The Rural New-Yorker 
The Business Farmer’s Paper 
VoL. LXXVI. NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 17, 1917. No. 4417. 
Weekly, One Dollar Per Year 
Postpaid 
Single Copies, Five Cents 
Published by 
The Rural Publishing Co. 
333 W. 30lh Street 
New York 
Co-operative Possibilities in Labor and 
Advertising 
Good Work in the Connecticut Valley 
(JROWIXG FII'R.I>.—Coiiiiorativo association.s 
anions; fannors for hiiyini; siipplios and soiling 
farm products arc .showing an increasing mnnher 
every year; in fact are developing .so fast tliat when 
one mentions cooperation to farmers the word is 
at once linked with buying and selling. However, 
there are other possibilities which otTer .splendid 
opportunities for wnipiM-ative effort. TTow these 
have been utilized by certain groups of farmers is 
worthy of consideration. 
THE TOr>ACCO INDUSTRY.—One of the most 
important sources of farm revenue in that part of 
the Connecticut Valley lying along the river between 
Middletown and Oreenfield is the growing of a fine 
(piality of wrapper tobaceo. Three tyites ari> irrown, 
Broadleaf, TTavana and Cuban. The lirst two are 
grown in the open under conditions whudi are little 
situation drive them. Meetings were held with the 
resultant doeisien that since there was more woi’k 
in the Valley than there were men to do it the 
only logical tiling to do was to find a placc^ where 
the reverse was true, a place where theVe wei'e more 
men than there was work for them to do. Ae- 
cordiugly they organized the Connecticut Leaf To¬ 
bacco Association, levied an as.sessment against the 
niemhers of two dollars for each acre of shade to¬ 
bacco grown by that member, opened an oflice in 
Hartford and hired an employment manager. The 
a.ssessment gave them a fund of over seven thou¬ 
sand dollars; the manager was to get the help. 
Schedules of the amount of help reijnired on each 
of the farms Avere filed witli the manager and he 
was given the iirohlem of supplying the men and, 
Avhen the harvest sea.son liegan. the women and 
children. Some farmers there wore who antici¬ 
pated no labor problem as they had the saiiio lielp 
available as they had employed for years. ()jie 
man in particular told me that he did not believe 
iiianent good accomplished by the association was 
the development of the feeling that successful co¬ 
operation Avas ivally possible among tobacco groAA-- 
ers. Menihers wojild not hire a man Avho had 
worked on anoflier plantation until they Avere as¬ 
sured that the man had done the fair thing for the 
previous employer. In one ca.se a farm employing 
a large number of men got ht-Llnd on their early 
season AA'ork. The situation was made known, and 
other groAvers who had their Avork pretty Avell in 
hand sent men from their farms to his. supplying 
as :in association eighty men one morning to help 
this grower over a tight place. Later in the season 
another firm aams behind on their haiwesting. The 
first and second •priming-s'' and part of the thiitf 
■•priming” had been finished hut the halaneo of 
file third “priming” and all tie' fourth ‘•priming” 
still remained in the field. Col<l nights indicated 
a frost, and a frost would be fatal to the crop. 
Other growers were ai)prised of tiie siruation: those 
Avho hud tlieir own harvest completed rnslied help 
dilTeront from tho.se Avhich usually surround any 
high-value field wop, Cuban, hoAvever, is grown 
imder A’ery unusual conditions. Lai-ge tents cover 
the fields, the most painstaking kind of cultivathm 
is given, Avhen the crop is ready to harvest four 
pickings, or “primings,” of tlie leaves are made at 
jn.st the right time to make the host wrappers, and 
then the leuA'cs are “strung" on laths and hung in 
siiecially constructed haiais to cure. 
LABOR NEEDED.—All this reipiires a A'ast 
amount of help, in fact the .shade growers figure 
rh.at to build tent.s, groAA-. harvest and bundle the 
tobacco practically one man. or his eipiivalent. per 
.acre is required. Thirty-five hnndivd acres meant 
tliirty-iive hundred men. Munitions and arms fac¬ 
tories were taking all the help they could get ami 
paying exct'llent AA’ages. Late 'Winter indications 
were that the labor question needed serious con¬ 
sideration. The shade growers studied the situa¬ 
tion thoroughly and decided that tlie only thl’'g to 
do Avas to drive the situation rather than let the 
that he Avould have to hire a single man thi’ough 
tlie a.ssociation, hut that he paid the a.ssessment 
and joined the association because he Avauted to 
foster the cooperative spirit. Some day he* felt that 
a problem might arise on Avhicli he would need the 
codperatiA'e help of his follow growers. 
HUNTING FOR HELP.—^'I'he association went to 
Avork. They interviewed loaders in order to learn 
the sections in Avhich there Avas little activity in¬ 
dustrially. When such sections Avere found they 
inserted advertisements in the local papers in that 
territory and .sent agents and cain-assers there to 
explain the po.ssihilities of earning a good AA’ork 
Avage under the favorable conditions that the to¬ 
bacco fields offered. Men came and Avere put to 
Avork and. Avhile all the help that could Iuia'c been 
desired Avas not always at hand, the Avork that the 
association did accomplish Avas sufficient to relieve 
a situation Avhich in the Spring promi.'^ed serious 
consequences. 
FRATERNAL SPIRIT.—Probably the most por¬ 
to that fann and the cnqi was li(ni.<ed Avitlunu in¬ 
jury just before the first frci.-^t aiipeared. 
GARDEN ADVERTL'<1NG.—Another Ainusual un¬ 
dertaking along cooperative lines has been the ad¬ 
vertising done by the Hartford il.irket Gardeners’ 
As.sociation during the last feAv month.s. For some 
years they had been doing cooperative buying of 
.such supplies as Avore needed in their business, but 
this Avas their first attempt at cooperative advertis¬ 
ing. A number of the members Avere rather skepti¬ 
cal about the practicability of an expenditni*e of 
money in such a manner. Results, however, AA-ere 
what they Avere after. No space Avas used until 
nearly the middle of August; the middle of Octo¬ 
ber the advertising AA'as discontinued becjiiise the 
rcsTilts had been secured. Practically all the gar¬ 
deners had cleaned up their crops with the excep¬ 
tion of those Avhich Avere to be held over for the 
M'iuter markets. 
SELLING HOME-GROWN PRODUCTS.—The ad- 
verti.dng material Avas always kept timely. A few 
