New-York tribune., 1870-11-05
Kill.
XIII.
COOPERATION in FARMING.

from the aggregate product OF human iaDO1 enough
TO satisfy his wants at least his needs whether no
shall have contributed to that aggregate much. OF
little, or nothing at all. Cooperation insists that
each shall receive from the joint product in proper
tion to his contributions thereto whether in capital
skill, labor. II one associate has ten children.
and another none, Communism would apportion
to each according to the size of his family alone
while Cooperation would give to each what he had
earned regardless of the number dependent upon
him. Thus the two systems are radical antagonists
and only the grossly ignorant willfully blind will
cOnfound them.
A Young farmer whose total estate is lees than
$500 not counting priceless wife and child resolves
to migrate from one Of the old States to Kansas,
Minnesota or one of the Territories: he has heard
that he will there find public land whereon he may
make home of qusrtersectiOn. paying therefor
$50 less for the cost of survey and of the necessary
papers. So he may; but, ON reaching the Land OF
Promise whether with or without his family, he
finds very Large belt of still vacant land beyond
the settlements already transformed into private
property. and either not for sale at all OF held on
speculation quite out of his reach. The public land
which he may take under the Homestead law lies
full days journey beyond the border settlements, to
which he must look for Mills Stores, Schools. and
even Highways. III he persists in squatting
with intent to earn his quarter section by settle
ment and cultivation, he must take long days
Journey across unbridged streams and sOughs, over
unmade roads To find boards, brick, OF meal, or
glass, or groceries while he must postpone the edu-
cation of his children to an indefinite future day
Gradually the region will be settled. and the cODve
niences of civilization will find their way 10 his
door but not till after he viii have suffered through
several years for want of them; often compelled to
make journey 10 get plow or yoke mended, grist
of grain ground or TO minister to other trivial
but inexoTable want. He who thus acquires his
quarter-sectiOn must fairly earn it, and may be
thankful if his children do not grow up rude,
coarse. and illterate.
But suppose thousand just such young farmers
he is with more means and no greater efficiency
than his were TO set forth together resolved TO find
q suitable location whereOn they might all settle
on adjoining quarer-sectons thus appropriatng the
soil of five six embryo townships who fail to
see that threefourths of the obstacles and discour
agements which confront the solitary pioneer would
vanish at the Outset7 Roads, Bridges, Mills-nay,
even Schools and Churches-would be theirs almost
Immediately, while mechanics, merchants, doc
tors, &c, would fairly Overrun their settle
ment and solicit their patronage at every
road-crossing. Within a year after the To-
cation of their several claims, they would have
achieved more progress and more comfort than in
five years under the system of struggling and iso-
lated settlement which has hitherto prevailed The
change here indicate appeals 10 the common sense
and daily experience Of whole people 1t is not
necessary, however desirable, that the pioneers
should be giants in wisdom. in integrity, or in piety
TO secure its benefits. A knave or fool may be
deemed an undesirable neighbor but a dozen such in
the township would not preclude, and could hardly
diminish, the advantages naturally resulting from
settlement by Cooperation
Nor are these confined TO pioneers transcending
the boundaries of civilization. / wish j could in
duce thousand of our cOlored men precariously
subsisng by serye labor in the cities to strike ont
boldly for homes of their own, and for liberty TO
direct their own labor, whether they should settle
on the frontier in the manner just outlined, or
should buy tract Of cheap land on Long Island, in
New-Jersey, Maryland, some State further South.
! cannot doubt that the majority of them would
work their way up to independence, and this very
much sooner and after undergoing far less prvaton,
than almost every pioneer who has plunged alone
into the primitive forest or struck upon the broad
prairie and there made himself farm.
The Unsuitable demand for fencing is one Of the
pioneers many trials. Though he has cleared of but
three of forest during his first Fal and Winter
he must surround those acres with stout fence or
all he grows Will be devOured by hungry his
II
TO his clearing during the next year, they must in
turn be surrounded by fence; andnothing shortof
very stout one will answer: so he goes clearing
and fencing, usually burning up part of his fence
whenever he burns over his clearing; then build
ing a new one around this, which will have 10 be
sacrificed in its turn believe that many pioneers
have devoted as much time tO fencing their fields as
10 tilling them throughout their first six or eight
years.
Itisdherent with those who settle broad praires
but not essentially better. Each pioneer must fence
his patch Of tillage with material which costs him
more and is procured with greater difficulty, than
though he were cutting hole in the forest. Often
when he thinks he has fenced sufficiently the hungry
breachy cattle, who roam the open prairies around
him Judge his handiwOrk less favoraby; and he
wakes some August morning, when feed is poorest
outside and most luxurant within his incloeure, 10
find that twenty thirty cattle have broken through
his ,efenses and half destroyed his growing crop.
IT, instead of this wasefu lack Of system. a thou
sand or even a hundred farmers would combine TO
fence several square miles into grand incOsufe
for cultivation, erecting their several habitatOns
within or without it's limits, as to each shOnld
be neutrality-suspicious. it for cultivation. or
owning it in severalty. they should see fit-an i'm
mense economy would be secured just when. be-
ca1se of their poverty. saving is most important
Their stock might range the open prairie unmatched
and they might all sleep at night in serene confidence
that their corn and cabbsges were not in dan
ger of ruthless destruction. Among the settlers
in our great primitive forests, the system of
Cooperative Farming would have to be modified in
details, while il would be in essence the same.
And once adopted with regard 10 fencing, other
adaptations as obvious and beneh~nt would from
day 10 day suggest themselves Each pioneer would
learn how to advance his own prosperity by com
bining his efforts with those Of his neighbors He