Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-11-15
COOPERATION OF FARMERS
MEANS HIGHER EFFICIENCY.
Important Lesson to Be Gathered from
Iowa.


There is an important lesson to be
learned from the story of an Iowa
township. That lesson is important in
more ways than one. The story is
very brief and very simple II is this
The township is located in a section
of the State that produces a great deal
of very high-class live stock, corn and
other crops. In fact. it is a township
OF mixed farming done by well-to do.
successful farmers
In that township there are six
threshing outfits owned by partner
ships of four to eight farmers. Each
outfit consists of a fully equipped
grain separator and a steam thresh-
ing engine with a water tank. That
is all that is owned in the partnership.
Tie outfit is used only to do the
rhreshing on the farms owned or OBJ
Grated by the members of the partner
snip one man operates the engine
and two others operate the separator
during the whole round of the various
farms. These men, of course. are eth
er those members of the partnership
most experienced at such work, or are
experienced men hired by them for the
threshing season.
The plan for distributing the costs
OF the outfit for the season, among the
various members of the partnership,
vary more or less in different instan-
ces. But in each case a careful at
tempt is made to so divide these costs
that each member shall pay according
TO the amount and the variety of the
work which was done for him.
The routine of the work done each
year is arranged systematically so
that in the end, each member shall
have Jared alike. Various details in
the original purchase of the machine,
the care. mana cement, operation.
charges for various kinds of thrashing
DONE and SO forth. vary somewhat in
The various partnerships, | understand
One of the interesting lessons to be
learned is the fact that farmers can
cooperate.
There is growing spirit of coop
GRAFTON among farmers. They are
rapidly realizing that their interests
are mutual. This is good; good for
them, good for their business and good
for the world at large. And this spirit
of cooperation and mutual trust will
grow as they forget little things, over
look small faults and eccentricities
and remember 10 look at only the lar
ger, more important. more fundamen-
tai, things in each other.
A great deal of expensive machinery
can be owned and operated in this
way. If separators and threshing en-
gines can be successfully owned and
operated in partnership. then other
traction machinery can be owned and
operated in the same way And here
in lies an important opportunity which
these different partnerships failed to
grasp
With but very little if any, addi-
tional cost. the engines which were
purchased could have been general
purpose tractors instead of the old
fashioned single purpose thrashing en-
CINE fitted to do only belt work. Such
an engine Will do the various kinds of
belt work just as successfully as will
The single purpose machines. And in
addition to this it will do all kinds of
| field work and hauling.
The additional expense for a trac-
tion gang pillow would have equipped
a partnership for doing traction farm
| ing on each of the farms represented
the blowing could be arranged for in
the same routine, and paid for in the
same way, as was the threshing The
binders owned by the members could
| be dubbed together and put behind
/ the tractor to do the harvesting: and
| it would be done better and quicker
than it could be done in the old way
with horses.