1912. 
AGRICULTURAL CREDITS IN EUROPE. 
No. 5. 
No discussion of cooperation would 
be complete without reference to the 
work in Denmark, where cooperation 
among farmers has become more gen¬ 
eral and more successful than in any 
other country. A century back Den¬ 
mark was a country of landed estates 
and peasant serfs and tenants. To-day 
it is a country of small farms operated 
in large measure by their owners. The 
land is divided into small holdings, and 
the laws forbid the uniting of small 
farms into large ones, and favors the 
parcelling out of the few remaining 
landed estates. The result is that the 
peasant proprietor has steadily increased 
in both numbers and importance. The 
cooperative movement originated with 
the peasant proprietor, but it has been 
so successful that it now embraces the 
large land-holders as well. Denmark 
has about 250,000 farms; and a little 
more than a fourth of them have less 
than one tonade ( 1*4 acre) of land. 
Another quarter of the farms have less 
than 12 acres, so that in all a little more 
than half the Danish farms are less 
than 12 acres each. About 47 per cent, 
of the population is engaged in agricul¬ 
ture, and practically every feature of 
this work and business is conducted un¬ 
der a well-developed system of coopera¬ 
tion. 
For the present we have to do with 
their system of mortgage credits. This 
system began as far back as 1850 . It 
consists of many local organizations 
composed entirely of borrowers. These 
members simply bunch their liabilities 
and singly and severally become re¬ 
sponsible for the money required by the 
individual borrowers or members of the 
organization. The money is secured 
through the sale of debenture bonds or 
notes, for which each member becomes 
personally responsible. Of course, the 
associations select their own members. 
No loan is made in excess of 60 per 
cent, of the value of the property, and 
the properties are carefully appraised by 
two valuers, and where buildings or a 
factor of the value of the property there 
must be three valuers, one of whom 
must be a practical builder. The bonds 
are sold in denominations of $25 and 
upwards, and must be negotiable. They 
may be made to bearer or to an individ¬ 
ual, and the larger bonds may be regis¬ 
tered. These bonds are issued in series 
and bear a certain rate of interest. They 
have been carrying 3)4 to 4 per cent. 
The borrower pays the same rate of 
interest as the bond, and an additional 
item for a sinking fund, the size of 
which depends on the time the loan is 
to run. When the loan runs for 60 
years, one-half of one per cent, is paid 
into the sinking fund annually in addi¬ 
tion to the interest, and this wipes out 
the loan. When the bonds draw 3)4 
per cent., the annual payment is $4; 
when the bond rate is four per cent., 
the annuity is $4.50, which, of course, is 
paid for the 60 years, when the debt is 
liquidated. These societies have no 
stock, and, of course, no capital as such. 
Their capital is their combined credit. 
The different societies have details of 
their own, but usually two per cent, of 
the loan is retained by the society, which 
forms a redemption fund for the pay¬ 
ment of the bonds, and the very insig¬ 
nificant expenses of the society are met 
by a small levy on the members, seldom 
more than one-tenth of one per cent. 
The bonds cannot be called by the hold¬ 
ers until matured. Each series matures 
at the time the loans are wiped out, 
say 60 years; but the society may call 
them in and pay them any time on a 
given notice, thus using up its reserve 
fund and sinking fund. On the other 
hand, the mortgage cannot be called 
provided payments are kept up, but the 
borrower may pay the mortgage on the 
interest date. 
The success of the plan depends, of 
course, on the ability of the society to 
sell their debenture bonds at a low rate 
of interest at par. This they have been 
able to do in all the European countries. 
These land mortgage bonds of Denmark 
find a ready sale in Germany and are 
taken up readily by the Danish savings 
banks. 
With the exception of two societies 
composed of very small farm creditors, 
the government does not assist the so¬ 
cieties financially. They have no sub¬ 
sidy, but it does encourage them by 
extending to them the franking privi¬ 
lege and in exempting the bonds from 
stamp duty, and it clothes the societies 
with judicial authority to foreclose a 
mortgage in case of breach of contract 
without the intervention of a court. 
