The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 1, 1917, Page 8

he HFarming nt of tho Leader devoted to news, facts, information iong of interest to farmers and as bhusiness men. sod o) a8 farmers What Trade Mark Means to Farmer How Plan in North Dakota By Homer Dixon NE of the gravest questions that the farmer has to face is without doubt the question of marketing. Only recently President E. F. Ladd of the North Dakota Agricultural college pro- posed a bill which passed, providing for a state trademark for North Dakota, offering to the farmers a ready means of improving their marketing condi- tions from the standpoint of demand. It offers the farmers an opportunity to set a standard on their products which will cause a demand for them from all parts of the country. The introduction to the bill reads: “For an act to establish a trade mark for North Dakota products; to provide standards for products on which the trade mark may be used; to provide for proper registration and licensing and other things in connection with the use of the said trade mark.” In order to use the state trade mark a license must be secured from the state food commission. Section four of the bill outlines how this may be secured, as follows: FOOD COMMISSIONER TO GET APPLICATIONS “Any person, firm, corporation or or- ganization desiring to use the North Dakota trade mark on any article grown, manufactured. or produced in North Dakota, shall make application to the food commissioner, on blanks properly prepared, setting forth the nature of the article on which the said trade mark is to be used, and after investigation the food commissioner shall issue an order on the secretary of the state for a license for one year for the use of the said trade mark on an article conforming with the standards established for the said article or product.” The fee for permission to use the trade mark is set at $5 and $1 annually for renewals. Certain penalties are also provided for those who secure the trade mark and then do not keep their products up to the standards as set by the state food commissioners. What does this mean to the farmer? It means that he can advertise his products with the state trade mark and everyone will know that they are up to standard. ' This trade mark tells them that the seed wheat he has for sale is up to a certain standard degree of purity, free from disease, smut, ete,, that the required per cent will germi- nate, and that it comes up to the specified standard for that variety. Dr. E. F. Ladd says of the trade mark: “Potatoes free from disease, scab, etc., also dirt cleaned, of uniform size and having other characteristics that would be fixed for the standards, would be entitled to use the North Dakota trade mark. The same would be true for garden seed, flower seed, for dairy products; in fact for nearly all of the products that might be produced upon the farm or produced from products grown upon North Dakota farms, when properly handled. At the same time it will become, to my mind, one of the greatest assets to the state of North Dakota as an advertising medium when the products are held up to a high standard, and that is my idea as to why a high standard is necessary.” HOW SOME FARMERS USE A TRADE MARK An example of what this trade mark will lead to is shown in the certified milk of our cities and the stamped fresh eggs, both of which demand the very highest prices. If the buyer knows that the product he is purchasing is up to the standard he is willing to pay for it. Anyone would rather pay a little more to make sure that the dozen eggs they were buying were all fresh than to pay a little less and run the risk of having to throw away the greater half of the dozen. Barnum, Minn, has a plan for marketing eggs which is netting them the top notch prices on the market. The eggs are marketed through the local creamery. Each patron having egegs to sell has a rubber stamp which he stamps the name of the Barnum creamery and his own number on each egg, so that if the eggs are not good they can be traced back to the right farm. The eggs are delivered to the -that you desire. creamery with the cream. Each pa- tron is required to gather the eggs every day, keep them in a cool, clean place, and to deliver no dirty eggs nor eggs more than a week old. This of course makes it possible for the cream- ery company to guarantee the eggs perfectly fresh, clean and attractive to buyers. Barnum, being near Duluth, A New Record Jersey Cow Will Work Out—Higher Prices for Products ships most of its eggs there and the dealers in Duluth are glad to handle a high-class article at from four to ten cents a dozen more than the farmer gets who markets his eggs in the old way. Now this stamp on the egg is Bar- num’s trade mark. It means more dol- The same lars to those who use it. $t. Mawes Poppy, shown above, owned by Ed Cary of Carlton, Ore., finish- ed a year's authenticated test recently in which she made 15,782.4 pounds milk and 952 pounds butter-fat, which would make 1,120.32 pounds of 85 per butter. cent This record is the sixth best record ever made by a Jersey and estab- lishes the best record of the breed ever made west of the Mississippi river. St. Mawes Poppy has made three yearly records of over 900 pounds of butter in- cluding one of over 1100 pounds. calf, at nine years two months of age. She started this latest test with her seventh She is a daughter of the great bull St. Mawes, the sire of 18 other register of merit cows. St."Mawes is now famous as a sire of heavy preoducers, but his great value was not ascertained until after his death at the hands of ithe butcher. What it Costs to Produce Farmers Can Find Out by Keeping Accounts § N ORDER to get at a definite idea of profit one is making, one must have a fairly defi- nite idea of costs. What does it cost you to produce an acre of corn, or an acre of wheat? Why not keep a record this season and find out? Highgst profits can only be secured when proper attention is given to the factors of cost. Labor is in nearly all cases the most important item in cost of production. Keep a complete record of the labor spent upon the project you are study- ing. The best way. to do this is the way that requires the least time and work and yet gives you all of the facts Get a small book of some kind and rule off certain pages for certain projects, using the follow- ing tables as an outline to go by. When the work is completed, the pages can be balanced up and the cost deter- mined. Considerable work along this line has been done by the Minnesota ex- periment station and it has prepared the following table which may be used for comparison.