"Uhe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
I"l“ 
How  Farmers  Are  Working  Together 
Part  III. 
Co-operative  Stores. — In  New  Eng¬ 
land  there  sire  between  40  and  50  co¬ 
operative  buying  organizations  with 
stores  some  like  (he  one  in  Plymouth, 
Mass.,  dating  back  nearly  to  Civil  War 
times.  Many  of  the  older  ones  were  or¬ 
ganized  by  workingmen  and  by  immi¬ 
grants  of  various  nationalities.  The 
movement  among  farmers  is  of  more  re¬ 
cent  date,  and  has  been  greatly  helped  by 
adoption  by  some  of  the  States  of  more 
simple  laws  regarding  cooperation. 
Among  recent  enterprises  are  those  at 
Hardwick,  Amherst.  Worcester  and 
Easton,  Mass.,  some  already  very  suc¬ 
cessful  and  others  just  getting  under 
way,  but  all  organized  after  the  general 
model  of  the  one  at  Ayer  and  under  the 
Massachusetts  law  governing  cooperative 
associations  which  reads  in  part  as  fol¬ 
lows  : 
“The  capital  stock  of  such  a  coopera¬ 
tive  corporation  shall  not  be  less  than 
one  hundred  dollars,  not*  more  than  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  No  stock¬ 
holder  shall  own  shares  of  a  greater  par 
value  than  one  tenth  of  the  total  par 
value  of  the  capital  stock,  nor  shall  any 
member  be  entitled  to  more  than  one  vote 
on  any  subject  arising  in  the  manage¬ 
ment  of  the  corporation. 
“The  directors  of  every  such  corpora¬ 
tion  shall  apportion  the  earnings  of  the 
corporation  in  the  following  manner : 
“1.  They  shall  set  aside  annually  not 
less  than  10  per  cent,  of  the  net  profits 
of  the  corporation  for  a  reserve  fund 
until  there  is  accumulated  in  said  reserve 
fund  an  amount  not  less  than  ,10  per 
cent,  of  the  paid-up  capital  stock. 
"2.  They  shall  declare  aud  pay  divi¬ 
dends  on  the  paid-up  capital  stock  not 
exceeding  five  per  cent,  per  annum. 
“The  directors  shall  distribute  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  such  earnings  or  any  part 
thereof  by  a  uniform  dividend  upon  tlie 
amount  of  purchases  or  sales  of  share¬ 
holders,  through  the.  corporation. 
“The  profits  or  net  earnings  of  such 
corporation  shall  be  distributed  to  those 
entitled  thereto  at  such  times  as  the  by¬ 
laws  prescribe,  which  shall  be  as  often 
as  ouee  in  twelve  months. 
"No  person,  partnership,  association 
or  corporation,  organized  or  doing  busi¬ 
ness  for  profit,  except  corporations 
formed  under  the  provisions  of  this  act, 
shall  hereafter  transact  business  under 
any  name  or  title,  which  contains  the 
word  cooperative." 
Beginning  Operations. — The  usual 
method  of  starting  a  cooperative  asso¬ 
ciation  is  about  as  follows:  The  field  has 
first  been  canvassed  to  find  out  what  is 
to  be  done  and  who  will  do  it.  .Usually 
there  is  a  small  group  who  have  had 
more  or  less  experience.  They  decide  to 
incorporate.  Seven  or  more  farmers 
meet,  choose  a  temporary  chairman  and 
elect  a  temporary  clerk,  who  at  once 
takes  oath  before  a  justice  of  the  peace 
faithfully  to  perform  his  duties.  The 
chairman  reads  the  articles  of  incorpora¬ 
tion.  which  are  probably  adapted  from 
those  of  the  nearest  association  of  the 
kind.  It  states  the  name,  object,  mem¬ 
bership.  capital,  plan  of  management, 
etc.,  all  as  required  by  law-  Then  a  vote 
is  passed  to  incorporate.  Next  a  set 
of  by-laws  are  adopted.  These  may  vary 
quite  widely,  but  the  recent  ones  usually 
provide  for  a  board  of  five  directors 
chosen  by  ballot,  who  are  to  appoint  a 
manager  and  elect  a  president  and  vice- 
president.  The  treasurer  ami  a  commit¬ 
tee  of  audit  are  elected  at  the  annual 
meeting.  The  board  of  directors  now 
takes  oath  to  faithfully  perform  its  du¬ 
ties.  A  treasurer  is  elected  and  duly 
sworn  in.  lie  must,  go  under  a  bond  of 
$1,000.  A  clerk  or  secretary  is  elected 
and  sworn  in  as  before.  Then  the  meet¬ 
ing  adjourns  to  be  immediately  followed 
by  a  meeting  of  the  directors  who  elect 
by  ballot  a  president,  and  vice  president 
and  a  manager,  unless  the  by-laws  pro¬ 
vided  for  a  general  election  of  the  man¬ 
ager.  The  directors  finally  instruct  the 
officers  to  submit  the  records  nnd  neces¬ 
sary  return  to  the  State  commissioner  of 
corporations,  and  the  meeting  is  ad¬ 
journed.  Each  member  has  one  vote, 
regardless  of  the  number  of  shares  he 
holds.  In  buying  goods,  the  members 
usually  sign  a  contract  to  abide  by  the 
terms.  Shares  arc  $5  each  and  there  are 
restrictions  about  transferring  them. 