The government has also authorized the 
investment of trust funds in the deben¬ 
ture bonds of the societies. On the other 
STUB KURAI> 
hand, it imposes some restrictions on the 
societies. It must approve the appoint¬ 
ment of bookkeepers and nominate one 
of the two in each society; it reserves 
the right of inspection of accounts, and 
limits its operations to definite districts. 
It also makes the redemption of the 
mortgage by a sinking fund obligatory 
and insists on publicity of its accounts 
and balances. The management of the 
society is in the hands of the members, 
the government reserving the right of 
inspection. Each individual, being re¬ 
sponsible for each and every loan, is 
interested to see that the risk is a proper 
one and that agreements are carried out 
by the borrowers. Foreclosures are few 
and losses trifling. john j. dillon. 
STATE COMMITTEE ON CO-OPERATION. 
Pursuant to the instructions of the 
last cooperative conference held in New 
York City, under the auspices of the 
New York State Agricultural Society, 
and at the suggestion of several mem¬ 
bers of the committee, a conference of 
the committee is hereby called to be 
held in the Board of Trade rooms at 
200 Broadway, New York City, on 
Thursday, December 5, 1912, at 10 
o'clock a. m. 
This conference is intended to con¬ 
sider the following cooperative proposi¬ 
tions and to take suitable action to fur¬ 
ther the interest of measures adopted. 
1. Terminal facilities for farm pro¬ 
duce deliveries in. New York City. 
2. A system of wholesale and retail 
markets for New York City, and other 
means of effecting distribution of farm 
produce. 
3. To adopt grades and standards for 
the packing and shipping of farm pro¬ 
duce. 
4. To consider how the new Parcel 
Post System may be used to distribute 
farm produce and develop direct trade 
between producer and consumer. 
5. Means for effecting the organiza¬ 
tion of cooperative societies among the 
producers and consumers. 
6 . To consider a cooperative land 
credit system for the financing of farm 
mortgages and a personal credit system 
to facilitate the ordinary business of 
farm operations, and to furnish capital 
for cooperative agricultural societies. 
Other questions may be taken up and 
considered at the suggestion of members 
of the committee. 
Representatives of all farm organiza¬ 
tions and city cooperative associations, 
and other societies interested in the 
economic distribution of farm products, 
are especially invited to this conference. 
Individuals not associated with organiza¬ 
tions, but still interested in cooperative 
work, will also be welcome. 
The committee has some important 
work before it. The Housewives’ League, 
and other associations in New York 
City, are deeply interested in the work. 
A department of markets is proposed for 
the city of New York under the direct 
supervision of the city authorities, and 
it will be important for the producers to 
keep in touch with the progress of this 
development, and to be in a position to 
command the trade when the new con¬ 
ditions are developed. 
The meeting will be called promptly 
at 10 o’clock a. m. on Thursday, De¬ 
cember 5, 1912, and the members of the 
committee are requested to be present 
at the opening hour. 
John J. Dillon, Chairman. 
409 Pearl street, New York. 
NEW JERSEY’S WINNINGS AT THE 
LAND SHOW. 
The progressiveness which has charac¬ 
terized New Jersey’s work in agriculture 
for the past two years was clearly shown 
in that State’s exhibit at the New York 
Land Show. New Jersey’s exhibit as a 
whole outclassed any other State’s, and 
was credited with being' the best agricul¬ 
tural exhibit ever displayed in the East. 
The State’s collection of sweet potatoes 
won the $100 silver cup. Henry S. Lip- 
pincott, of Marlton, N. J., won the hotly 
contested corn exhibit and received a $500 
silver cup, gold lined. Messrs. Dearborn 
and Sharp won the $100 cup on brown 
eggs. New Jersey poultrynien also won 
the two next honors on brown eggs for 
honorable mention and the same on white 
eggs, the $100 cup on the latter being won 
by a Long Island man. 
It is interesting to know why New Jer¬ 
sey could carry off the bulk of honors at 
an exposition of this kind, which includes 
competitors from all over the country. 
Last Winter the State Legislature appropri¬ 
ated $10,000 for this exhibit. A commit¬ 
tee of representative men was appointed, 
and one farmer from each county was asked 
to cooperate with the committee in the 
collection of material in his own county. 
