515 
1913 . 
THE? RURAb NEW-YORKER 
COUNTY IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATIONS. 
The northeastern counties of Ohio 
are engaging in an agricultural revival 
in the promotion of county improve¬ 
ment associations, a plan that includes 
about all that goes to make up a pros¬ 
perous and progressive community. So 
far as this article pertains to the history 
of this young, but exceedingly healthy, 
infant, Portage County, Ohio, will be 
taken as an example of what is being 
attempted in several adjoining counties, 
notably Geauga and Trumbull. 
This movement was started by the 
organization of a farmers' store in 
Ravenna, owned and directed by the 
farmers, and run, not for profit, but to 
secure an absence of it by a paid-up 
capital of $20,000; cash in every single 
transaction, and the expense only of 
handling, added to the cash price, to the 
consumer. It was found that it actually 
cost 10j4 per cent to run the store. 
The store handled its capital six times 
over in the first year, and did a cash 
business of $114,000 without an out¬ 
standing account to or against the store. 
Then why not good roads run by a sim¬ 
ilar organized association, so that the 
road working and building of the coun¬ 
tv would be conducted upon some stu¬ 
died plan, a continuing policy, and a 
definite amount of funds guaranteed 
for ten years in the future? If that 
much, why not have a county improve¬ 
ment association, and combine with the 
movement the several public needs of 
the county? Portage County has a cit¬ 
izen of great wealth in the active in¬ 
dustrials of the country, a large land 
owner of the county and a resident 
therein, who suggested that if such a 
society was organized and the public 
showed interest in the matter, when a 
certain membership and amount was in 
sight, he would add to it $50,000 as a 
starter. A general call was made, a 
few meetings held, and on a certain 
day a great crowd met in Ravenna and 
organized a public improvement soci¬ 
ety, fully officered, with an active vice- 
president in each town and precinct, to 
canvass for membership, each member 
to pay annually the sum of $10 for five 
years. The result was that 2,500 names 
were put on the rolls. Another meet¬ 
ing showed more enthusiasm, and the 
laws and rules adopted which summar¬ 
ized has this declaration of purpose: 
That the object and purpose of this soci¬ 
ety is to band ourselves in such a way 
as to promote, and make progressive the 
agriculture of the county, and other indus¬ 
tries allied with it, the first recognized 
want being better roads, and by so co¬ 
operating together, both directly and in 
conjunction with the duly elected officers of 
said county and townships who have charge 
of the maintenance and improvement of 
roads of said county, to endeavor to com¬ 
plete and equip on a systematic scale the 
improvement of all the roads of said county 
and take proper steps to see that they are 
maintained ; and, furthermore, to encourage 
the development of standard breeds of live 
stock, and provide for general sale days; 
to obtain the establishment of an agricul¬ 
tural experiment station in Portage County, 
so that improved, advanced methods of 
agriculture may be actually applied to the 
cultivation of crops and fruits of all kinds 
in the county as may be best adapted to 
its several characters of soil, and promote 
the general welfare of the people of Por¬ 
tage County. 
At the start Portage County was 
pretty well prepared to inaugurate such 
a movement. It is a locality of highly 
specialized industries, like dairying, a 
great potato section, coal industry, and 
grain raising in particular. It has a 
strong Grange organization, schools ga¬ 
lore, half of the townships have the 
unit, or centralized, school. The State 
is building, and will soon have complete, 
a $400,000 Normal school. There is 
a fine horticultural society, and an im¬ 
proving county fair association. The 
county is “dry,” and at present the jail 
has no tenants. As an additional road 
fund to supplement the regular tax, the 
county last Fall voted a special two 
mills tax upon the county in addition 
what the State provides, and so with 
the $10 obligation the county will have 
something over $900,000 to expend in 
the next five years. This, well expend¬ 
ed, ought to give us fair roads. The 
society has wider aims. Why not take 
advantage of the law, and have a 
county farm expert to lecture, to show 
how to formulate ways of better farm¬ 
ing for the individual man, encourage 
hne stock breeding and boost the indus- 
W generally ? The State experiment 
station pledged $600 yearly, the U. S. 
Government pays $1,000 yearly, and the 
improvement society the balance, and 
Dr. H. P. Miller, one of the most noted 
of our agriculturists, was secured. He 
has entered upon his work and already 
“covered” the county, and is now hard 
at work helping wherever he can. 
If the roads were to be improved, 
miles of permanent ones built in addi¬ 
tion to the 20 miles of brick road we al¬ 
ready have, resident road engineers 
must be had. so that there should be no 
patchwork and ill-advised construction. 
