commerce. “A
railroad,” he said, “crosses a state line
and Uncle Sam has charge of legisla¬
tion affecting it. The same rule and
the same right apply to birds.”
Now it may seem the extremity of
foolishness to the layman and possi¬
bly to most lawyers, but some shining
legal lights in Washington held that
the reasoning of the father of the bird
protection measure was good reason¬
hedge runs, and they kill out the oth¬
er trees in the hedge, till at last pos¬
sibly the hedge is all elm. Then if
the hedge is not cut or only partly cut
the strongest suckers grow up and
become trees themselves and carry
on the process.
Other trees Instead of being killed
down by animals get helped and plant¬
ed. Squirrels carrying off hazelnuts
and burying them for private con¬
sumption, later frequently forget
where they have put them, and so
plant countless hazels every year.
Trees with berries such as hollies,
wild roses, elders and yews have their
seeds swallowed and carried about
in different directions by birds and
from the trees' point of view there
must be good and had seasons as re¬
gards the sowing or planting.
Last winter, for instance, must have
been a poor season for holly planting.
Birds do not really like holly ber¬
ries, and will not eat them when they
can get other berries or when the
weather is warm and open, so that in
a mild winter like the last compara¬
tively few holly berries can have Seen
eaten and sown.
ing and that the chances certainly
were about even that the Supreme
court would uphold the constitutional¬
ity of a law which would put migra¬
tory birds under the care and protec¬
tion of the Interstate Commerce Com¬
mission. It was said by some of the
older members of congress that the
measure appeared on its face to be a
freak measure, but there might he a
deal more sense in it than the sur¬
face showed.
Periodically the assassination of
Governor Goebel of Kentucky returned
to plague the house of representatives.
As everybody probably remembers
Governor Taylor of Kentucky went to
Indiana when charge was made
against him of complicity in the Goe¬
bel killing. The Kentucky officials
tried to secure Taylor’s return so
that he might be placed on trial, but
the Indiana governors always refused
to sign the Kentucky requisition.
One day there was a veritable storm
in the house of representatives over
the matter of the refusal of the Hoos
ier executive to honor a requisition
for Taylor. Lightning flashed back
and forth across the aisle which di¬
vides Democracy from Republicanism.
The bolts were hurled by Kentuckians
and by Indianians. John Sharp Wil¬
liams of Mississippi, the Democratic
leader, doubtless intended to keep out
of the storm, but it surrounded higi
and beat upon his head until he felt
forced to add his own voice to the
din.
The Hoosier Republicans had told
the Kentucky Democrats that if Tay¬
lor were given up to trial conviction
would come Irrespective of his guilt or
innocence. They said that with the
feeling running high there was no
jury’/^ihey ch’ai*i for i^nmrtialitv Intimated , iq judge ipr
that if TayVor
was innocent that to give him up to
the Kentucky authorities meant giv¬
ing h‘im up to be murdered.
From the words of the Indianians
the Kentuckians drew the inference
that their state was charged with be¬
ing the seat of injustice. They refused
utterly to confine the charges and the
Insinuations of the Hoosiers to the ope
case in hand, and they let it appear in
their answers that they held that Ken¬
tucky and the Kentuckians were be¬
ing accused of all the offenses known
to the laws of civilization.
Mr. Williams told the Indianians
that no matter how impudently they
might assume superiority they were
no better than the people to the south
of the Ohio. He said to the Hoosiers:
“There has been too much of this ar¬
rogant assumption of superiority on
your side of the Ohio river and of in¬
feriority on the other. In the forum,
on the battlefield, on the bench and in
literature Kentuckians always have
been your equals if not your super¬
iors.”
The fact that the Democratic leader
did not claim superiority for the
southerner over the northerner, but
was content even in the heat of argu¬
ment, when something else might
have been expected, to lay claim
merely to an equality of ability, was
the means of quieting matters, and
the row over the Taylor requisition af¬
fair quieted down.
After it was over a New York mem¬
ber went to an Indianian and asked
him why it was that when Mr. Wil¬
liams intimated that Kentucky was
the peer of Indiana in literature the
Hoosier did not fire at him a cata¬
logue of the recent Indiana output in
literature. The New Yorker told his
Indiana friend that if he had done
this he could have floored all the Ken¬
tuckians, and with them the Missis¬
sippi leader, with the quantity of the
ammunition, even though in part its
quality might be a bit below par.
But the tree which occasionally gets
itself propagated in the most interest¬
ing way is the elder. W. H. Hudson
in his book, “Afoot in England,” has a
delightful passage giving the life story
of some elders he noticed growing on
a Wiltshire down. There was a small
group of them set among some rabbit
burrows and the local farmer told him
how they came there.
First the rabbit, finding that the
hill had softer chalk at that spot had
made burrows. Then some wheatears
came and nested In and lived about
the burrows. The wheatears fed on
the berries of an elder growing high¬
er up on the down and so brought the
seeds to the burrows, where they
rooted in the soft ground and soon es¬
tablished a flourishing thicket.
