THE COMMUNITY IDEA 147 



great farmers' organizations, and applies it to all the 

 people of a natural group, not merely to a few selected 

 members. Therefore the community idea can be ap- 

 plied to nearly every aspect of the work and life of 

 farmers. 



THE COMMUNITY IDEA IN PRODUCTION 



Farmers are in the habit of talking of their plans, of 

 exchanging experiences, of discussing new methods, of 

 aiding one another in times of labor shortage. Now 

 let us press this practice a little farther, organize it a 

 little more completely, and we shall have the com- 

 munity idea applied to production. Thus we can " so- 

 cialize " production. All students of the subject agree 

 that we would make a great gain in our agricultural 

 production if we could localize and standardize produc- 

 tion. Can we persuade the farmers of a given natural 

 community to grow just what they can grow best, and 

 to grow nothing else, to grow the best of the kind that 

 can be grown and of fairly uniform character and qual- 

 ity? If this were done, the land of the community 

 could be better adapted to the crops; the best methods 

 could the more easily be adopted because all the farm- 

 ers would seek exactly the same ends. This localizing 

 of production takes advantage of the habits and tastes 

 of the farmers of the community, the traditions of their 

 farming skill and makes use of all their experience. 

 Community production is not widely practiced, but it is 

 by no means an entirely new or theoretical subject. 

 For instance, a community in Wisconsin ships many 

 thousands of dollars' worth of Holstein cattle each year 

 through an annual sale. The Holstein breeders' asso- 

 ciation pays for the advertising. The purpose of the 

 breeders' association is to improve the native cattle by 