By-laws  may  be  amended  by  a  two- 
thirds  vote.  Often  a  local  lawyer  in¬ 
terested  in  the  plan  attends  to  those 
formalities,  but  model  agreements  of  in¬ 
corporation  and  by-laws  may  be  bad  of 
the  State  colleges  or  of  the  State  depart¬ 
ment  of  agriculture. 
Co-operative  Milk-selling.  —  Just 
now  getting  under  way  in  Rhode  Island 
is  one  of  the  most  interesting  selling  or¬ 
ganizations,  the  Producers’  Cooperative 
Dairy  Association  of  K.  I..  which  pro¬ 
poses  to  sell  milk  in  Providence.  The 
plans  include  a  central  building  for 
handling  the  milk,  a  manager,  a  sales¬ 
man  and  other  employes.  The  trade  will 
be  canvassed  and  the  milk  graded  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  demand  as  developed  by 
the  the  canvass.  With  sufficient  pro¬ 
ducers  represented,  the  city  would  be 
districted  and  exclusive  rights  to  sell  the 
company’s  milk  granted  to  retailors. 
With  the  milk  standardized  and  practi¬ 
cally  all  alike  in  each  grade,  customers 
could  be  exchanged  among  retailors,  thus 
reducing  cost  of  delivery  by  having  each 
retailer’s  trade  more  nearly  in  a  solid 
block.  Milk  will  be  paid  for  on  basis  of 
price  delivered  in  the  city,  but  producers 
are  to  be  encouraged  to  cooperate  in 
trucking  or  shipping  the  milk.  The  milk 
producers  of  the  Prov’  fence  territory  en¬ 
joy  the  advantages  over  those  in  some 
other  sections,  in  being  mostly  located 
quite  near  the  city  and  are  often  able  to 
use  motor  trucks  to  take  the  milk  at  the 
farms  and  leave  it  at  the  city  plant. 
Each  member  must  take  a  $5  share  for 
each  five  quarts  of  milk  to  be  shipped 
daily;  not  less  than  two  shares  nor 
more  than  200.  The  capital  stock  of 
each  member  will  be  held  as  security  for 
his  observance  of  the  regulations.  It  is 
proposed  to  pay  five  per  cent,  besides 
distributing  other  profits  to  members  iu 
proportion  to  milk  furnished.  The  farm 
bureaus  are  doing  a  good  deal  to  push 
this  plan  which  is  the  apparent  suc¬ 
cessor  of  the  old  R.  I.  Milk  Producers’ 
Association  and  of  the  recent  ambitious 
plan  to  have  the  city  take  over  the  whole 
business  of  milk  distribution.  As  it  con¬ 
cerns  the  improvement  of  the  Always  un¬ 
satisfactory  conditions  surrounding  New 
England’s  leading  commercial  farm  pro¬ 
duct,  this  seemingly  well  thought  out  en¬ 
terprise  should  be  well  worth  watching. 
G.  u.  F. 
New  York  State  Dairymen’s  Association 
Part  II. 
