St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1914-06-03

SITES ny HGmD6TS OF Tie dSSOC1-
alton This means that after few
years the community will establish
a reputation and will be a mecca for
the buyer who desires the pure bred
animal with a production record to
back it up.
Three communities of the county
have organized into local farmers
clubs for the purpose of lettering
the agricultural conditions in their
immediate communities. Meetings
are held every two weeks, at which
| time pertinent agricultural questions
are discussed and literary programs
| prepared by local talent are list
ened to with interest. These meet
ings center at the schoolhouse and
serve as a social center for the COM
munlty, the women and children be-
ing as enthusiastic over the move
ment as the men. Whenever posi-
bic, outside help is obtained and the
services of the extension workers of
/ the State are constantly in demand.
! These meetings have worked out
very successfully and ought to illus
trate to other communities what can
be accomplished when someone is
ready to start and push the work in
his individual locality.
One of the most profitable types
of work engaged in by the county
agent is what we may call community
conferences. Ten or Is farmers
meet at the home of one of their
number and hold a conference with
| the county agent. Topics of interest
to each and every member of the
group are informally discussed and
no one hesitates to express his opin-
| ion or ask questions as is many times
the case in the public meetings. In
county the size of Windsor, group
work is absolutely necessary because
all the farms cannot be reached by
| individual visits.
Cooperative purchasing has been
encouraged and satisfactory results
obtained with interest in the work
increasing. In one town at the close
of an extension school held by the
extension service of the State Agri-
cultural College, the farmers organ
lied into clubs for the purpose of
cooperating in the purchase of fer
tilizers, seeds, etc. The orders for
three cars of chemicals and a $1,000
seed order have already been sent
in. The farmers can well afford to
cooperate in the purchase of such
commodities as are used in large
quantities but should confne coop
erative purchasing to this type of
goods.
1 is hoped that within the next
year that such farmers clubs as this
one at Springfield, VT, may be or
ganized in every section of the coun-
ty. When this is accomplished, the
clubs could do business on a county
basis through the Windsor County
Farmers association. This larger
unit would result in better prices
and stronger organization with
which to compete with agencies that
are continually endeavoring to kill
any effort of the farmer to secure
cheaper supplies. 1t is about time
the New England farmer realized
his strength and made his influence
felt by united effort.
While all the methods of improve
ment mentioned above are worthy of
the deepest consideration, we have
not touched the real problem. What
we need to know is why certain
farms are successful and why other
farms are unsuccessful when meas
ured by the labor income or the
amount the farmer has left for his
work after deducting per cent. in
terest on the investment and paying
for family labor as we'll as all cash
expenses. The factor which influences
this labor income can be determined
only by securing farm Surveys of each
county or by taking the results of
surveys made of sections where the
type of agriculture is similar and the
same general principles apply. In
asmuch as many such surveys have
been made, the latter method will
necessarily be used in order to save
time.
1t has been quite definitely proven
that for our Vermont conditions we
need larger instead of smaller farms
as many people have been advocat-
ing. The farmer must have land
enough to do business with before
large returns may be expected. The
hill farmer of Windsor county, VT,
cannot expect to make living or
much more than that on a farm of
the size run by the market gardener
near our large towns and cities.
Nearly as much capital must be in
vested in implements on the small
farm as on the large farm. Either
the small farm must be under
equipped or else the machinery will
not be used to good advantage. Idle
machinery means lost money. The
larger farm gives a chance to make
a profit from the labor of more men,
providing their labor is we'll direct
ed. In many cases two or more
men can do a piece of work more eff
ficiently than one working alone.
On the small farm, one horse does
not work as many acres as on the
large farm, thus increasing the cost
per acre of horse labor. With the
high prices paid for grain every
farmer must plan to get his work
done with as small a number of
horses as possible and keep those
horses employed throughout the
year. Many farmers are raising
colts from mares which do the reg
uIar farm work and in this way are
getting larger returns from their
horses.
We need more Investigation on
our Windsor county farms. Farm
surveys show US that as a class the
men who get their income from sew