During the Summer the entire exhibit was 
given into the charge of Prof. Blake, of 
the Experiment Station, and the credit 
for the showing is in a large measure due 
to his unceasing efforts. At potato digging 
time Prof. Blake sent a man around 
through the best potato sections, who urged 
those who_ had fine potatoes to exhibit 
them. He helped them select the speci- 
NEW-YORKEH 
mens to show and arranged for their 
storage. At sweet potato harvest time a 
man was sent down into Gloucester and 
Cumberland Counties to find the best sweets 
in the State. At corn cutting time a man 
made it his special business to see that 
the growers of good corn should select the 
best ears produced on their farms and send 
them in. So it went all along the line. 
The cranberry exhibit, which has attracted 
as much attention as any one display in 
the show, caused considerable work and 
trouble. Any exhibition of this kind must 
be planned out to harmonize, and each dis¬ 
play must be laid out to fit in well with 
all the other displays. It did not seem as 
if the cranberry growers recognized this 
fact and used their efforts to encourage 
the exhibit. 
The boxed apples exhibited by New Jer¬ 
sey were a revelation to everybody. Prof. 
Van Doman, who judged this contest, 
stated that it required the closest judging 
of any contest he had. ever decided. It 
was thought at first that the first prize 
would come to New Jersey, but the final 
scoring showed that Mr. T. W. Steck of 
Opequon. Va„ had 93.910 points and Mr. 
Granville Leeds of New Jersey, 93.25 
points. So the silver cup went to Vir¬ 
ginia, but Mr. Leeds secured second place. 
Mr. Steck had five boxes each of Albe¬ 
marle Pippin, Stayman Winesap and 
Grimes Golden. Mr. Leeds had Stayman, 
Baldwin and Sutton Beauty. Mr. Reed of 
New Jersey was given third place, and he 
had Wealthy, Gravenstein and Stayman. 
Mr. Barclay of New Jersey was fourth 
with White Pippin, Rome Beauty and Nero. 
Mr. Roberts of New Jersey won fifth place 
and won first on one variety. His five 
boxes of Grimes Golden had the high score 
of 98.25 out of a possible 100 points. So 
that if New Jersey lost the first prize by 
two-thirds of a point, she won the next 
four places, which shows there are many 
apple growers in the State who can pro¬ 
duce the best apple grown anywhere. 
a. l. c. 
COMING FARMERS’ MEETINGS. 
American Land and Industrial Exposi¬ 
tion, 71st Regiment Armory, N. Y., Novem¬ 
ber 15-December 2. 
Twin City Poultry and Pigeon Associa¬ 
tion, annual pigeon and poultry show. 
Spring City, Pa., November 27-30. 
International Live Stock, Chicago, No¬ 
vember 30-December 7. 
Sixteenth annual meeting of the IT. S. 
Dive Stock Sanitary Association, Hotel 
Sherman, Chicago, December 3-4. 
Trenton Poultry and Pigeon Association, 
annual show, Trenton, N. J., December 2-9. 
Annual meeting of the Maine Dairymen’s 
Association, Portland, Me., December 3-6. 
Annual Apple Show, Ohio State Univer¬ 
sity Horticultural Society, Columbus, O., 
December 5-6. 
New Jersey State Horticultural Society, 
New Brunswick, N. J., December 9, 10, 11. 
Fifty-seventh annual convention of the 
Illinois State Horticultural Society, Uni¬ 
versity of Illinois, Chainpaign-Urbana, Ill.. 
December 10-13. 
Western New York Horticultural Society, 
Rochester, N. Y., December 11-13. 
New York State Dairymen's Association, 
Syracuse, N. Y\, December 10-13. 
Eastern Fruit Growers’ Association, Ho¬ 
tel Raleigh, Washington, D. C., December 
17. 
Northern Nut Growers’ Association, Lan¬ 
caster, Pa., December 18-19. 
Adams County Fruit Growers’ annual 
meeting, Bendersville, Pa., December 18-19. 
Virginia State Horticultural Society, 
Lynchburg, Va., January 8-10, 1913. 
