DAIRY MEETING. I59 



when the bookkeeping was well under way they asked, "Why 

 can't we purchase our feed co-operatively?" and later they did. 

 The more they co-operated the more money they saved. Feeds 

 were not enough, they had to have seeds, and they have begun 

 to co-operate in the purchase of seed. One association sent in 

 %y orders for grass seed, worth over $1,300. They secured a 

 first-class article and saved between three and four hundred 

 dollars on the purchase. 



The co-operative purchase of fertilizers is another thing that 

 associations are taking hold of. I look for more co-operative 

 buying next spring. 



The Dairy Testing Association can help in the purchase of 

 some of the machinery that we need on the farm, as the corn 

 harvesting machinery. We do not need that every day in the 

 year, and if we are not doing a large enough business to pur- 

 chase ensilage machinery alone, perhaps we can co-operate with 

 our neighbors and thus do our work. We get in closer touch 

 at the monthly meetings of the association. We need another 

 thing in the co-operative work. The farmers are getting about 

 37 cents out of the consumer's dollar. That is too little. The 

 consumer pays all that he can stand, but we want more of this 

 dollar on the farm, and it is only through co-operative work 

 that we can get it. 



These co-operative associations follow in the wake of the 

 Dairy Testing Association. The first thing that comes along, 

 invariably, is a Dairy Cattle Breeders' Association. The next 

 thing after the Cattle Breeders' Association came in the State 

 Breeders' Association of Maine. Farmers are getting together ; 

 they realize that by co-operation they can accomplish better 

 results. 



Just before the State Live Stock Breeders' Association came 

 the Seed Improvement Association, an association that is going 

 to do more for the farmers of Maine than any other, I believe, 

 that has been organized. You just watch it and take hold 

 with it. 



The sheep men began to realize that the dairymen were getting 



something out of their animals that they could not get alone, 



and there is one Sheep Breeders' Association organized in the 



State, and more coming. 



The poultrymen are beginning to realize something of the 