Prof.  E.  S.  Guthrie,  of  Cornell,  con¬ 
ducted  a  butter  makers'  conference.  On 
butter  flavor,  Prof.  Guthrie  said  he 
had  made  some  experiments  that  have 
disproved  some  old  beliefs.  Butter  made 
from  milk  exposed  to  silage,  or  decaying 
fruits,  etc.,  was  not  in  any  way  affected 
by  them,  although  the  odor  was  detected 
in  the  milk.  Cowy  flavors  came  from 
cows  because  of  uncleanliness,  old  but¬ 
ter  flavor  from  organisms  in  cream  or 
butter  kept  too  long.  Metallic  and  other 
flavors  are  not  found  when  butter  is  made 
of  sweet  cream.  Low  acidity  in  cream  has 
produced,  in  our  experiments,  the  best 
flavored  butter,  after  it  has  been  kept 
some  time.  High  acid  cream  produced 
a  pronounced  fishy  flavor  after  keeping 
butter  iu  storage.  In  reply  to  questions 
he  said:  “It  seems  to  be  proven  that  fat 
globules  in  butter  do  not  absorb  flavors.’’ 
The  breed  of  cows  does  not  appreciably 
affect  the  quality  of  the  butter.  The 
main  factor  Is  the  man  who  makes  the 
butter.  There  may  be  a  difference  in 
color,  but  you  can  buy  butter  color.  The 
period  of  lactation  of  the  cow  does  not 
so  much  affect  the  color  of  butter  as  feed. 
Good  milk  can  be  produced  in  many  old- 
fashioned  ordinary  barns,  if  all  is  kept 
clean,  and  milk  at  low  temperature,  but 
improving  the  barns  and  surroundings 
often  brings  an  inspiration  to  take  better 
care  of  the  milk.  It  is  difficult  to  pro¬ 
duce  good  milk  in  barns  scoring  less  than 
40. 
Loton  Horton  told  bis  experience  as  a 
distributor  of  milk.  He  reviewed  the  his¬ 
tory  of  the  sale  of  the  market  milk  in 
New  York,  especially  how  the  bottled 
milk  trade  was  developed. 
Lucius  P.  Brown,  of  the  Health  De¬ 
partment,  New  York  City,  said  that  the 
function  of  the  board  of  health  is  to  pro¬ 
tect  the  Consume*’  from  disease  carrying 
milk.  What  we  need  is  to  change  the 
laws  as  to  milk  standards.  It  is  logical 
and  just  to  put  out  milk  for  the  fat  and 
solids,  and  label  the  milk  as  to  its  con¬ 
tents.  It  can  he  said  it  is  right  to  label 
milk  for  educated  people  who  understand 
what  the  label  means,  but  some  consum¬ 
ers  do  not  know  the  meaning  of  the  terms 
and  cannot  read  English,  but  such  label¬ 
ing  is  along  the  right  lines  and  is  educa¬ 
tional. 
Marketing  dairy  products  was  discussed 
by  Roy  C.  Putts,  of  the  Government 
market  bureau.  He  said  that  when  mo¬ 
nopolies  prevent  the  operation  of  the  law 
of  supply  aud  demand,  then  legislation 
must  regulate  distribution.  It  is  econom¬ 
ically  wrong  for  the  country  facilities,  i. 
e.,  creameries  and  factories  to  be  owned 
by  anyone  but  the  producers.  Iu  the  past 
to  convert  a  cre.t— ery  or  factory  into  a 
distributing  plant  was  starting  a  business 
in  which  the  dairymen  were  not  prepared 
to  engage,  so  they  sold  their  milk  to  dis¬ 
tributing  milk  companies,  who  both  con¬ 
dense  milk  aud  distribute  fluid  milk.  They 
have  paid  a  price  that  they  could  make  a 
profit  on  both  uses  of  the  milk.  For  in¬ 
stance,  they  pay  a  flat  price  that  will 
give  them  a  profil  on  the  lowest  price 
they  obtain,  be  it  cither  for  condensed 
milk  or  market  milk.  It  follows  that  the 
world’s  demand  and  price  for  condensed 
milk  may  establish  the  price  made  by  the 
large  distributing  companies.  If  these 
companies  only  bought  milk  to  supply  a 
retail  trade  for  fluid  milk,  they  could  pay 
different  prices  to  the  producer.  Doubt¬ 
less  conditions  should  be  changed  so  the 
price  received  should  he  what  the  milk  is 
worth  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  is 
used.  For  those  reasons  producers  will 
obtain  higher  prices  when  they  are  com¬ 
petent  to  own  and  operate  their  own 
sbippiugaud  distributing  plants.  w.  it.  J. 
