Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-02-13

spindes in a palatial edifce was not the
work of one year nor the creation of one
mans brain, 90 will progress and cooperation
In agriculture have to be marked out slowly
and gradually, varying according to local
facilities, circumstances and the differences
OF character and ability in men. The be.
ginning must necessarily DO small, aud pro.
gress step by step, so as to be hardly per.
ceivcd. Imagine, for instance, two neigh.
bors, each Of whom carries milk to the sta.
ton every evening, join together 80 that one
takes the milk Of both on alternate days ;
this is cooperation, by which one-haf Of the
work is saved. Suppose half dozen or
more neighboring farmers make butter, each
one in small way and under manifold diff
cuties On one Of these farms rises an ex.
cellent, never-failing spring of uniform tenn.
perature during all seasons, where, with an
outlay of 500, complete aud wol.appoint.
cd dairy house could be built, in which the
milk of all the farms joined in association,
could be set the churning done by water
power, and the butter made of uniform and
much better quality than is attainable where
such facilities are wanting If but small
quantity Of butter is to be made in this way,
the work may be done alternately by the in-
torested parties; if more, an experienced
butter maker should be engaged, and all the
work and vexation of butter making and
washing OF cans and pans banished from the
kitchen Of many an overworked farmers
wife. In the cultivation Of crops much la
Dor and material are lost by want of COPPER.
alton. We all know that it does not cost
ten times more to cultivate a ten.acre field
OF corn or potatoes, than ten single fields of
one acre each. The saving in turning the
teams alone is four-ifths of the time. Plant.
ing machines, seed drills, power husking ma.
chimes and all other labor.saving implements
might be owned and used by associations,
while no one of the members could afford TO
buy them alone. In the hay field comb.
nation of labor and capital would save a
like amount of outlay and work. While
now every farmer owns moving machine
which he was handling one-half the time
during the haying season, an association
might do with less number OF mowers, aud
instead procure hay tedders, improved rakes,
and loading and unloading appliances
Again, through many a valley runs stream
to no other purpose than to make the low
lands swamPy, unhealthy, and unfit for cul-
tivation, while the crops on the hilsides per.
ish under the burning sun from want Of
moisture. Cooperation could furnish capital
enough to raise such streams up to the hill.
sides, and transform by irrigation the parch.
ed soil into luxuriant fields, while the swamps
would be drained and male to yield abuud.
ant crops and the fever. producing miasma
destroyed. Cooperation will ere long make
the steam-plow perform the work of twenty
teams and men and with much less expense.
Hundreds Of instances whereby money and
labor can be saved through cooperation could
be cited, but in no one will its advantages be
as apparent as in the disposal of the products.
The great difficulty farmers experience in
selling their crops to the best advantage and
direct to the consumer will be remedied.
The products Of one farm are not sufficient
to warrant much outlay in cffecting sales
those OF an association would A number of
farmers together could own a store or sales.
depot at the nearest city or large village,
dispose Of their products direct to the con.
sumer, and save thereby all middemenIs
commissions and endless extras. The goods
of such a farmers store, if scrupulously kept
up to the highest standard would soon be
bought in preference to others, and would
command better price the pure, rich milk
and fresh, gilt-edgcd butter OF such co3p-
erative dairy would not have to go begging
for market. In the purchasing of tools,
nd all
at wholesale, similar saving would result.
In cooperation every one will find his proper
sphere and level, and the individual prefer.
onces of each member will be better satisfied
than without it. Cooperation will undoubt-
eddy remedy many of our grievances and
cure long.standing sufferings, but it is also not
without its difficulties. Distrust, egotism
and selfshness are dangerous elements in all
associations, and have destroyed the noblest
creations of the human mind. But that in.
dustrious, frugal, and honest men will ere
long cooperate successfully in farming as we'll
as they have done in industrial pursuits there
is not moments doubt. Foremost Of all,
however, let us not forget that the most valu-
able crop Of the farm is the farmer hmselfand
his family. No crop pays, however much
money it may bring, If these are neglected and
suffer. No amount of money, bank stocks,
aud acres of land can form an equivalent for
ruined health, for discoatcnt, or for an un.
happy home. Health and content, the es-
teen of our fellow citizens, and the love aud
tender care of those who form our household
cannot be bought with all tho riches in the
world. To gain these treasures many rich
man would readily give all his boarded gold.
If the man who makes farming pay will not
use the proceeds thereof to make his farm
pay still better, his work has been to little
purpose. But he who has provided happy
home for his family, who has reared children
who will never forget the home of their
childhood, who will lead useful and honor.
able life, who will be most honored and re.
spected by those who knew them best, will
be an ornament to the community they live
in; he who by deeds and example has in-
duced his fellow men to lead better aud more
useful lives than they would have done with
out his efforts he who remains fresh in the
memory aud beloved in the hearts of those
that knew him, even after the flowers which
were strewn upon his grave have whithered
such man leaves this world richer and bet
ter than he found it, OF him it can be said
in reality and truth that be made farming
pay. VI. Heramer.