168 Cooperation in Agriculture 



or Western corn that is not well dried before it goes to 

 the elevator, or eggs that are heated or soiled or cracked 

 on the farm. Not all the trouble is at the starting place, 

 of course. Good handling must be everywhere from the 

 producer to the consumer if the maximum of quality and 

 the minimum of loss is to be maintained. But even per- 

 fection of handling at the market center cannot compen- 

 sate for bad treatment at the source of supply. The whole- 

 saler is being driven to good equipment and good methods 

 because it is economy; the retailer is being forced, little 

 by little, to tell the truth because the strong arm of edu- 

 cation and the long arm of the law are both after him; 

 but the farmer, the country merchant, and the small 

 packer are sadly in need of precept and example for the 

 sake of both the producer and the consumer." 



MARKETING EGGS THROUGH THE CREAMERY 



A practical way to improve the conditions in the egg 

 industry is to form a cooperative egg-distributing associa- 

 tion as an adjunct to the cooperative creamery. Several 

 associations of this type are already in existence in the 

 United States. There are numbers of similar societies in 

 Denmark and in other foreign countries. The method 

 of marketing eggs through an association connected with 

 a creamery is described by Slocum 1 as follows : 



"The marketing of eggs in this particular instance is 

 accomplished through a creamery in the northern part 

 of Minnesota. Because of the fact that farmers must 

 take their milk or cream to the creamery at frequent 



1 Farmers' Bulletin 445, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