Kind of Policeman He Didn't Know.
“You didn’t pay the slightest atten¬
tion to the policeman who warned
you about the lights on your automo¬
bile!” said the magistrate, severely.
“I am at fault, judge,” replied Mr.
Chuggins. “I’m a stranger in the
city, and he spoke so politely I didn’t
think he could be a real policeman.”'
Farmers’ Educational
and Co-Operative
Union of America
Matters Especial Moment to
the Progressive Agriculturist
If you have a grudge, better lose It..
Mortgages seldom flourish on fertile
soil.
Apologies are the offspring of insin¬
cerity.
A true spirit should be found in
every one.
Schemers use the unsophisticated to
further their plans.
Those who promise so readily fail
as readily to fulfill.
Those bidden to our joys are often
conspicuous by their absence at our
sorrows. Jf
He who tells you “I care not for pub¬
lic opinion” contemplates defying the
proprieties.
A contented and intelligent rural
population is the true basis of a per¬
manent agriculture.
The telephone, the silo and the
cream separator are all sure signs of
a progressive farmer.
A poor farmer is generally a poor
guesser. Correct information Is the
secret of success in farming as in
everything else.
Those who discourage us the most
in an undertaking are the first to tell
us “I knew you would succeed,” when
we have attained success.
One reason why so many boys leave
the farm is that the city demands so
many more good boys than It can sup¬
ply and must needs draw upon the
country.
There are natures whose whole hu¬
manity centers In their own family to
the exclusion of every other human
being—and such natures consider
themselves paragons of virtue.
Better put the good apples at the
top, bottom and middle of a barrel,
because dealers now have a habit of
examining all three spots. This sug¬
gestion is for the tricky grower only,
as all others do not need it.
The timid farmers who quit raising
hogs when prices were low are all
rushing back into the business and
will be ready to market just about the
time overproduction breaks prices to
the point where there is no profit.
PRODUCTION OF MORE COTTON
American Farmers Get But 12,000,000
Bales on Acreage That Should
Yield 30,000,000.
(By G. H. ALFORD.)
That the American growers produce
12,000,000 bales of cotton upon an
acreage that ought to produce 30,000,
000 bales is one of the striking state¬
ments made by the Washington Post
in an editorial upon the cotton crop of
1910.
If the facts are as set forth by the
Post the point Is not that the south
should produce 18,000.000 additional
bales or cotton ifyon the present area'
but that the area upon which the 12,
000,000 bales are produced should be
cut down nearly two-thirds. This
would give the farmers of the south
ample room In which to produce many
other crops, the aggregate value of
which would exceed that of the cotton
crop.
The editorial of the Post follows:
“The world’s annual production of
cotton is estimated at 20,000,000 bales,
of which the planters of America grow
more than one-half, or about 12,000,000
bales. In the British provinces and de¬
pendencies are grown 5,500,000 bales,
though all of it except the 1,500,000
from Egypt is inferior in quality to the
American cotton. The price of the
staple and of the fabric advances
year by year, which shows that the
production does not keep pace with
the consumption, and this, too, not¬
withstanding the encouragement lent
to the planter in the market return
lor the seed that yielded from this
;rop.
“While it is true that not one-fourth
3f the cotton area of the United
states has been subjected to the plow
ind the hoe, it is nevertheless obvious
hat if our country is long to hold the
supremacy in the growing of cotton,
>ld methods of cultivation must be
supplanted by the new. A planter who
jets less than a bale of lint from an
icre seeded to cotton ought to quit his
,ob. for he is not fitted for it. One
planter in Mississippi—the prairie re
j black ?ion near the Alabama line in tbs
belt—acquired an old worn-out
farm, and what with corn, peas, oats
and alfalfa he now has a plantation as
fertile as it was when the land was
virgin, and his acres devoted to cotton
yield him from a bale and a half to
two bales an acre.
“Many other farmers of that region
are pursuing the same methods with
like results. A noble vocation is that
of the farmer, and a profitable one, if
the farmer is fit for his job. The
main secret is the conservation of soil
and the second is intelligence of till¬
age. «
“America grows 12.000,000 bales of
cotton annually on an area that ought
to produce 30,000,000 bales, and would
outdo that even if every cotton planter
knew how to grow cotton, and would
put his brains to the plow.”
Successful Hog Raising.
Select sows from families that lead
you to expect good litters of vigor¬
ous, growthy pigs. Keep proven sows
as long as they do well, or as long as
you can control them, writes E. H.
H. Enery. Feed them enough to give
the sows a chance, remembering that
for developing themselves and their
pigs a large percentage of protein is
needed.
Keep their bowels in order, espe
liallv at farrowing time, taking care
not to feed a loosening enough diet
to scour the pigs. Remember that
the development of the mammary
glands depends largely on the num¬
ber of pigs in the first litter, and last,
but not least, make the sow take care
of her pigs by compelling her to stay
with them a considerable part of
each day.
MORE PRACTICAL IN FUTUlE
Development of Modern Machinery
Renders it Necessary for Farriers
to Learn Co-operation.
