192 



EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



chase of land and makes itself the responsible hirer or purchaser of sufficient 

 laud to meet the needs of all ot its members. The society performs other 

 functions, as the purchase of seed, manures, implements, and other require- 

 ments of members, and collects, prepares, and markets their surplus produce. 

 In 1909 there v/ere 146 such societies, with a membership of 7,925. 



Cooperative societies {Rpt. Indus, and Agr. Coop. Soc. United Kingdom, 

 1912, pp. LV-'r273, p's. 5). — An official report presenting notes and statistics 

 relating to industrial and agricultural cooperative societies in the United 

 Kingdom from 1900 to 1910. The agricultural societies are grouped into 3 

 main classes, viz, purchase and sales societies, productive societies, and small 

 holdings and allotment societies. " Between 1S95 and 1909 the agricultural 

 cooperative societies of all kinds making returns increased from 58 (46 for 

 production and 12 for distribution) for the whole of the United Kingdom, to 

 653 (317 for production and 336 for distribution),' while their combined sales 

 increased from £354,379 to £3,609,172." 



Agricultural purchase societies in Italy up to 1910 (Fed. Ital. Consorzi 

 Agr. riaecnza, 2 {1911). pp. XII +505, figs, i-i.9). — This book presents notes, 

 tables, maps, charts, etc., showing the work done by the Italian Federation 

 of Agricultural Societies from 1892 to 1910 inclusive. It also includes a sum- 

 mary of the information furnished by 420 of the agricultural societies concern- 

 ing the economic status of the various localities, together with data showing the 

 numerical relations between the purchase societies, the rural population, and 

 the cultivated area, as well as data on the general consumption of commerical 

 fertilizers and the amount provided through cooperative societies. 



The importance of the collective purchase societies is partially brought out 

 in the following table : 



Progress of the Italian Federation of Agricultural Societies from 1893 to 



December 31, 1910. 



The importance of the national insurance law as related to agriculture, 

 Schumacher {Deut. Landw. Presse, 3S {1911), Nos. 96, pp. 1089, 1090; 97, pp. 

 1105, 1106; 99, pp. 1130-1132; 100, pp. ll.)l-ll.',3; 101, pp. 1156, 1151; 102, p. 

 1168). — This is a series of articles discussing in detail the national insurance 

 law in Germany in its application to agriculture. 



An argument for the short-time lease, E. Elljah {loica Agr., 12 {1912), 

 'No. 5, pp. 19, 20). — This article illustrates by concrete examples the economic 

 advantages of short-time as contrasted with long-time leases, pointing out that 

 the short-term lease tends toward friendly relations between landlord and 

 tenant. The landlord can also specify each year just what fields may be 

 plowed up and what ones must be seeded down, thus maintaining the produc- 

 tivity of the soil and insuring a more permanent agriculture. 



