The Owosso times., 1921-06-10

| maze an economical StdTt WHICH Will
later on be reflected in better ag-
riculture. Fields sown to weed-free,
registered seeds will be constantly
at work in building up better Michi-
gan agriculture.
The Michigan State Farm Bureau
1920 wool pool has paid. On April
15, 1921 upwards of 100000
pounds of the 3,500,000 pounds pool
ed in 1920 by $4,000 wool growers
had brought from three to twelve
cents more pound than buyers rep
resentilng private concerns had offer
ed. About four-fifths of the wool
was pooled after the market had
dropped and local buyers had .abso-
lutely quit buying except at the most
ridiculous prices. Up to the time
this report was written farm bureau
graded wool was bringing better
prices than the grower could have
gotten from the local buyer.
The lower grades went to market
first, bringing comparatively good
prices. Manufacture and sale of s.
900 blankets from tags and rejects
brought the grower 18c pound when
the market was only 10c for such
grades. On April Is, thirty-three
carloads-half million pounds of
three-eighths, quarter-blood and
short clothing wools-had sold at 27,
26 and FL cents. Local buyers were
offering ten to 18 cents for the same
grades. A program for the manu.
facture of ladies' and mems suitings
which is under way this spring and
summer is taking much of the cloth
ing grades in the pool at twice the
price the farmer would have secured
by selling on the market. Blanket
manufacture will continue through
out the summer in anticipation of a
fall sales campaign.
Farmers believe in the pool. AS
far back as January when most of the
1920 wool was still unsold delegates
representing the wool growers of 81
counties voted for pool of the 1921
clip. This new pool is now under way
with 100 grading warehouses scat
tered over the state. The system is
expected to reduce the handling cGF<s
of a Lee per pound Of the 1920 clip
to about half that amount and also
eliminate the freight to the central
warehouses. Wool is being graded
and weighed in the presence of the
farmer, who receives at the time of
grading cash advance without in
terest, equivalent to approximately
one-half the value of his wool.
The Elevator Exchange Depart
ment made average sales for 3hc
more per bushel on wheat, rye and
oats sold during the month Of Feb
ruary 1921 than the average bids of
five large grain jobbers throughout
the country. This department began
in September 1920 with % member
elevators and in seven months had
swelled to membership of 80 ele-
vators all of which were contracted
to sell all their grain through the one
agency and in turn held their respec-
tive memberships by crop contracts.
Three hundred and twenty carload
purchases and more than 100 less
than -car-lot orders of farm materials
were made during the month; of
March by the Purchasing Depart
ment of the Michigan State Farm
Bureau, part of the $50 carloads pur-
chased since January 1, 1921. Saw
ings totalling thousands of dollars
were made to farm bureau members
on these purchases.
Keen competition and dropping
market made the work of this de-
partment very difficult. Many prices
were forced down "before their
time" which made an inestimable
bureau members or not, saving for
which the department was not given
popular credit because its actual
value was intangible.
The combined buying power of
$4,000 farm bureau members,
through their purchasing department
enabled the purchasing department
to make fertilizer connections early
in 1921 which broke the fertilizer
market in Michigan three times, ef-
fecting savings Of SO to $13 a ton on
commercial fertilizer Since no one
can tell how much fertilizer would
have been purchased if the price had
been forced down, it is impossible to
estimate the actual saving to agri-
culture. Estimates in the total saw
ing vary from few thousand dollars
to half million.
Reaching into Liverpool, England,
the purchasing department bought
white arsenic insecticide at such saw
ings that western Michigan fruit
growers saved upwards of $4,000 on
the deal.
Wire fence has gone to farm bu-
reau members in carlots and at con-
siderable savings. A tile connection
has enabled members to buy tile at
prices below the commercial market.
Paint and Oil connections have also
effected savings to farm bureau men,
bers. Binder twine was going to
farm bureau locals in carlots late in
April. Members are saving from $40
to $50 set on surplus government
harness handled by the farm bureau.
Other commodities which Michigan
farm bureau members are buying
through their purchasing department
are: automobile tires, cottonseed
meal, oil ,heal, calf meal, bran, mid
dlings, anthracite and bituminous
coal, building materials, lumber, ce-
ment, shingles and fence posts.
The Traffic Department secured
$23, 500 during the first three months
of the year through the presentation
of railroad claims for members. The
cost of this service to the members
who received it, was $500 which
left net sum of $22, 100 as a saving.
During this same period the de-