The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-10-17

last 80 years. The creamery, the cheese
factory, the centrifugal separator, the
siIo, and refrigerator transportation,
are among these new forces They are
being adopted all over the world, and
the result must inevitably be to reduce
the market price of dairy products. II
the American dairy farmer will use
his brains, will study and post himself,
and im5i5e the ideas Of better soil
management, better ideas Of feeding,
and improve the dairy quality his cat.
tie, he can keep ahead If the tide, and
so, by reducing the cost Of his product,
continue to make a good living profit.
The American farmer can produce
milk cheaper, If he will, than any
farmer on earth. Yet the farmer Of
Holland, with land that is worth from
$3.50 to $500 per acre, produces milk at
less cost per gallon than the average
American farmer. The Dutch farmer
is a hard student OF all the latest and
best ideas in economical production.
He sends his sons and daughters to the
dairy schools and 50 keeps himself in
touch with all better ideas. The aver
age yearly value of the product Of the
Dutch COWS is $75, which is so per cent.
greater than in England or the United
States. What is true in this respect
Of spec fc dairy farming is no less true
of every other branch of agriculture.
co OPERATION
The vast extent to which the organ
zation of trusts has attained, means
that the men who represent
these varied interests have learned to
Cooperate for mutual benefit. Like
other social power and privilege
it can be carried TO an extent where it
m unts TO q conspiracy against the
general welfare. When that time
comes the paople will cope with it sue
cesstuIly. Eae American people have
never been ensIaved and they never
will be.
Bat there ia a hint in all this COM
that is going on. that she farm
9rs should take to heart. Except in
dairyiDg, and to a small extent in fruit
growing, this great lesson is utterly IN.
needed. Every creamery and cheese
cou d easily be made the means
Of a larger and more beneficial use Of
Cooperative economies. In France
600, 900 farmers are members Of
associations through which
hey buy fertilizers, implements,
FLOODED stock and sell their produce.
90 operation for the farmer coes not
mean the formation Of some gigantic
coEc.rn which will end in game
fire; e cut" Every instinct of
reason and experience bids us avoid
such schemes as we would the plague.
Bat in the broader sense a0d logic Of
necessities, and not the nec6s sity
Of ome promoter, farmers should
study co operation.
PRESERVATION OF THE FARM
As farmers we need to % constantly
agitated from the standpoint OF main
the fertility o. cur soil by the
Standardization Of che forces at
bur command It has been stated,
with how much accuracy I cannot say,
hat the decline in the values OF farm
.ands in the last thirty years ia the
State OF New York alone, has reached
,he enormous sum Of over one billion
If dollars. The same condition applies
10 the farming lands, in greater or less
proportion, from Indiana east ward 10
he Atlantic coast. The loss in ayr !
cultural wealth to the nation, arising /
rom this condition, is almost beyond
The only increase in either
population or wealth, in the territory
named, has been in the cities and vii !!
ages IN the Country there has been |
! manifest d8Giine in the productivity |
If the farm, aud the pride and ambi
ion Of the farmer. Two causes, in my !
have c3nspired to this lament
Ible result. % The drainage to the
of the best mental elements Of the
arm Mind always goes before mat
er. ~ A corresponding and c0nse
drainage in the same direc
ion OF the productive elements OF the
arm. Fertility has been sold out of
he soil by the bushel and by the ton.
In the great Middle West a different
condition exists, which, up to the pres
Mt time, has arrested this great u
ent of waste and destruc ion to a GER
ain extent. As fast as the sons of
american born farmers have abandoned
he old farm there has cgme in a farmer
rom Germany Or other countries in
This European farmer pos
esses two valuable traits of mind and