Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1873-07-24
co OPERATION.

For more than year past we have
heard and read . grea, deal about COOP
Grafton. and nhes& particularly when it
was applied TO the farmers case; but thus
far it has only taken that form which. in
reality. might more properly be termed a
combination. and many. if not all. the
benefits Of cooperation are lost sight cf
We can imagine what cooperation, when
applied to the farmer, should be, and what
we think it will be sometime in the fu-
ture. Our trouble now is tha, we try to
do too many things. and as natural con-
sequence. do nothing well. Under the
present system. each farmer makes little
butter or beef, and raises all kind Of grain
and hay. In order to accommodate this
kind Of farming. he mus, fence his farm
Hoff into small Enclosures, at a great ex-
pense Of fencing material. When the
principle Of cooperation is fully under
stood among farmers. we believe that each
one will devote his attention to some par
iicular branch. to the exclusion Of all 9th:
crs. The dairyman will need grain and
hay for Winter feeding. and will buy them
Of some one near BY who will make n spe-
cialiy Of these commodities lie can re-
move all his fences, aud devote his whole
farm to pasture in case he docs not find
soiling more profitable. He will soon be-
come nearly perfect in the science of but
ter-making. and will obtain much above
the average price now paid. Twenty
years ago it was thought that it would not
do to buy grain to feed. but our farmers
are beginning to End out tha. their neigh
bors' grain is worth no more than their
own, and that feeding grain purchased of
a neighbor and that raised BY themselves
is one and the same. and tha, If one does
not pay the other will not.
The farmer who raises grain to the ex-
clusion Of other commodities. will need
nc fences. for it will be far more econom-
ical for him to keep up aud feed his ,esu.
The idea that grass seed can only be sue
cessfully sown among wheat or other
grain. is f-s, being given up BY farmers.
and hence the cooperative farmer who is
so inclined. may raise hay aud hay alone.
Such state Of affairs will naturally form
farmers into small communities, who have
n single interest in common, and they will
not be pulling in all directions. as is now
the case. /, is very fashionable for our
farmers to shift all their failures and mis-
fortunes upon the shoulders Of 4 class whom
the ystylc middlcmen, bu. under proper
system Of cooperation, no such class will
exist. Everything which the farmer
needs, with a few trivial exceptions, can
be produced by judicious cooperation.
Store goods may be purchased a, whole
sale rates in large amounts. Not more
than one-fourth ofthe mschineryno used
would be needed. for but few would need
moving machines. and. in fact. much Of
the expensive machinery now used would
be useless; and this very fact uncovers one
OF the prime causes Of the low prO6;s Of
far ming now:
There is so mrch capital locked up in
expensive machinery. which 10 used for
but small portion Of the year. Each
one hundred acres must now haze It's two
hundred dollar combined mower and
reaper. but under the system We have
sketched out. the same outlay would an
swer for ave hundred acres. and the i'm :
plemens would last much longer in pro.
portion 20 the amount OF vorx done
Susl sys'eI wva!l also gre :olG.