119 



paigti: Our grauges have received from manufacturers proposals for tlie sale of their 

 farm-implements at lower rates than they sell the same to their agents. Sewing- 

 machine manufacturers have done the same, the reduction iu some cases beino- as much 

 as 50 per cent. Geauga : There are from oue to three co-o]ierative cheese-factories in 

 every township in the county; some of the factories are owned by individuals who 

 buy the milk from farmers at a price agreed on ; others work up the milk of their 

 patrons at a stipulated price per pound of cheese. Other factories are owned by the 

 community, and men are hired to work up the milk. Hancock : Machinery has been 

 purchased co-operatively, and on this one item alone 40 per cent, has been saved to the 

 pui'chaser. Benefits have also accrued from co-operative selling, but the precise amount 

 saved not well known, but maj'- be safely estimated iu thousands. Morgan: Oue 

 "farmers' club" (numbering about fifty farmers) have saved !|1,000 the past year by 

 I>urchasing their goods and supplies in quantities, and the sale of their home-commod- 

 ities iu quantities and shipped together. 



Michigan. — Hillsdale : No co-operative institutions here. We have several quite 

 extensive flouring-mills in the county, manufacturing for export. We have oue woolen- 

 mill with a capacity of 120,000 yards per annum, valued at §170,000, and have improved 

 their spinning by adding a self-operating attachment at a cost of !|2,500. We have also 

 oue cotton-mill just started, and we think it will be a success, with a capacity of 70,000 

 yards per month. The cheese-factory at Reading is said to be the most successful in 

 the county, and the largest in the State. Three years ago we had one in almost every 

 neighborhood, but they have nearly all failed. Our grazing lauds are not sufficiently 

 comjiact to render the business generally profitable. Our butter is said to yield us more 

 money than our wheat ; four packers have paid out $75,000 for butter during the past 

 year. Our poultry and egg trade is also very heavy, 



Indiana. — Ripley : The only co-operation here is for purchasing milk for the Cincin- 

 nati market. We have a number of flour-mills, but none on an extensive scale. Our 

 hogs are all shipped to Cincinnati, and the same may be said of cattle and sheep. Bat 

 one woolen-factory iu the couuty, running about six or seven looms. Gibson : A fiirmers' 

 club established here ; succeeded in purchasing for its members $lS5-reapiug-machines 

 for llijo. The greater part of our pork is packed at home ; but the greater part of the 

 wheat-crop is shipped off. Miami : We have the largest woolen-mill in the State ; owned 

 by a company ; our flour-mill is not sufficient to work up one-fourth our crop ; our pcrk- 

 packers have not cut up more thau one-fourth the product of the couuty. The foundations 

 of an extensive pork-packing establishmeut are now being laid, to begin operations next 

 fall. Pike : We have one carding-machine, four grist-mills and a dozen saw-mills. There 

 has been no extension of manufactures of any sort. If we had a railroad we could furnish 

 millions of bushels of good coal, as we have thousands of acres of coal near the 

 surface, from 3 to 10 feet in thickness. The flour manufactured to ship amounts to 

 only 200 or 300 barrels per year ; 20,000 hogs are driven annually to Cmciuuati and 

 other markets. Brown : Flattering reports are spread of the beneficial etiects accruinu- 

 from the organization of granges of patrons of husbandry ; they have been but two 

 months in existence, and in auother month the county will be thoroughly organized 

 and ready to begin operations. Stark : The co-operative movement is spreading rapidly 

 throughout the couuty ; in the soiling of produce aud purchasing of supplies %, reduc- 

 tion has been obtained of at least 10 and 15 per cent, on supplies, and 25 to 30 per cent, 

 on farm-implements, and, at the same time, obtained 10 per cent, more for their pro- 

 duce. Morgan : A large and extensive pork-packing establishmeut has been erected 

 within the past year ; 12,000 hogs were slaughtered the first season ; the saving to the 

 people of this county, by this enterprise alone, has uot been less than $35,000 durino- 

 the season. ° 



JiASNOis.— Mercer : Some of the earlier grauges think they save from 10 to 20 per 

 cent, in their stores and goods. Arrangements are now perfected to purchase at 

 wholesale prices, saving iu some cases 50 per cent. ; in fact we save for ourselves the 

 former profits of the middle-men, and some think more. I believe as the result of co- 

 operative action that the farmers of this county have already saved four or five thou- 

 sand dollars, and will be enabled to save five or ten times that amount next year. Lee: 

 Co-operation has, to a large extent, secured cash payments for all farm-implements, at 

 wholesale prices. The granges are raising large reserve- funds, for the purpose of 

 making their county aud State purchasing-agents dictate prices to manufacturers, by 

 buying largely at one time and paying cash, and in many instances saving to the 

 farmer 50 per cent. Vermillion : Purchases are being made through the grange 

 organizations, mostly through a county purchasing-ag^ent ; farm-supplies, sewing- 

 machines, farming implements, wagons, fruit-trees, &c., are being piirchased at 

 wholesale prices, from 25 to 30 per cent, less than formerly. No benefit has yet been 

 derived from the granges in the selling of farm-products. Boone : Co-operation yet iu 

 its infancy, still some benefit iu the purchasing of supplies. As to manufactures, we 

 have five or six thriviug cheese-factories, three wagon-factories, one carriage-factory, 

 carding-mill, flax-mill, and plen^ of grist-mills. Fayette: In some communities they 

 have been purchasing family supplies and some farmiug implements during the past 

 4 A 



