The Green Forest tribune., 1910-12-30
COOPERATION IS THE BEST
American Farmer Is Slow to Appre. ciate Value of Principle as Ap-
 piled to Agriculture.

farm work, and he cannot grasp it at all unless he is imbued with an al truistie spirit, a disposition to help his neighbors as well as himself, and thus fulfill the Golden Rule, says a writer in the Homstead.
 Until mparatiyely recent years the farmer has been obliged to depend on himself All through the last cen tury he has made his living by muscu- lar labor and his wealth by the ad- vance in the price of land where the land was goodS His isolation has compelled him to rely largely on him. self and has made him what the sci entists call an individualist, man who relies on his own unaided strength and resources. The time is coming, however, when cooperation becomes quite as necessary as indi- yidual effort has been heretofore.
 We are not advocating what is usually called cooperation in buying and selling, in operating creameries, in disposing of live stock, but minor or lesser forms of neighborhood as sistance in farm operations.
 If farmers are to succeed, or even to enjoy themselves on the farm, they should learn to work to each others hands as they have never done be- fore; and We venture to indicate sev- eral lines in which cooperation will not only be mutually helpful in a financial way, but vastly improve so- ciaI conditions as well.
 The purchase of farm machinery, which the shortage of labor absolute ly requires, is becoming a very heavy burden on the eighty acre and quarter section farm. Farming cannot be done now as it was half century ago with a blow or two, one harrow, a wagon, horse-rake, a cradle and a scythe. A hay-loader, a corn harvest CT, binder, two or three different kinds of blows, harrows and rollers are needed.
 The sflo has come into general use, and a sflage cutter and some kind of power to run it is required A ma nure spreader and grain drill are needed whether the farm is a forty, an eighty, a quarter-section, a half section or a section. Now there is no necessity for any one man owning aF these tools. By little planning two farmers, or perhaps three, can use one corn harvester. one silage cutter and power, and by combining labor can fill their silos at minimum expense; or where silage is not used they can own a corn shredder in the same way.
 Even on the quarter-section farm there is no need for every man to own a grain drill. With a little manage ment one grain drill will do the work on three, four or half a dozen farms. It can usually be arranged for one man to buy the drill and the rest to pay stated acreage for the use of it. The same is true of the manure spreader although We think every farmer really ought to have one for himself.
 There is no need for farmers wait ing till the whole neighborhood gets ready to thrash; for three or four farmers can buy a small thrashing outfit, stack their grain, thrash it themselves and greatly promote the peace of mind and the comfort for the wives who make their homes havens of rest and peace.
 There is no need of farmers along straight road to town having bad roads, except, perhaps, for a short period in the spring If they will simply agree to bring pressure to bear upon the supervisors to put that road in order, and then agree among themselves that they will drag it after every rain and every thaw there will be TO difficulty about getting to town in comfort ten or eleven months of the year.
 Farmers greatly aid each other by coming to ar understanding as to the kind of cattle they are keeping, espe- cially if they are engaged in dairy ing, and by agreeing with each other as to the purchase of sires, will be able to keep the good ones, sires of proven merit, in the community, to the great benefit of every individual farmer.
 Farmers can cooperate with each other in putting up their ice for sum- mer use, for an icehouse is a neces- sity on every farm. These are simple examples of practical cooperation that will be common whenever farmers come to realize that their own profit as well as their personal comfort, de- pends upon cooperating, or working i to each others hands for mutual ! benefit.
 Not the least of the benefits ac- cruing from cooperation will be a l better understanding of each other, I closer social relations between fami- l lies of the right sort, and the weed ing out of the selfish and undesirable citizens unless they mend their ways. In other words, there will be a de- velopment of the farm spirit and a standard of living, moral and social, that will make the unworthy unwel. come and i'll at ease in the com, munity.
 Stingless Bees.