The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., October 19, 1912, BUYING AND SELLING SPECIAL., Image 1

About The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920

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BUYING AND SELLING SPECIAL.
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A Farm and Home Weekly for
MississipP, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee.
_____ ? BIRMINGHAM, ALA.,—MEMPHIS, TENN.
VoTxXVII. No. 42. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1912. Weekly: $1 a Year.
_ %
MARKETING-INDIVIDUAL4 AND CO-OPERATIVE I
THE problems
of economi
cal buying
and profitable
selling are prob- '
letns of vital im
portance to _ the
farmer, and prob
lems to which he
has just begun to
give attention.
The buying prob
lem is probably of
less importance
than that of sell
ing, since the far
mer should be a
seller rather than good roads help you to sell.
a buyer. Indeed, They help you both because the
SO great is his loss cost of transportation is small and
from wrong meth- because the market can be reached
ods of marketing _
his products and
so tremendous the possible profits from better
methods and a better system of distribution, that
many farmers, surprised at the great possibilities
along this line, are saying that this is now the
greatest of all the farmer’s problems.
It needs but a little thought to convince one
that this statement is incorrect—that the main
tenance of soil fertility, which is the very basis
of his ability to produce at all, must continue to
be the most important subject the farmer has to
deal with; but this does not alter the fact that
the fanners must learn to market to better ad
vantage before they can secure a just reward for
their labors.
This issue is offered with the hope that the _
oust,es>iions and experiences presented in it may
be of some service to the progressive farmers of the South. We do
n°t attempt to solve the problem, nor does anyone of our correspond
ents. Outside of a few special articles from men who have given the
subject special study, the issue is made up chiefly of actual exper
iences from farm folks who have learned how to sell or to buy to
better advantage.
It will be noticed at once that the two features most stressed in
I ese experience letters are, (1) the necessity for raising the quality of
Product to be sold, and (2) direct marketing of this product to the
consumer, or as close approximation to this direct marketing as is
Practical. A third feature might also be noted: Practically all of
cse little success stories are of the marketing of what we regard as
®>uor products. They tell how to handle butter and eggs and vege
a cs so as to get more than average prices: but they do not tell how
0 sell cotton, or corn, or other staple products to better advantage.
The reason for this is plain enough. The producer cannot carry
cotton, or his tobacco, or his peanuts direct to the consumer, and
- so eliminate the middleman or get the rewards of
extra quality. This does not mean however
that the farmer is helpless in the marketing of
these crops, Individually he may be, but there is
no reason why he should act individually. The
advantages of joining his strength with that of his
fellow farmers so as to be better able to hold his
own when selling and buying have been long neg
lected, but that is no reason for continuing to neg
lect them. Co-operation, based on sound business
principles and not on unsound sentiment, will en
able the farmer to go into the world’s marts, not as
„ a man with a few bales of cotton or hogsheads of
tobacco to dispose
A PROFIT-REDUCING ROAD. of, but as one of
If it costs a dollar a bale more than it . .
should to get your cotton to town, isn’t the lue men wno nave
loss as great to you as if the price went for sale the year’s
down that much ? crop Qf cotton or
I tnhaccn l
K/HVWl t [
Not until they
learn this lesson
of united effort
need the farmers
expect to sell to
the greatest prof
it; and they will ,
learn it, not by
beginning at the
back of the book
of experience
with big National
organizations,
but by beginning
with the first page
—friendly co-op
eration with their
nearest neigh
bors.
FEATURES OF THIS ISSUE.
A FAIR PRICE FOR COTTON—The Mississippi Warehouse Plan 5
ALABAMA CROP CONDITIONS—Good Prospects Except Cotton 2:1
BUSINESS MARKETING OF FARM PRODUCTS—Where Southern
Farmers Have a Chance to Get Better Prices. 5
BUYING AND SELLING EXPERIENCES — Letters From Readers 6
CATTLE TICKS AND CATTLE HIDES—A Loss From Ticks You
May Not Have Thought About. 15
GETTING THE MONEY OUT OF VEGETABLES—From the Home
Gardener’s and the Trucker’s Point of View.11 and 17
NEIGHBORHOOD CO-OPERATION—Seven Things Your Commu
nity Could Do. 12 ;
OCTOBER IN THE GARDEN—What Prof. Massey is Doing Now 1
POOR PRICES AND A POOR PRODUCT—The Farmer Must Learn
to Supply the Product the Consumer Wants . 3
SELLING POULTRY AND EGGS— Build Up a Direct Market. , . . 16 j
TWO MEN WHO SELL BUTTER—How They Make Money at It . . 8
WHEN BUYING THE HOUSEHOLD LINEN—Some Suggestions to
the Housekeeper Who Wishes to Save...10