The engineer is to-day on the ground 
mapping the county, finding out its 
greatest needs, and ready to go ahead as 
soon as the clay settles in April. These 
two men are the only salaried men in 
the association. The county needs an 
experiment station of its own. one where 
local needs are best solved. The county 
infirmary farm of 400 acres is admir¬ 
ably adapted to the wants of the sta¬ 
tion, and the State Experiment Station 
is ready to oversee, plan and advise. 
With assistance again from both State 
and Government, it now bids fair that 
a station, county administered, will soon 
be in operation instead of our late 
“poor farm.” 
The live stock interests are being 
talked up, and plans perfected to bring 
in bulls, stallions and the like for the 
improvement of stock, and every in¬ 
ducement made to get into the breeding 
of registered stock as soon as possible, 
and discourage the raising of grades, 
especially the mixed blood grades. This 
aforesaid benevolent farmer stands 
ready to place high types of stock about 
the county to be used, fee exempt, if 
stock up to a certain degree of excel¬ 
lence is used in mating. 
Nor is the rural uplift to be left out. 
Schools are to be looked after, high 
schools placed, standard amusements 
sought, and the brotherhood is to have 
its “hands held up” in solving the coun¬ 
try church problem. Yes! it does 
seem to be a pretty big problem, but 
once under way, its momentum will 
augment its own forward force. Por¬ 
tage County so far as we know is the 
first county that is already fully or¬ 
ganized, is at work, has its farm ex¬ 
pert, and road engineer on the ground, 
and a guaranteed fund at its disposal 
for five years to come. Geauga County 
is a close second, and has its great 
breeders association, the most noted one 
in the United States, as a center about 
which to gather enthusiasm to make a 
great success. Trumbull County, with 
F. L. Allen as president, will know no 
such w'ord as fail. It will cost a lot 
of money to put all this into operation, 
but with a guaranteed annual fund, 
there will be at the end no bonded debt 
hanging over the county, to pass down 
as an inheritance to those who may 
want to live here in the years to come. 
JOHN GOULD. 
BUFFALO MARKETS. 
Onions are becoming almost more of a 
drug than cabbage. A report from Cen¬ 
tral New York states that produce dealers 
in a single town hold nearly 100,000 
bushels of them and can find no market 
for them. They sell to retailers here for 
30 to 70 cents a bushel. I note a further 
trial of the device for finding the differ¬ 
ence paid to the farmer and that paid 
by the consumer. A girl on a Genesee 
County farm packed in a barrel of apples 
last Fall a note asking the consumer to 
give her this information, and was told 
that the price paid was $3.75. The farm 
price bad been $1.50. In this case the 
farmer received exactly 40 cents of the 
consumer's dollar. What is to be done 
about it? Well, not much yet. The farm¬ 
er has not got mad enough'yet to combine 
on the question. Individual effort is about 
all that can be depended upon so far. 
Many farmers are in position to establish 
their own market, many are not. 
Most produce prices are low for the time 
of the year. It is said that there is 500,- 
000,000 bushels more corn and 200,000.000 
more oats in farmers’ hands now than 
there was a year ago. Mill feed has been 
a long time responding to this condition, 
but it is steadily dropping now. Spring- 
wheat bran sells here at $21 by the car¬ 
load. The price of meat holds up. Fresh 
eggs, 20 cents; butter is not quoted over 
38 cents. With live fowl not above 19 
cents it would seem that Western meat 
prices would have to come down after 
awhile. 
The Eastern farmer is now catching it 
both ways on milch cows, for he both j 
buys and sells them. At a recent farm 
auction in Western New York the highest 
price was $02, and it is predicted that it 
will go above $100 the corning Spring. 
How is the farmer who sells milk going 
to raise calves enough to keep up his dairy 
unless he feeds them milk enough to eorfie 
to more than they are worth when a year 
old? An Erie County farmer was can¬ 
vassing the question the other dav and he 
came to the conclusion that the problem 
is unsolvable. One thing can be done. The 
butter dairyman has plenty of skim-milk 
and can raise the calves. 
Potatoes are also among the cheap foods. 
They sell to the retailer at 63 cents down. 
Some farmers are still getting 50 cents, 
so that the middleman is not taking ali 
the profit in this case. The early South¬ 
ern radish is here, setting the pace at 
five cents for two bunches and the return 
of open weather has brought back the 
water cress. Much more lettuce has been 
raised out doors here this Winter than 
usual. With a fairly good growing Spring 
all vegetables will be cheap. 
JOHN W. CHAMBER!, IX. 
I REPUBLIC ORNAMENTAL 
LAWN FENCE. 
appeals especiallytothe shrewd and 
critical buyer who wants the most 
| as well as the best for his money. 
