American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1915-11-11

SdleS L wanted something 10 Ialk ABOUT. i nau
to rely upon the advertising for my sales talk,
as I had no personal experience with the ar
ticle. l soon saw that it would pay me to Sc
cure a Well advertised machine. / made "a con-
tract with a manufacturer who makes a splendid
product and used both local and national adver-
Using. l shot his advertising at my customers
broadside, and convinced them that they should
buy separators and milk more cows.
Selling goods to customers without money is
a hard proposition. A farmer who has just ex-
perienced a crop failure is not an eager buyer,
particularly of something whose value he does
not thoroughly understand. l had several of the
most progressive farmers convinced, however. and
1 sold these separators on an easy-payment plan,
farmers paying me so much a week in cream.
This looks easy, and it is easy for the farmer.
He pays for his separator out of his cream checks
each week without missing the money, and, in
cidentally. forms the habit of coming to Gernet's
store from one to three times each week, as
made a contract with every farmer buying a sep
arator to purchase all the cream he produced.
Having sold my customers separators 1t became
necessary to fin a market for the cream. 1 found
the market. Doing business ten miles from a
railroad is a handicap, and in summer time cream
is highly perishable. 1 bought a team of mules
and ny clerk and l took turns In delivering
NS VI FOi huolubuS az IL utpOI anu DT1nR-
ing back freight. My separator department is
growing. 1 sold five machines last week. have
farmer customers who sell me as high as from
sixteen to twenty dollars worth of cream each
week. Two years ago l introduced some pure
bred Holstein's, and most of the farmers took to
them rapidly.
One evening not long ago l delivered a cream
separator to a farmer east of town. On my way
out / stopped to talk to a farmer who was Guilt
waiting his field and had just come to the end Of
a row. After having talked the value of dairy
COWS to this man for over two years, without get
ting a rise out of him, l had given him up as an
unconvertible cotton raiser. Thinking to josh him
a little, l said: well, Dick, l have brought you
out a cream separator; you can pay for it out of
your cream checks. / will expect you to make a
delivery of cream next week." 20, all right, Ger
merit, just leave 1t up to the house. 1 have been
thinking over some of your COW sermons for some
time. The other boys round here seem to be do
ing pretty well. SO I bought a few good Holstein
grades last week and thought I would surprise
you. Who put you wiser" l nearly fell off the
wagon. 1t had been over two years since had
planted the seed of the value Of dairy cows in that
farmers mind. The successful results of his
neighbours had fortified the thought until it be-
gan a definite growth. resulting in the purchase
" 0Ooo a NoWoy u 4 SdI-
r1ed the separator out next day.
Today there are many small herds springing up
In our county, and more pure-bred stock IL be-
ing boought In. l am now paying twenty-one
cents a pound for first-grade cream, and eighteen
cents for second grade; anything below that is
fed to the hogs. Through interesting the cotton
farmers In ~dairying I seem to have helped sew
eral people, including myself, and l have made a
lot OF good cash customers out or a lot mighty
poor credit ones.
All farmers are not adapted to handle the same
kind Of livestock successfully. AS / had experien-
ced satisfactory results through the introduce
ton of d~airying, ! decided that there must be
equally good opportunities, on a smaller scale,
in raising poultry. This time l found my market
for both poultry and eggs first. Then l bought a
small flock of good breeding stock, built a model
pen, installed a well advertised incubator, and
preached the religion Of the Industrious hen. l
did most of my preaching in the henhouse, DEM
onstrating at the same time. / had the agency
for the incubator, and could quote prices on breed
ing stock. The farmers saw and believed. This
happened several years ago. I have sold a good
many incubators and today I often buy as high as
twenty cases Of eggs and one thousand pounds Of
poultry in a day. The week before Christmas,
last year, l bought $3.50 worth of turkeys from one
woman. We have held three successful poultry
shows.
Next, l took up hogs. / had convinced myself
that the demonstration plan of educating farmers
produced the quickest and surest results. / brought
in the first pure-bred hogs ever seen in our
county; talked hogs; demonstrated hogs; and IL
nally got the farmers interested In buying pure
bred breeding stock and in raising more corn. At
the end Of the first year you could see a farmer
driving into town with a great fat hog Grated on
the back Of his wagon. Then they began to come
in loads. Remember / was buying all these prod
ucts, paying cash for them, and meeting market
prices; had to feed them and haul them to the
railroad ten miles away. Well, the hog business
p%rospered fine until the fall of the third year, when
the corn crop failed. That killed the hog business
dead. Everybody wanted to sell, and every wagon
coming into town was loaded. / was hog swamped
I took my medicine and studied the situation,
hoping to find a remedy which would exclude the
entire dependence Of the farmers, as bacon pro-
ducers, on corn as feed. I found 1t In kaffir. Ag-