The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-11-21
WHAT FARM BUREAUS ARE.
What the Farmers Club Can Do for
the Country.
By Fred Ward.


cial club is to the city. A farmers
club stands for organized effort. Co
operation in the broad sense is work
ing together in harmony of all classes
OF people. The success of our coun-
try depends upon our homes. Our
most important work in this world is
caring for our boys and girls.
The country Is better place in
which to bring up children than the
city. More important to the farmer
than better potatoes, sows, pigs and
chickens, should be his boys and girls.
How many of us have lived in farm
communities where men thought
more about their live stock than about
their children, with the result that as
boon as the children are big enough,
:hey leave the farm for the city.
Whole Families in Club.
A farmers club can do much to
overcome these conditions. A great
mistake is often made in organizing
farmers clubs by thinking they should
be for men alone. The women of this
country work as hard as the men;
they bear as many burdens, and they
deserve as much credit as the men.
The most successful farmers club
will be made up of families of the
community.
Loyal Get Together Spirit.
Before a farmers club can under
take any definite line of work they
must have the loyal, "get together"
cooperative spirit. Regular meetings
that have been carefully planned will
do much to develop this spirit. To
my mind this is the most important
feature of the farmers club work.
The motto of every farmers club
should be Better Farm Homes"
Club Buys Thoroughbred Sires.
By cooperating the farmers can get
a pure-bred bull at the farmers club
meeting. If it is dairy section each
farmer should weigh the milk from
each COW and keep a record of it. The
milk should be tested for butter fat
at least once every month A record
of feed should also be kept. The
boys and girls of the farm will be
much interested in making the butter
fat test with a Babcock milk tester
that can be purchased for a few dol
lars from any creamery supply house
or from your local. dealer. The boys
and girls will soon become interested
in seeing which "old bossy" makes
the best use of the food she eats. In
some places the farmers club buys a
milk tester and tests all the milk for
the club. Another very good way is
to put tester into the school and let
the children test the milk as part of
their school work. 1t is we'll for the
farm boy and girl to know the length
of the equator but it is more import
ant for them to know how to figure
balanced rations and keep the milk
and feed records. By getting a pure
bred sire and keeping records of the
milk productions and feed of our indi-
vidual COWS we can Gull out the un-
profitable ones and rapidly raise the
standard of dairy cows of our neigh
borhood.
Club for One Variety.
In many communities where pota-
toes, for example, can be grown prof
orators among the farmers, you may
find dozen different varieties but
not enough of any one variety to sell
to advantage. With the advent of the
farmers club these conditions disap-
pear. The farmers readily see when
they get together, the Importance of
ldlolllS OllS VI l"O' val VI POld-
toes. They are then able to furnish
a buyer with uniform variety of po-
tatoes in small or large quantities,
their product. What is true of the po.
tato crop is true of almost any crop.
Club for Good Roads.
No matter how much a farmer
raises, if he cannot get it to market
economically he is the loser. A
farmer needs good roads. Co-opera-
ton here means much to the farmer.
A farmers club stands a better
chance of getting what is asked for
from the town, county or state than
the individual farmer does. There is
nothing that will help the farm home
like good roads. Good roads bring
neighbors close together and help inn
prove social conditions in the neigh
borhood, which tends to keep the boy
and girl on the farm.
Telephone Clubs.
In many places the farmers clubs
are putting in telephone systems.
The biggest part of the business
of farming is marketing the product
properly.
Buying and Selling.
There are many fine farmers who
can raise good crops but who fail abb
solutely on the selling end of the busi-
ness. A farmers club can aid mater
tally in marketing. Eggs for example
put up in cartons and marketed
through a farmers organization will
bring several cents more per dozen.
A farmers club can help work out
the the problems of farm credit. 1t is
unfair to the business of farming to
compel farmer to pay more for
money that he needs to improve his
farm or buy live stock with than men
in other lines of business have to pay.
Instead of complaining about these
things the farmers should organi7"
the farmers clubs and help straigh;
them out.
City and Country. L
Much effort has been extended by
commercial clubs and other city or
ganizations to bring the farmer and
citv man tOoefher We know the citv