NEW  YORK.  DECEMBER 
Yol.  LXXV 
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Some  Lessons  from  Co-operation 
The  Story  of  the  Buyer 
DEAL  IN  APPLES. — These  are  some  of  the 
apples  we  bought  this  Fall  in  our  cooperative 
club  (Fig.  5S3).  They  did  not  all  run  3(4  or  four 
inches  in  diameter;  but  a  big  enough  proportion  did. 
Apples  that  are  too  big,  we  have  found  out,  leave 
a  large  hole  in  a  bushel  when  you  eat  them.  Ap¬ 
ples  of  fair  size,’  say  three  inches  or  2 %  in  diameter, 
go  farther  and  give  just  as  good  satisfaction.  The 
apples  in  the  picture  are  Northern  Spy.  They  come 
from  the  farm  of  a  young  man  who  three  or  four 
years  ago  left  a  loom  to  buy  a  run-down  farm. 
say,  thousands  of  dollars  with  farmers  within  two 
years  for  produce  bought  directly.  We  have  gone 
directly  to  the  field,  and  bought  load  after  load  of 
potatoes,  and  had  them  drawn  to  the  cellars  of  our 
members.  This  Fall,  for  example,  we  bought  our 
supply  of  potatoes  early,  contracting  at  the  price  at 
which  the  big  hotel  here  bought,  namely  $1.25  a 
bushel.  It  seemed  an  excessive  price;  but  before 
they  were  delivered  the  price  bad  advanced  to  $1.75 
and  $1.80  in  the  opeu  market  here,  and  in  some  in¬ 
stances  reached  $2.  Our  manifest  saving  by  whole¬ 
sale  purchase  was  half  a  dollar  or  more  on  a  bushel. 
THE  LESSONS  OF  EXPERIENCE.— Everybody 
is  familiar  with  the  main  features  of  cooperative 
eggs  in  a  cooperative  club  for  45  cents  in  November, 
while  the  retailer  is  selling  for  Go.  you  must  make 
up  the  price  in  some  other  way.  For  example: 
Sou  want  two  dozen  eggs;  you  are  prepared  to  pay 
for  two  dozen,  and  bring  a  container  to  carry  them 
home  from  the  office  when  the  cooperative  club  re¬ 
ceives  its  weekly  case.  But  when  the  case  comes, 
and  you  find  there  are  but  20  dozen  available,  in¬ 
stead  of  30,  you  must  be  willing  to  take  your  pro  rata 
share  and  smile  about  it.  It  is  no  place  to  “crab.” 
Take  your  just  share;  pay  your  money,  “play  the 
game.”  It  is  a  great  tester  of  character  to  be  able 
to  cooperate  with  your  fellows,  either  at  football  or 
at  wholesale  buying. 
A  High-Producing  Unregistered  Pennsylvania  Cow.  Fig.  581.  Seepage  1504 
Frankly  be  knew  little  about  farming.  But  the 
Spring  of  1913  found  a  farm  bureau  established  in 
Oneida  County,  N.  Y.,  with  George  W.  Bush,  a  Fed¬ 
eral  expert  agriculturist  in  charge.  The  young 
farmer  sent  for  Mr.  Bush  and  followed  his  advice. 
Such  a  cleaning  out  of  that  old  orchard  you  never 
saw.  They  pruned,  and  sprayed  and  plowed  and 
raised  cover  crops  and  sprayed  some  more.  We 
began  doing  business  with  this  young  man  in  1914. 
His  apples  are  about  the  best  I  could  find  after  tour¬ 
ing  the  county  with  the  farm  bureau  agent,  and  we 
have  bought  hundreds  of  bushels  of  them. 
POTATO  BUYING. — Great  spicy,  juicy  .Spy  are 
not  the  only  things  we  have  bought  by  direct  deal¬ 
ing  with  farmers.  We  have  spent,  I  may  safely 
buying.  What  I  want  to  emphasize  is  some  of  the 
lessons  we  have  learned  in  our  two  years’  exper¬ 
ience.  Some  of  these  lessons  have  been  learned  by 
hard  knocks;  others  we  acquired  by  merely  keep¬ 
ing  our  eyes  and  ears  open.  In  the  first  place,  co¬ 
operation  is  cooperation.  It  means  that  everybody 
who  benefits  by  it  has  an  obligation  to  give  some¬ 
thing  toward  it.  either  of  service  or  advice.  It 
means  that  everybody  who  benefits  shall  be  willing 
to  “give  and  take”  to  a  certain  extent;  that  is  the 
coin  you  have  to  pay  in.  When  you  buy  eggs  from 
a  retailer  for  05  cents  a  dozen  you  are  paying  him 
for  bis  services  in  getting  those  eggs  to  market  and 
selling  them;  you  are  paying  him  for  having  them 
on  hand  so  you  can  buy  them.  When  you  get  fresh 
CASH  AND  CONFIDENCE.— In  the  second 
place,  cooperative  buying  necessitates  cash  trans¬ 
actions  to  get  the  best  rates,  and  that  necessitates 
cash  from  members.  We  often  pay  cash  in  ad¬ 
vance  to  our  treasurer.  When  our  potato  producer 
finished  delivery,  he  bad  but  to  bring  his  vouchers 
to  the  cashier  and  get  the  greenbacks  that  had  been 
waiting  in  the  safe  for  him.  This  system  is  good 
enough  to  attract  producers  to  us.  In  the  third 
place,  establish  relations  of  confidence  with  the  pro¬ 
ducer,  It  is  better  to  have  a  reliable  man  who  will 
stay  with  you  through  thick  and  thin  than  it  is  to 
chase  about  to  hunt  for  the  lowest  market.  In  the 
long  run  you  will  save  more  money.  For,  whereas 
you  might  save  on  this  week’s  deal  by  a  close 
