Published  by 
The  Rural  Publishing  Co. 
333  VV.  30th  Street 
New  York 
The  Business  Farmer’s  Paper 
Weekly,  One  Dollar  Per  Year 
Postpaid 
Single  Copies,  Five  Cents 
VOL.  LX XV. 
NEW  YORK,  SEPTEMBER  10,  1910. 
No.  4395. 
Co-operative  Thrashing  in  Kansas 
Electricity  Becomes  a  Servant 
THE  START. — “Community  cooperation  is  neces¬ 
sary  in  order  to  build  up  the  community.  Pri¬ 
vate  cooperation  in  that  community  must  cooperate 
Avitlt  the  community.  This  is  fundamental,”  Abilene 
js  the  town  and  Dickinson  is  the  county  where  all 
that  is  necessary  to  accomplish  something  is  for  one 
man  to  get  an  idea  and  tell  a  few  others  and  away 
they  go.  Each  thing  which  has  been  accomplished 
is  only  one  more  argument  in  favor  of  cooperation. 
On  the  third  of  July 
an  idea  came  to  W. 
IT.  Broughton  which 
in  less  than  24  hours 
had  materialized  and 
Inside  of  50  hours 
was  ready  to  he  put 
into  execution.  On 
the  Broughton  farm 
electricity  has 
usurped  almost  en¬ 
tirely  the  old  meth¬ 
ods  of  doing  tilings. 
Arrangements  h  a  v  e 
been,  and  are  being, 
made  whereby  in  tbe 
near  future  w  a  t  e  r 
will  be  p  u  m  p  e  d, 
grain  ground,  corn 
shelled,  wood  sawed, 
hay  baled,  and  put 
into  the  barn,  silage 
cut.  cows  milked,  and 
the  milk  separated, 
w  a  shins  machines 
run.  irons  heated, 
fans  turned,  bread 
toasted,  and  some 
day  maybe  chickens 
will  I >o  hatched  by 
electricity. 
M  A  K  I  N  G  AR¬ 
RAN  GEM  ENTS.— 
While  thinking  of 
otlie  r  uses  for  tbe 
electricity  on  his 
farm.  Mr.  Broughton 
hit  upon  the  idea  of 
thrashing  by  elec¬ 
tricity.  But  how  Avas 
this  to  he  accom¬ 
plished?  It  AVOltld  lie 
too  expensive  for  him 
to  go  into  a  1  o  ji  e. 
Why  not  form  a  co¬ 
opera  five  compa  i  i.v, 
each  man  to  take  so 
many  shares?  So 
off  Mr.  Broughton 
Aveut  to  see  C.  L. 
Brown,  the  general 
manager  of  the  Riv¬ 
erside  Light  and 
1  Vi wer  Company.  M r. 
Brown  has  a  farm  in 
the  same  neighbor¬ 
hood.  so  of  course  he 
Avas  right  in  favor  of 
the  iilan.  Then  and 
there  papers  were 
drawn  up,  and  on  the 
Fourth  of  July  Mr.  Broughton  started  out  to  get 
signers.  Nine  names  were  secured  in  less  than  two 
hours.  These  men  all  jumped  into  their  automo¬ 
biles  and  went  to  town  to  make  the  final  arrange¬ 
ments.  Two  men  Avere  dropped  off  the  list,  because 
only  seven  were  needed;  Five  of  the  men  subscribed 
two  shares  and  each  of  the  others  one  share.  W.  31. 
Broughton  was  elected  president,  and  W.  II.  Mullin 
secretary  and  treasurer. 
THE  OUTFIT. — Then  two  of  the  men  were  up 
against  it  because  they  did  not  have  electricity  on 
their  farms.  George  Rush  had  a  good  acetylene 
plant,  but  he  had  electricity  installed  in  its  stead. 
Mr.  Mullin  was  building  a  modern  home  Avith  the 
exception  of  the  lights,  so  as  soon  as  the  thrashing 
idea  was  broached  to  him,  he  contracted  for  the 
lights.  Today  these  farmers  have  the  only  electric 
thrashing  outfit  in  the  United  States.  Their  thrash¬ 
ing  is  all  done  for  this  year,  and  they  have  reduced 
the  thrashing  bill  one-half  and  done  away  with  so 
much  extra  help.  They  have  a  $1,200  32-inch  cylin¬ 
der  machine  and  a  25  horsepower  motor.  Fred 
Ileinen,  one  of  the  stockholders,  is  the  separator 
man.  These  men  make  up  their  own  crew  by  all 
helping  and  having  their  sons  help.  Another  line 
thing  about  this  is  the  fact  that  the  housewives  only 
The  Motor,  Machine  and  Thrashing  Crew.  Fig.  483 
is  operated  by  a  small  lever  which  starts  and  stops 
it.  All  the  care  needed  to  run  the  motor  is  to  keep 
it  clean  and  oiled  twice  a  day.  For  simplicity,  econ¬ 
omy  and  for  labor  saving  this  outfit  cannot  be  ex¬ 
celled.  Men  have  been  here  from  various  States 
and  counties  to  see  the  outfit  and  have  gone  away 
well  satisfied  that  the  time  will  come  when  it  will 
be  the  only  practical  method  in  existence.  From 
the  old  method  of  thrashing  with  flails  to  thrashing 
with  electricity  is  indeed  a  far  cry.  Other  men  may 
have  had  the  idea,  but  to  one  man  only,  W.  IT. 