Sixteenth exhibition Vermont State Poul¬ 
try Association, St. Albans, Vt., January 
14-17, 1913. 
Fourth Ohio State Apple Show, Zanes¬ 
ville, O., January 20-24, 1913. 
Massachusetts Agricultural College, Am¬ 
herst, Mass., school of apple packing, Jan- 
cary 23-29, 1913. 
Cleveland, O., Fanciers’ Show, January 
20-25. 
American Breeders’ Association, Colum¬ 
bia, S. C., January 25-27, 1913. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—Attorney Gen¬ 
eral Carmody of New York, November 13, 
advised State Fire Marshal Ahearn that the 
law regulating the use of explosives does 
not apply to blasting explosives used for 
agricultural purposes. 
A trainload of California oranges was 
seized by United States Deputy Marshals 
at Chicago, November 13, because of al¬ 
leged violations of the pure food and drugs 
act. The United States Attorney, James 
II. Wilkcrson, filed suit in the Federal 
District Court, alleging that the oranges 
had been artificially stained and colored to 
conceal inferiority. 
The Montana Seed Growers’ Association, 
an organization of farmers, was brought 
into being at Helena at the recent State 
Fair. 
The second annual convention of the 
California Association of Nurserymen was 
held at Fresno, November 7-9. 
The annual work of assembling and 
packeting seeds for free Congressional dis¬ 
tribution has been commenced by the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture. More than 600 
tons of seeds will be put into approx¬ 
imately 60,000,000 packets preparatory to 
mailing after January 1. Plans for a 
special distribution of seeds adapted to 
dry land conditions are being made by the 
Bureau of Plant Industry. The object is to 
distribute the seeds in the great plains area 
and other dry sections for demonstration 
purposes. 
The next annual meeting of the Eastern 
Fruit Growers’ Association will be held at 
Hotel Raleigh, Washington, D. C., Decem¬ 
ber 17. The topics for discussion are: 
“Some Principles in Orchard Management 
and Accounting” ; Are Eastern Orchard In¬ 
vestment Propositions Open to Criticism?” 
“How May Market News at Picking Timfl 
Be Made More Accurate?” “Do Eastern 
Fruit Growing Interests Need Additional 
Credit Facilities?” The present officers of 
this society are G. L, Lupton, Winchester, 
Va., president; E. I. Oswald, Chewsville, 
Md„ treasurer; Nat. T. Frame, Martins- 
burg, W. Va., secretary. 
Fifty organizations, representing 11 
States, sent delegates to the fourth annual 
1207 
convention of the Federation of Jewish 
Farmers of America, which opened its ses¬ 
sions at the Educational Alliance building 
in New York, November 17. Sixty Hebrew 
farmers were present as delegates, one of 
whom was Mrs. Rose Blaine of Lumber- 
ville, Pa. She is the first woman delegate 
to appear at any convention of the federa¬ 
tion. Besides the cooperative purchasing 
bureau which the federation maintains for 
the benefit of its farmers, it is planned to 
establish a selling market in New York. 
It was announced by Samuel Hein, presi¬ 
dent of the Federation of Jewish Farmers, 
in an address delivered in Yiddish, that 
the matter of petitioning Congress to estab¬ 
lish agricultural credit banks would be 
discussed. The federation, Mr. Hein de¬ 
clared, had maintained wnat is known as 
credit unions, eight being the number con¬ 
trolled by the organization, and they had 
been an unqualified success. To get money 
from these institutions, he explained, it 
was necessary for one or more individuals 
to raise any sum, and, that being accom¬ 
plished. the federation advanced on mort¬ 
gage twice the amount. in the petition 
which will be submitted to Congress, he 
said, a report of the successful operation 
by the federation of such unions—the only 
ones of their kind in the United States— 
would be included as an argument in favor 
of establishing such banks as National in¬ 
stitutions. 
Fearing the introduction of the “potato 
wart” disease, Commissioner Iluson of the 
New York State Department of Agriculture 
announced November 18 that he has issued 
an order prohibiting the importation of 
potatoes into this State for seeding pur¬ 
poses from Newfoundland, the islands of 
St. Pierre and Miquelon, England, Scotland, 
Ireland, Wales, Germany and Austria- 
Hungary. The disease, which is contagious, 
is variously known as "potato canker.” 
