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

For more than year past We have
heard and read great deal about coop
Grafton, and more 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 81 ght Of
We can imagine what cooperation. when
applied to the farmer, should be. aud what
We think i, will be sometime in the fu-
ture. Our trouble now is that we try to
do too many things. and As a natural con-
sequence, do nothing we'll. Under the
present system. each farmer makes little
butter or beef, and raises all kind Of grain
and hav In order to accommodate this
kind of farming he must fence his farm
of into small Enclosures, at 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
ticular branch, to the exclusion OF all 9th.
ers. The dairyman will need grain aud
hay for Winter feeding. and will buy them
u
cialty Of these commodities. lie can re-
move all his fences, aud devote his whole
farm to pasture in case be docs not find
soiling more profitable He will sooa 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 no,
do to buy grain to feed. but our farmers
nre beginning TO find out that 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 that if one does
not pay the other will not.
The farmer who raises grain to the cx-
clus:on Of other commodities. will need
no fences. for it will be far more econom-
ical for him to keep up and feed his teams
The idea that grass seed can only be sue
cessfully sown among wheat or other
grain. is fist being given up by farmers.
and hence the cooperative farmer who is
so inclined. may raise hay aud hay alone
Such a state OF affairs will naturally form
farmers into small communities. who have
single interest in common. and they will
not be pulling in all directions. as is now
the case. It is very fashionable for our
farmers to shift all their failures aud mis-
fortunes upon the shoulders of class whom
the ystyle middlemen, but under a proper
system Of corporation. no such class will
exist Everything which the farmer
needs, with a few trivial exceptions. can
be produced by q judicious cooperation.
Store goods may be purchased at whole
sale rates in large amounts. Not more
than one-fourth of,he machinery now used
would be needed, for bat fev would need
moving machines, and. in fact. much OF
the expensive machinery now used would
be useless; aud this very fac; uncovcrs one
Of the prime causes of the low profits oi
farming now.
There is so mrch capital locked up in
expensive machinery. which 10 used 70.
but small portion Of the year. Each
one hundred acres must now have its two
hundred dollar combined mower and
reaper. bu, under the system ~e have
ske,ehel out. the same outlay would an.
sxer for Eve hundred acres. and the i'm
plemeu, would las. much longer in pro.
lcrtion 10 the amount Of work done
d. Such system would slso si-e solu.