The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1884-03-28
The Value and Importance Of Farmers
fItr Clubs.

% The Importance of organizing among
farmers for the purposing of assisting
each other and exchanging their ex-
periences for the benefit of one and all
cannot be too strongly urged. AS soils
differ so do the methods of cultivation,
and each years experience convinces
the farmer that, no matter how observ-
ing he may have been in the past,
there is always something new present.
ed and fresh ideas gained. 1t is only
when farmers regularly meet, however,
and present their different views, that
mistakes are corrected and better meth
ods employed. ...
There is class OF farmers who at
tach no Importance to association, us
ually regarding the teachings at the
meetings as theory, when, in fact, the
discussions are based on facts and prac-
tical experience. Such farmers annu-
ally witness better crops on the farms
OF their more thoughtful neighbors
than on their own, and wonder why
they do not obtain as good results from
the same crops but in order to be sue.
cessful comparisons must be made of
the proper times of planting, best vari-
cites for the section, methods of culti-
walton and productiveness of all the ce-
reals and garden vegetables that are
grown, to say nothing of the systems
of feeding and breeding of animals,
saving and application of manure and
usefulness of improved implements in
tended for farm service. The mistake
OF single farmer may prevent such
like occurrence on the part of large
number, and the beneficial results from
actual experiments by an individual
may assist in obtaining heavier yields
and greater profits for all.
Farmers clubs can do more than to
simply meet and discuss farm topics,
though it organized for nothing but
discussion the benefits to each individual
would be great but an organization
based upon the welfare of the agricul-
toral community in which it exists can
carry experiments much farther than
the efforts of a single individual. With
but little expense to each, new and i'm
proved agricultural implements can be
placed In service on a cooperative sys-
TEN, and the saving in expense from
the use of these would more than re
pay any outlay in the way of purcha-
ses. Thoroughbred stock can be more
easily introduced into. the community
by united effort, and the stock could
be OF the best, owing to the unlimited
means for procuring it that combina-
tion may easily furnish. The introduc-
ton of single thoroughbred animal
sometimes adds thousands of dollars to
the value of stock, as was done by
Messenger, the founder of our trotting
strain of horses. By organization the
facilities for marketing crops are in
creased, the expenses of transportation
lessened, higher prices obtained from
sales and the business of the whole
managed by one person in selling rath-
er than by ALL There is no limit to
the usefulness of farmers clubs; and
such clubs are beneficial in exact pro-
portion as the farmers make them so.
No farmer should expect the club to
prove success without his individual
aid, nor should any farmer efrain from
lmparting his experience on any sub
ject that be is familiar with, nor lose
any opportunity of adopting and prac-
ticing those methods that have proved
successful when tried by others. 1t
ehas been demonstrated by comparison
that in all agricultural communities
where farmers clubs exist there is a
steady and continued improvement in
the system practiced, and not only are
the profits greater but knowledge and
interest in the pursuit of farming are
correspondingly increased.