* COOPERATIVE - 
EASTERN STATES 
Gapymy 

26 
Tus MAGAZINE is published monthly 
by the Eastern States Farmers’ Ex- 
change, headquarters: West Spring- 
field, Mass. It is distributed free to 
members of this cooperative purchas- 
ing association. The purpose of the 
Eastern States Cooperator is to keep 
membersinformedabout the progress 
of their organization — to help make 
better farming easier to accomplish 
by having up-to-date information 
available regularly. For anyone liv- 
ing outside Eastern States territory 
and those within the territory but 
not able to participate in the asso- 
ciation’s purchasing program, there 
is a subscription price of $1.00 a year. 
There are 100,000 members and 
patrons in the Eastern States Farm- 
ers’ Exchange located in New Eng- 
land, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and 
Maryland. The members are the 
owners of the Exchange, which 
serves as the purchasing department 
of their farms. They control its op- 
eration through their annual meet- 
ing which every member has the 
right to attend. Each member has 
one vote. 
Members elect the Exchange's 
board of directors at the annual 
meeting. Through its executive com- 
mittee, the board of directors carries 
out its responsibilities to the mem- 
bership. The management, respon- 
sible to the executive committee, 
selects and purchases the commodi- 
ties handled by the association. 
Eastern States commodities are 
processed in the Exchange’s own 
plants — shipped in carloads — 
usually delivered to members from 
the car door — and paid for on a 
cash basis; factors that enable the 
Exchange's local representatives to 
serve 1000 communities ecnomically. 

Vol. 20 4 No. 1 

YOUR HEALTH! 
Provzr food goes 
far to keep the body healthy and the 
mind alert. Vegetables provide us with 
a wide variety of the vitamins and min- 
erals necessary for health. It seems 
logical that the family which has a 
good vegetable garden is likely to eat 
plenty of vegetables fresh enough to be 
in prime condition. 
You can’t figure the value of your 
garden entirely in dollars and cents. 
Just try to put on paper the number of 
dollars the health of your family 1s 
worth to you! 
WHY GARDEN? 
Hlome vegetable gar- 
dens may be destined soon to become a 
much more important and respected 
project on most farms than they have 
been for many years. 
During the past two decades as 
farming became more and more mech- 
anized and there was more specializing 
by farmers, a vegetable garden looked 
to some farmers as a mere ‘‘trifle’’ — 
often more nuisance than it was worth. 
It meant a lot of hard hand work for 
the men folk who much preferred to 
pilot a tractor. Then, too, modern 
automobiles took farmers to town as 
often as they wanted and the grocery 
stores carried fresh vegetables all year. 
Why mess around with your own 
garden? 
The completely specialized farmer 
must operate on a fairly large scale to 
earn enough dollars to go out and buy 
everything. That usually involves a lot 
of hired labor and a big investment in 
equipment. Successful use of hired 
labor and expensive equipment re- 
quires management skill to match the 
risks involved. Some farmers end the 
year having made a place for others to 
work and earn and made a market for 
equipment but have little left for them- 
selves. They might be better off to op- 
erate the farm more as a ‘‘family sub- 
sistence’’ unit. 
The family which produces a major 
part of its own food has gone a long 
way toward assuring independence. 
The opportunity to earn and build up a 
supply of money has receded as rapidly 
as taxes have risen. 
And as the opportunity to participate 
in quick frozen food advantages spreads 
as soon as the war ends, farm families 
need not depend on the fresh vegetable 
counters in town. They will have their 
own year-round supply — of even bet- 
ter quality. 
Isn't it logical then for more families 
to farm so as to provide themselves 
with living advantages which they 
can't always buy for money even if 
they could earn it? 
FEED OUTLOOK 
Durie a severe feed 
shortage such as the Northeast has 
experienced for several months, each 
farmer should have the choice of either 
feeding a limited number of livestock 
so they will produce at maximum 
efficiency or feed a larger number on 
a less efficient ration in hopes that 
greater supplies of feed will eventually 
become available. 
For years it has been a policy of the 
Eastern States Farmers’ Exchange to 
formulate and manufacture feed that 
would make the first choice possible. 
Because of abundant supplies the for- 
mulas were actually built to contain 
some overages of the essential nutri- 
ents. These extra nutrients did not 
penalize the careful feeder, but rather 
gave him a margin of safety that was 
cheap insurance in normal times. 
As the supplies of ingredients de- 
creased Eastern States gradually tre- 
duced the overage in such feed to the 
point where the extra nutrients were 
at a minimum. This policy eliminated 
some waste and appeared to be in the 
national interest. With careful manage- 
ment and good feeding practice these 
feeds have maintained satisfactory pro- 
duction. 
If the Exchange reduced further the 
supply of nutrients in each feed, then 
the entire membership would be forced 
to maintain herds and flocks on a less 
efficient basis. By holding feeds at pres- 
ent levels each member has a choice. 
Those who wish to keep greater num- 
bers may dilute the standard feeds by 
