three stations, which draw supplies from farmers of this township. All five of these stations are within two and a half or three hours' distance from St. Paul and Minneapolis. And, as has been seen, the various great railway systems put the farmers of this township as well as the towns

Map showing territory from which grain is marketed to various stations. people of these stations into the best of connections with Chicago and other great primary markets towards the South.

Thus it is that, while the Twin Cities are the natural market for the products of this farming section, Chicago and Milwaukee are competing markets within easy access to the farmers or shippers. Both of the older towns on the Cannon River still have flour and grist mills in operation. Although they find it hard to compete with the big mills of Minneapolis, they manage to keep running and for high-grade blue stem, No. 1 Northern wheat, they pay several cents more per bushel than the elevator companies offer. Their flour is mostly sold locally. Dairy business in this country

offers a ready market for bran, shorts, and middlings. Both N., in the northwest corner of the township, and D., in the middle of the eastern township line, have farmers' elevators which handle most of the grain. Local prices are thus kept near what they ought to be in view of central market quotations. As to just which elevator gets the most grain depends quite as much upon the contour of the surrounding country, and accessibility according to the condition of roads as it does on managerial ability and prices offered by the competing companies. A glance at the preceding chart will show where the grain is usually marketed.

The cost of hauling grain to the elevator has been computed by taking distance travelled, time, and cost of man and horse labor, as follows: For this township the average distance hauled was three and one-seventh miles; the average size of load was one and one-fourteenth tons in winter and two tons in the fall with good roads. Time required in winter is three and two-sevenths hours; in fall two and three-fifths hours. Figuring man labor at fifteen cents per hour and horse labor at eight cents per hour, we get an average cost of thirty and three-tenths cents per ton mile where. grain is hauled in winter, and a cost of only twelve and eight-tenths cents per ton mile where it is hauled in the fall by good roads. As the average number of loads of grain taken to market is fifteen per farm, and hence an average of ninety-four ton miles of traffic with grain, a considerable saving might be figured. Thus, on the farms from which these averages were computed, the cost of marketing at thirty and three-tenths ton mile in winter is twenty-eight dollars and fifty-two cents and on the basis of what they hauled in the fall by good roads, the cost at the rate of twelve and eight-tenths per ton mile would have been only twelve dollars and nine cents. In other words, on the above basis sixteen dollars and forty-three cents might have been saved if crops had been marketed by good roads. The farmer does not figure it this way however. In the winter his horses have not much other work and they need the exercise. He has to go to town once or twice a week anyhow, and he might as well take the grain down little by little. In that way he does not figure labor at much either. Hence, to him it appears cheaper to market in the winter time.

Just as the farmers took a hand in marketing their grain, so they have made various attempts to handle their dairy product, and look after its final disposition. There are farmers' creameries throughout the country doing a flourishing business. Owing largely to the excellent shipping facilities and the nearness to the Twin City market, the farmers of this township have found it difficult to compete with centralizing plants and local depots within easy access of the farmers of this township. These local farmers' creameries seem to find the odds pretty much against them on account of not having the marketing equipment in the cities that the big

milk companies have, and being thus compelled to manufacture cheese and butter. The milk companies established cooling plants and local depots easily accessible to the farmers of this township. There is a cooling plant

Diagram showing method of disposal of dairy products.

at both N. and D. and between Ds. and N. is one depot, or milk station. On the east are two more, between Ns. and D. and D. and S. These milk depots or stations are mere platforms or old box cars beside the track. In the busy rush of the summer work farmers find it very convenient to take their milk to these near-by depots. (See map showing how the territory is divided among the various stations.) The average distance of hauling milk or cream is two and seven-ninths miles and the time required is two and five-ninths hours. Hauling to local depots requires but little time. During the rush reason, in forty-five per cent of the places, the women or children haul the milk. A special milk train gathers up the milk at these depots and cooling plants, and gets it up to the centralizing plant in the city where it is sterilized, cooled, and kept until the next morning, at which time it is distributed to the patrons of the milk companies in the city. The farmer gets his empty cans back the next morning at the station where they are left by an evening local train, the cans being returned that were taken up in the morning. In spite of the advantages of the city milk companies there have been farmers' creameries in operation at both N. and Ns. for a number of years and another one has just been started at D. this last summer. The farmers near that town had been getting a cent or two less per gallon for their milk than did the farmers of N. and S. So they concluded that the only way to get equitable prices is to "force the situation through coöperative organizations."

In the selling of live stock the farmers of this township all seemed satisfied with existing conditions. No coöperative live-stock marketing associations were in operation at any of the stations. A few of the farmers who had a carload of hogs or steers had shipped them to South St. Paul or Chicago at various times, but as a whole they felt that rather than take any chances on a drop in the market, they would sell to the local buyers. "Of course, they are making their living off the farmers, but they lose once in a while too." This sentiment of wanting to be safe keeps the farm

ers on good terms with the local cattle buyer. Moreover, the average farmer is not as good a judge of market classes and grades of live stock as he is of grain. Oftentimes a local buyer will pick up a mixed lot of steers at a safe margin on "mediums," when some of the animals may sell as "choice" or "prime" in the market. That is where most of his profits are made. In the hog business the differences in grades are usually not so great, and hogs are usually handled, it is said, at less profit.

stations.

The farmers of this township who raise Holstein cattle have an exceptional advantage in the marketing world over their neighbors who raise a different breed of cattle. The country around N. has won a national fame among dairymen as "the Home of the Pure-Bred Holstein Cows." As a result of this fame the owner of Holstein cattle, and even those who have only the Holstein crosses, "grades," and "scrubs," are getting high prices from buyers who come from every part of the United States. This last