The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-06-23
PRACTICAL FARM TOPICS.


 In former paper under the. above heading I promised to show how farmers nave been benefited by organization and education, along practical agricultur- all teachings
 A vast amount of good has been ac- complished through the efforts that have been made yet there is need for a greater spread of this work. It is strange, when we have so many examples, positive proofs of the value of this primary edu- cation and what it Is doing for those who will allow themselves to come under it's direct Influence, that so many should be slow in feeling any need or taking any interest in the work So far as as ob- 1ect lessons are concerned, to prove my position in this matter I can cite many all over the country but will only mention a few-some to show what has been &C., cemplished through cooperation and some to show what failures have been made for lack of cooperation and the necessary education
 First, I will notice the report on the strawberry situation near Louisville, where they have the largest crop ever known in the history of the country. Thousands of crates of fine berries are go- ing to waste for want of carriers-crates to carry them to market People are al- lowed to come and get what they want for the picking. Now it does seem that if these growers were organized as they should be and as well educated as they need to be in order tomanage such a crop they might have anticipated their needs in they way of carriers to get their fruit to market and would have saved this great loss. which no doubt means much to them.
 The York fruit growers are thoroughly organized, they have their regular month ly meetings where all matters pertaining to their interests are fully discussed They have perfect system Of eoopera- tor and education; they meet in the win-- ter and make all their arrangements for the handling and marketing their crops; they provide ahead for all the crates barrels and boxes that they will need and would much prefer carrying over some surplus stock rather than not to have enough. As a result of this CO., operation and education one branch of this great organization at Fayetteville Arkansas sold this season sS0O,0OO worth of strawberries, paying to the poorer people who picked the fruit $60. GOO Van Buren Arkansas did almost as we'll
 Value of Organization.
 The question is how many berries would these sections have sold if they had not been organized and educated. and If they had gone along and paid no attention to their wants for handling the crop or if they had paid no previous at tention to the markets. But instead of this they had regular meetings where they educated themselves in all these details and when the time came for the crops to move everything was ready and the markets to where they would ship had been arranged for ahead.
 Now. Van Buren. Arkansas, estimates that 1t will ship $50 cars of peaches this season and so the growers are fully pre- pared ahead for handling this great crop They have the carriers for the crop on hand, the markets selected, their arrange ments with the railroads for equippage all completed. so that when the crop commences to move 1t will move fast and there will be complete harmony and complete. system about the whole busi- ness This sis the only way to make such enterprises pay.
 Last season in a certain section of the country a large acreage of cantaloupes were planted. l as we'll as others. labor cd hard with these growers to get them properly organized; to get them to work together and tried to impress upon them the importance of meeting regularly and educating themselves as to what was go- ing on in the great markets. We tried to show them the importance of proyid- ing ahead for. their wants. I said to them:
 You are likely to have a great crop of cantaloupes and this is crop that cannot wait. They must be sold when ready and sold quickly. Have you crates and everything ready?''
 When the crop came in got wire f~. crop of cantaloLpes ready to move but no market. Send us a buyer.''
 l went at once to St. Louis and Kan sas City where I found a ready demand for all canteloupes, good ones, that could be found. So with these orders rushed to the growers and on reaching them I found B crates knocked down Heinz out on the side of the railroad track and here they were with thousand acres of fine eantaloupes ripe and ready to move and no carriers. so we could do nothing for them. It was too late then to order crates-the crop needed moving at once Some went to work shipping In shoe boxes, barrels and any old thing that could be picked up and used for carrying the fruit to market. The result of this was that many of the shippers had the express to pay on their shipments and this great crop of fine cantaloupes, worth at least s100 net profit per acre to the growers, was a clear loss. Should any of those fellows be asked today they would say there is no money in cantaloupe growing.
 What an Association Did.
 While these people were having this sad experience with their cantaloupe crop, their was a live, wide-awake as-' sociation only a few miles from them who shipped IS cars, which netted the growers $3.01 per crate. I'his means more than the value of crop of cotton yield ing two bales per acre Now had this last association sat down. and waited iln- tefore making any provision for crates or for market they too might say there is no money in iaising cantaloupes.
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