- In this table the land is valued at $70 an acre and 5 per cent is charged as rental; man labor, 12¢ to 13%ec an hour, and horse labor, 914 c an hour; a general expense of §1 an acre is charged. The table referred to is as follows: Cost Per Acre of Corn Seed R e e e os b e 9t 226 Shelling COrn ..ocececeonees 026 Plowing ....... S tetaeieioniais 1.311 Harrowing .544 Planting . 240 Cultivating .806 Husking. ...... .456 Machinery cost .549 Land rent ...... . 3.500 General expense ........ .000 $10.658 The costs 4dn the abhove table for plowing, etc., are merely for time as machinery cost is figured in as a separate item. The cost of the ma- chinery can be figured by taking the total depreciation for one year on one machine and dividing it by the number of acres worked by the machine in the year. This will give the cost per acre of the machine. Then the cost per acre of the different machines used on corn can be added together to determine the machinery cost per acre. The following estimate ¢n wheat is taken from investigation throughout the central west and represents a fair average. The depreciation of machin- ery is included in the general expenses of $1. The estimate of labor includes man and horse labor. The table is taken from “Rural Arithmetic,” by Thomas: Cost Per Acre of Wheat Seed i R e i et e e e 1205, Seeding .... .55 Disking ..... o 235 Harrowing .. . .42 Harvesting . .1.25 Stacking ...... . .60 Threshing ...... e 1,00 General expense ............ 1.00 5 per cent on land at $70.... 3.50 Insurance per acre ...... eeee .60 $10.32 ’ By W. E. Vaplon, Fort Collins, Col. “Spuds is the crop,” said Farmer Jones, “the crop that brings the silver bones—the. kale for which the farmer homes.” " “No sir,” said Sweet, “give me the beet. It pays for all the things we eat, for shoes to fit the children’s feet; the beet pays for the light and heat and puts us all on easy street.” “You're both mistook,” said neighbor Lee, “for if- you'd look you'd surely see there's g@ld in wheat, Wheat's what made me, Whatever anyone can see in any other crop, beats me; give me the wheat,” said neighbor Lee. ‘“Sure wheat's all right,” said old man Wood. “No use to fight ’cause spuds are good and beets EIGHT will be true of the North Dakota trade mark. It is a boon to those who have products to sell. Furthermore, the North Dakota trade mark protects the man who is desirous of putting out the very best of products. Dr. Ladd says: “Our food laws have aided in sweep- ing out the low grade, inferior and adulterated products but have not af- forded any protection to the man who wants to put out high grade products and to get protection from others put- ting out products coming just inside of the terms of the food law. Now, there will be, through the North Da- kota trade mark, an opportunity for such protection.” COMMUNITY SPIRIT HELPS THE FARMERS Co-operation among the farmers is going to play an important part in communities where the farmers are planning to use the new trade mark. They can co-operate to make the man who is trying to keep just within the code improve his product; to set local standards for their products which will make them attractive to buyers, and to advertise not only their product but their community. A large quantity of a desirable product in one place is very attractive to buyers. By co-operation this condition can be brought about and buyers attracted to a co.amunity. Support your local creamery, build up an institution there which will be known all over the country by its product. The increased returns will pay for the effort. A uniformly good product is another essential. Stick together and do not try to see how close to the lower limit you can come and still be a patron of the creamery, or whatever it may be, but try to have the highest grade on your own personal products. Remember the example of the man who thought that he could slip in a bottle of water, in making up a cask of wine for the preacher at Christmas time, instead of giving away a bottle of his good wine. It would never be noticed in so much wine. But when the preacher got his cask of wine, it was all water, because every one had put in water thinking it would never be noticed. Another principle is to have a con- stant supply of the product for which your community is noted. If it is but- ter from the creamery, arrange to have cows fresh the year around in order that you may have something for buyers the year around. If it is seed wheat and you are sold out, do not hesitate to recommend your next door neighbor. If the buyer finds what he wants in your community, he is going to come back again. He may find you with a big supply on hand the next time he comes back. If a live stock buyer can not find what he wants on your farm, tell him of another farm near by where he may be able to get what he wants. Do not let him leave your community without buying. " The North Dakota trade mark offers one of the biggest boosts to better prices that has occurred for some time. However, it will be of no value to the farmer if he does not keep his products up to standard. Let the state test your seed grain for germination and purity. A little more care in the handling of your products and the better prices are yours. Haul sweet, clean cream to the creamery, so that your creamery may be able to use the trade mark. Work to keep your products up to standard and the better prices will be yours. Which Crop Pays the Best? ain’t bad, they bring the mon and dig- ging them is sure some fun; the beet man’s work is never done. But as for me,” said old man Wood, “alfalfa blos= soms sure smell good. Alfalfa’s king of all the crops, it beats the spud and wheat and hops.” “I see you're just a little off, all money mad,” said Dea- con Goff, “At spuds and beets I can but scoff and ask you, gentlemen, to doff your heavers to the crop that's worth more than all other crops on earth. I'm speaking, men, of girls and boys, that bring the farmer sweeter joys than Henry Ford with his tin toys. Give me the kids and take your wheat and hay and spuds and sugar beet!” N N