Broughton,  has  it  been  a  possibility.  The  idea 
would  ha ve  gone  for 
naught  had  it  not 
been  for  the  Avilling- 
ness  of  C.  L.  Brown 
to  try  the  experi¬ 
ment.  The  names  of 
the  cooperative  farm¬ 
ers  are  W.  II.  Brough¬ 
ton,  originator  a  n  d 
president;  C.  L. 
Brown,  the  man  who 
furnishes  the  juice; 
W.  IL  Mullin,  secre¬ 
tary  and  treasurer; 
George  Rush.  H.  H. 
Henderson.  Fred 
Ileinen,  Frank  Houl- 
ton.  Already  such 
an  outfit  is  b  e  in  g 
talked  of  by  other 
men,  and  probably  by 
next  year  there  will 
be  several  in  the 
field.  Any  man  who 
gets  an  idea  Avhich 
seems  to  him  good 
should  tell  It  to  his 
neighbors,  and  may¬ 
be  the  results  will  be 
as  fat*  reaching  as 
Mr.  Broughton's  elec¬ 
tric  thrashing  idea. 
“A  neighborhood 
club  is  the  best 
foundation  for  any 
cooperation.  Learn 
to  cooperate  in  one 
thing,  then  another, 
and  finally  in  all 
things.” 
MAY  BARCUS  TAYLOR. 
A  Quick  Finish  of  One  Thrashing  Job.  Fig.  484 
huve  to  furnish  dinner  to  the  crew.  The  other  two 
meals  the  men  get  at  their  homes.  Next  Summer 
these  lucky  women  will  get  those  dinners  by  elec- 
t  rici  t  y — proba  bly. 
LABOR-SAVING  METHODS.— How  is  this  thing 
accomplished,  you  ask.  Besides  the  32-inch  cylinder 
machine  and  the  25  horsepower  motor,  C.  L.  Brown 
furnishes  3.000  feet  of  electric  cable.  This  cable 
can  be  attached  to  the  electric  wires  any  place 
where  it  happens  to  be  convenient.  By  means  of 
this  cable  the  current  is  then  taken  through  a  trans¬ 
former  which  reduces  the  voltage  in  order  that  so 
much  power  may  not  he  wasted.  The  cable  is  run 
along  on  top  of  the  ground  to  the  motor.  The  motor 
A  True  Co-oper¬ 
ative  Creamery 
Will  yon  give  some 
figures  and  the  exper¬ 
ience  of  some  cream¬ 
ery  which  has  been 
run  mi  the  cooperative 
plan  and  made  a  suc¬ 
cess  of  it?  The  cream¬ 
ery  man  here  has  to 
compete  with  the  eon- 
densery,  the  roll  but¬ 
ter  huckster  and  the 
local  butter  dealers 
who  ship  butter  to  the 
coal  regions.  The  ex¬ 
penses  of  running  the 
creamery  are  about 
four  ceuts  per  pound, 
the  average  price  paid 
the  farmer  without 
any  over-run.  is  about 
23  cents.  There  is  a 
Grange  located  here 
and  thought  that  if 
the  Grangers  would  buy  the  local  creamery  and  make 
a  cooperative  creamery  of  it,  it  would  help  the  Grange 
and  also  make  the  creamery  a  big  success.  w.  G.  b. 
REGARDING  the  second  question,  it  has  been  an¬ 
swered  to  considerable  extent.  I  have  been 
much  in  favor  of  farmers  owning  their  own  cream¬ 
ery,  and  for  a  Grange  to  take  a  hand  would  be  best 
of  all  if  all  the  f  mers  are  Grangers.  If  they  are 
not  all  Grangers  it  might  be  best  to  so  organize  the 
creamery  that  of,'or  farmers  avIII  share  as  well  as 
the  Grange.  The  prices  mentioned  are  not  what 
ought  to  be  received  for  butter,  and  much  more  can 
l>e  realized  if  the  product  is  good  and  care  is  exer¬ 
cised  in  marketing.  Almost  if  not  quite  all  of  the  co- 