“potato wart” and “black scab.” The 
planting of potatoes from the countries 
mentioned within the State is also pro¬ 
hibited. 
The boys of Burlington County, N. J., 
held their second annual corn show at Bur¬ 
lington, November 22-23. The show was 
given with the cooperation of the 1'. M. C. 
A„ County Board Of Agriculture, Granges 
and public schools. m 
Important amendments to the Agricul¬ 
tural Law were suggested November 19 at 
Albany at a conference called by Commis¬ 
sioner Iluson of the New York State De¬ 
partment of Agriculture to devise means 
of combating tuberculosis in cattle and 
glanders in horses. It was the sense of 
the conference that there should be a 
physical test of all dairy cows from which 
a public supply of milk is obtained, and 
that those showing clinical evidences of 
tuberculosis should be k.wea; that all skim- 
milk and whey from cheese factories should 
be pasteurized before being fed to calves; 
that if after making a tuberculin test 
which shows evidences of tuberculosis, a 
cow is killed and a post mortem reveals 
that the disease was quite general, the 
State shall ^compensate the owner to the 
extent of $15 and permit him to retain the 
hide and carcass. Under the present law 
the owner gets 50 per cent of the appraised 
value of the slaughtered animal. Glanders 
will be discussed at a conference to be 
held in New York City. 
Chickens are not “live stock” and 
Charles Ream of Los Angeles owes trans¬ 
continental railroads money for his fare 
from Richmond to California. This was 
the gist of an opinion November 19 by the 
Interstate Commerce Commission on one 
of the strangest cases ever appealed be¬ 
fore it. Ream read up on the law and 
found out that railroads were required to 
permit free transportation of caretakers 
for live stock in transportation. He shipped 
12 chickens and started on his journey as 
“caretaker to that live stock” from Rich¬ 
mond to Los Angeles. Ream got as far 
as El Faso before he was held up and re¬ 
quired to pay full passage. He demanded 
that the commission uphold him and force 
the railroads to disgorge his fare,’ but that 
body, while admiring his ingenuity, declined 
to support him. 
Modern Methods of Orcharding. 
The apple business has got into a bad 
way here. Everybody is discouraged and 
nobody producing any good apDles. I had 
seen the change that modern methods of 
orcharding had brought about in Western 
New York, and made up my mind that the 
same methods would produce the same re¬ 
sults. Three years’ work have proven that 
I was right. I find that the Spring frosts 
that everybody thought were the sole cause 
of all the failures, do not hurt a tree 
much that is healthy and vigorous. Leaf 
scab and mildew have been so bad here 
for years that the trees shed their leaves 
as early as September 1. The buds nat¬ 
urally would swell during warm weather 
in October and November, and would be so 
weak in Spring that one or two degrees of 
frost would wipe them out. With trees 
that held their foliage until December and 
that were properly fed and cultivated, a 
temperature of 28 did not seem to freeze 
the bloom. It is very seldom that the 
temperature goes lower than that here in 
blooming time, not over once in five years, 
and I am satisfied that I can raise as 
many apples here per acre in 10 years as 
you can in New York. My trees are as 
green now almost as they were early in 
the season. Most trees here have been ab¬ 
solutely bare for two months now. Lack of 
cultivation, fertility and spraying has given 
the Ozarlcs a poor reputation as an apple 
country these past ten years, still, right 
here are some of the greatest opportunities 
to be found anywhere in this country. 
Seymour, Mo. c. v 
The Dealer’s Share.— The high cost of 
living is felt here as well as in Massachu¬ 
setts. A neighbor of mine took a bushel 
of turnips to one of the leading grocers in 
the village and received 75 cents. The next 
morning his son-in-law heard a lady ask 
how he sold his turnips. His reply was 
30 cents a peck, $1.20 a bushel. This same 
neighbor took down two peach baskets full 
of red apples a few days ago. r l’he same 
grocer gave him 35 cents per basket; on 
the next morning he had them marked in 
the window, 25 cents a dozen. u. m. d 
Dutchess County, N. l r . 