In the future farmers will have tc
learn more practical co-operation thar
they have ever practiced Jn the past,
and that for several reasons. The *
farmer is intensely individualistic. Hi
previous training has made him sc
He has depended on his own rig I
arm so long that he has become quit
independent of his neighbors.
The development of modem ma
chinery renders it necessary for farm¬
ers to learn to co-operate. For Ex¬
ample, as we have pointed out be¬
fore, a lone farmer'in building a silo
necessarily goes to a heavy expense
not only In the construction of the
silo, but in the purchase of silage me
chinery, especially the power and cut¬
ter. Now a cutter will do for two
farmers just as well as for one, or fer
three, if they will plan their corn so
as to continue the cutting period ove.r
two or three weeks.
Farmers would do well to co-oper¬
ate in buying a small threshing out¬
fit rather than depend on the large
outfit, while their grain may be spoil¬
ing in the shock. There must be co¬
operation in this line among the farr -
ers in the neighborhood. They shou! 1
either all thresh out of the shock cr
all stack, for the reason that the large
machine coming in wants to clean
up the whole neighborhood at once,
which cannot be done if it is partly
shocked and partly going through the
sweat in the stack.
Western farmers have been quite
successful in co-operating In the way
of manufacturing butter and cheese
They have found by experience that
K Is better to have a creamery or a
cheese factory In which the milk can
be worked up into the desired product
co-operatively, thus saving labor to
the women folks and paving the way
to a uniform brand of high market
value.
They have been able to co-operate In.
the establishment of canning factories
—and some up-to-date farmers have
co-operated in selling their eggs,
stamping them with the name of the
farmer and the date, having them
gathered up twice a week, and then
stamped again at the office with the
company brand. They are thus able
to supply strictly fresh eggs to the
grocery or general store in the nearest
town, or for that matter in the dis¬
tant city. This kind of co-operation
ought to put at least three cents a
dozen on the eggs, perhaps a small
matter to the Individual farmer, but a
big item tc the community.
The greatest success the farmers
have made in co-operating is in the
marketing of their grain. This is es¬
pecially true in the sections largely
given over to grain growing. They
have established co-operative elevators
in great numbers in northern Iowa and
central and southern Illinois. We see
it reported that at a recent meeting of
th? Illinois Farm Elevator association
there were 800 delegates, representing
130 out of the 250 farmers’ elevators
In the state.
Farmers have not been so success¬
ful in co-operating In buying as in Co
Operating in selling, although a num¬
ber of the co-operative elevators
.buy co-operatively such ti|j4ign-^s
coal, lumber, and in some sections fer- '
tilizers. In one sense t(is is a fine
beginning, a very large beginning, and
yet after all it is only a beginning.
The necessities of the farm will com¬
pel co-operation to a much greater ex¬
tent in the future than in the past.
Perhaps nothing but necessity will
drive farmers to it. It was necessity
that compelled the western fruit peo¬
ple to co-operate. Otherwise they
were at the mercy of the shipping as¬
sociations and railroads.
Therefore, we say we are just at
the beginning of co-operation among
farmers; and the sooner it comes, the
better. By and by we shall learn to
co-operate in buying as well as in sell¬
ing, and thus eliminate much of the
cost of distribution in the cities, which
perhaps does more than anything else
to prevent the farmet from getting a
fair return for his labor.
BETTER SYSTEM OF FARMING
Farmers Should Raise More Crops
That Will Enrich Soils Instead
*of Depleting Them.
(By G. H. ALFORD.)
Let us lay the cornerstone of pros¬
perity in the south. Let us remove the
stumps from our land; let us reduce
the washing of the land to the mini¬
mum by deep plowing, the addition of
vegetable matter and the building oi
broad embankments with a fall of
about one inch in fifteen feet; let us
rotate our crops and include legumin¬
ous crops in our rotation; let us de¬
vote much of the land to pastures
and the livestock business. In other
words, let us reduce the washing of
our land to the minimum and adopt a
better system of farming—one that
will include more crops to enrich in¬
stead of wear out our land—one that
will include more livestock to consume
the leguminous crops that must be
grown to economically enrich the land
•and to make manure to still further
enrich the land. Rich soil is the cor¬
nerstone of prosperity.
BOYS AND GIRLS QUIT FARM
Get Ideas Into Their Heads That
Town Life Is Ideal and City So¬
ciety Is Most Desirable.
Many of our farm boys and girls
get the idea into their heads that town
life is the ideal life and town society
the only desirable society. Such no¬
tions cause many farmer boys and
girls to leave the farm for towns and
cities.
Thousands of young people in the
cities are organized Into “Country
clubs.” The clubs are formed for the
purpose of visiting the country. The
young people in the cities are anxious
to visit the country.
The young people in the countr)
ought to organize literary clubs, de
bating societies, domestic science
clubs, embroidery clubs, corn clubs
and so on. They can meet and discuss
country problems, the latest books
and many other things of interest tc
young country people. It is not neces
Eary to live in a town to enjoy gooc
society.