Our  fist  snowstorm  of  the  season  has 
arrived  with  snow  for  sleighing  iu  Clin¬ 
ton  Co.,  which  is  nearly  three  weeks 
earlier  than  usual.  Stock  is  all  in  the 
barns  secure  for  Winter.  Cows  are  dry¬ 
ing  off  very  rapidly,  and  creameries  will 
close  about  two  weeks  earlier  than  usual. 
Butter  ISe;  beef  10c  per  lb.,  dressed. 
Eggs  4Gc.  Oats  00c  per  bu. ;  potatoes 
$1.40;  cornmeal  $2.50  per  cwt. ;  hay  $10 
per  ton.  A  potato  production  demonstra¬ 
tion  car  recently  passed  through  this  dis¬ 
trict.  n.  T.  j. 
Clinton  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Will  there  be 
Victrola  in  your  home 
this  Christmas? 
Think  of  the  delight  of  having-  Caruso,  Des- 
tinn,  Farrar,  Gadski,  Gluck,  Hempel,  Homer, 
McCormack,  Melba,  Ruffo,  Schumatm-Heink, 
Scotti,  Tetrazzini  and  a  host  of  other  great 
artists  sing  for  you! 
Think  of  having  Elman,  ICreisler,  Paderew¬ 
ski,  Powell,  Zimbalist  and  other  famous  in¬ 
strumentalists  play  for  you;  of  hearing  Sousa’s 
Band,  Pryor’s  Band,  Conway’s  Band,  Vessel- 
la’s  Band,  Victor  Herbert’s  Orchestra  and 
other  celebrated  musical  organizations;  of 
enjoying  the  inimitable  witticisms  of  Harry 
Lauder,  Nora  Bayes,  Raymond  Hitchcock, 
Mizzi  Hajos  and  other  leading  entertainers. 
Who  wouldn’t  be  glad  to  get  a  Victrola  for 
Christmas!  The  anly  instrument  that  brings 
to  you  the  best  music  of  all  the  world  superb¬ 
ly  interpreted  by  the  world’s  greatest  artists. 
Christmas  day  and  every  day,  let  the 
Victrola  inspire  and  entertain  you! 
Christmas  isn’t  too  far  off  to  see  about  your 
Victrola  today.  Any  Victor  dealer  will  gladly  demon¬ 
strate  the  various  styles  of  the  Victor  and  Victrola 
and  play  any  music  you  wish  to  hear.  Write  to  us  for 
catalogs. 
Victor  Talking  Machine  Co.,  Camden,  N.  J.,  U.  S.  A. 
To  insure  Victor  quality, 
always  look  for  the  fa¬ 
mous  trademark.  "His 
Master's  Voice."  It  is 
on  every  V:ctrola  and 
every  Victor  Record. 
It  is  the  identifying 
label  on  all  genuine 
Victrolas  and  Victor 
Records. 
New  Victor  Records  dem¬ 
onstrated  at  all  dealers  on 
the  28th  of  each  month 
Victrola  XVI,  $200 
Victrola  XVI.  electric.  $250 
Mahogany  or  oak 
Other  styles  of 
the  Victor  and  Victrola 
$10  to  $400 
NewKEROSENE  LIGHT  B0RTI/VS0UNE 
10  Days  FREE— Send  No  Money 
We  don't  ask  you  to  pay  us  a  cent  until  you  have 
possibly 
TW1CI 
ON  HAUr>THE'  OlltL 
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t»  the  new  Aladdin  i a  every  way  <de tails  oC  offer  given  in  our  circular). 
We  want  ono  uiar  In  each  locality  to  whom  we  can  refer  customers.  To 
that  person  wo  hav  e  a  Special  introductory  utter  to  make,  under  w  hich  one 
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