The Best Fence money and skill 
canproduce. Fabric heavy, strong 
I and close spaced. Sag-proof con¬ 
struction alone makes it worth one- 
fourth more than any other. Yet the 
I price is lower than inferior makes. 
Many patterns—self adjusting 
to uneven ground—easy to pat 
up on wood or iron posts . 
REPUBLIC HERCULES GATES 
I built with automatic lock tail gatvan- 
I ized. Raise Bar holds it firmly in 
any raised position. Frame of heavy 
! steel tubing. No holes to weaken 
it. Heavy fabric held tight by 
stretcher bar. Stock proof, 
r Write us bow much fence yon 
need and for FREE Catalog. 
REPUBLIC FENCE 4 GATE CO.. 
34 Republic St., N. Chicago, Ill. 
wmm 
ORNAMENTAL FENCS 
25 Designs—All Steel- 
Handsome, cost less than woo<Ji 
more durable. Don’t buy afenco 
until you get our Free Catajogudk 
and Specie! Price®. 
We can save you money. 
i Kokomo Fence Machine 
407 North St, Kokomo*log* , 
Get 
Your 
IWAN HOLE 
AUGER 
Special 
price to 
intro¬ 
duce „ . 
if not 
sold by 
your 
dealer 
at least two inches larger 
than your posts. You need 
this much room to tamp it solidly 
at the bottom. A six-inch post in a 
six-inch hole cannot be set solidly 
because you cannot tamp it at the 
bottom and tamping at the top alone 
is useless. 
Iwan Post Hole Augers 
are furnished in sizes from 5 to 
16 inches in diameter, and sold by 
nearly all hardware and imple¬ 
ment dealers. Don’t accept an 
imitation if you want an anger 
for long service, quick boring and 
easy work. A million farmers already use 
them. Our “Easy Digging’’ booklet and catalog 
free. Write for it now while our address 
is before you. 
IWAN BROS., Box E, South Bend, Ind. 
S. R. Feil. Pres. 
Reg. Phanu. 
I’ll Stop Your Losses From Worms 
I’ll Prove l± GO Days Befo re You Pay 
Ill drive out the deadly pests that steal your profits. I’ll make every animal on your 
place worm-free, thrifty, and put them in condition to get the full benefit of their feed- 
make them bring you the most profit — if you will just send me the coupon below. 
Little Pigs only a few weeks old are often found 
loaded with worms. Hogs of all ages suffer from these 
parasites. They become run down, weak, then cholera 
g et s in its deadly work. Read these letters. See what it 
means to have healthy, worm-free hogs when 
cholera breaks out in your neighborhood. 
Protect your stock at my risk. 
. ‘‘The hog cholera is all around ns in this neighbor- 
xr » , . Boou, Dut> so Llior© is not singl© caso ninonc? 
CA^NEDY. 1feedintJ SaEvSf-THOMAf 
all of them are well and doing finely 
although hog cholera is all around us.”-ED. COLLUSS, Delphos, o! 
All farm animals need Sal-Vet to make them big profit makers. 
I offer you Sal-Vet on a plan that makes it easy for you to trv 
You don t risk a single penny ^ 
Don*t Send Any Money—Just the Couuon 
Sal-Vet is not a stock food f but a medi¬ 
cated stock salt. It is saving farmers hundreds 
of thousands of dollars by breaking the grip of 
deadly worms on the live stock industry. No dosing, no drench¬ 
ing, no bother—just let your stock doctor them¬ 
selves 60 days before you pay. You will be aston¬ 
ished at the results. Prominent breeders endorse Sai-Yet. 
“I writ© to any that I have been a free user of Sal-Vet 
ever since its introduction, and find that it is the most 
perfect worm exterminator on the market today. It will 
positively do all that you claim for it. There is nothin* within my 
knowledge as good and reliable or as cheap.’’—E. O. STONE. Peoria. Ill 
Heo. Amor. Hampshire Swine Kecord Ass., Pres. Dl. Svrino Breeders’ Ass. 
“Please send us two more barrels of Sal-Vet at once. This is the beet 
preparation we have ever used. We give all our sheep, horse, and over 
Ml hogs free access to it. It is all you claim.”-A. J. LOVEJOY. Boscoe. 
Ill., Sec. Berkshire Breeders’ Association. 
ivO orders tilled ror lees than 4U Ibn. Never sold in bulk* 
only in. Trade-Marked “Sal-Vet” Packages. 60-day 
trial shipments ure based on 1 lb. of Sal-Vet for each 
boa or sheep, and 4 U>«.for each home or head of catti* 
a a n*or a* wo caa com* without breaking regular 
packaged. 
THE S. R. FEIL COMPANY 
Dept. RNY CLEVELAND, OHIO 
