796' EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Regarding rural depopulation (Jour. Agr. Prat., n. ser., 18 (1909), No. 33, 

 pp. 250, 251). — The chief causes of rural depopulation in France are believed to 

 be the system of training young farm people for commercial and professional 

 careers rather than for farm life and the small size of French peasant families 

 at the present time. The result has been a scarcity of farm help. 



To meet this condition the employment of more farm machinery, the instruc- 

 tion of farm laborers in its use, the improvement of the economic and social 

 status of the laborers, the employment of married people on the farm, the exten- 

 sion of the metayer system, and the practical training of young rural people to 

 the particular lines of agricultural industry followed in different sections of the 

 country are advocated. 



The utilization of agricultural land in Denmark, M. Koefoed (Statis. Tahel- 

 vcerk [Denmark], 5. ser., 1909, Litra C, No. 3, pp. 52 + 179). — The statistics given 

 in this report cover data relating to the utilization of agricultural land in Den- 

 mark for small grains, root and miscellaneous crops, fallow, green-manuring and 

 soiling crops, and pastures, during the years 1896-1907, inclusive, with the de- 

 crease or increase in area in each case. Statistics for the individual crops and 

 changes in the area occupied by these for the periods given, the area marled and 

 drained, and the amounts of seed used are also reported. 



Agricultural cooperative societies in Denmark, P. Fourrier {Jour. Agr. 

 Prat., n. ser., 18 {1909), No. 38, pp. Jt00-.'f02). — The returns of cooperative dairies, 

 slaughterhouses, and egg-collecting societies have been previously noted (E. S. R., 

 20, p. 794). The cooperative societies for the purchase of supplies numbered 973 

 with 160,000 members, and the " control associations," which aim to secure the 

 best results in the raising of highly-productive cows, numbered 450, with more 

 than 10,000 members, owning 169,000 cows. 



Cooperative banking without money and cooperative credit unions {Farm 

 and Home [Mass.], SO (1909), Nos. 631, p. 523; 633, pp. o7'-'/. 583). — These articles 

 describe the operation and principles of mutual credit unions or banks in Europe, 

 give a brief account of their history and development in America, and point out 

 the particular advantages of the agricultural cooperative credit union to farm- 

 ers as follows : 



(1) It enables worthy borrowers to escape from the bondage of the loan 

 sharks; (2) it enables a great body of honest and industrious citizens to estab- 

 lish their persoual credit, as yet unrecognized by existing banks; (3) it gives an 

 opportunity to farmers, or to beginners at farmiug, to obtain the first small cap- 

 ital with which to begin business on their own account; (4) it encourages saving 

 among numbers of people whom the savings banks never reach ; and (5) it proves 

 to be a creative, educating, and moral tendency in any community in which it is 

 successfully established. 



National congress of agricultural credit, H. Sagnier {Jour. Agr. Prat., n. 

 ser., 18 {1909), No. 36, pp. 3.',l-3.',.', ; Indus. Lait. [Paris], 3', {1909), No. 38, pp. 

 724-730). — This is a summarized account of the third congress held at Mont- 

 pell ier, September 1-4, 1909. 



The discussions and resolutions related to the establishment and extension of 

 different forms of mutual insurance and credit in France and the modification 

 of existing laws with reference to the organization, operation, and functions of 

 agricultural associations. The courts had decided that agricultural associa- 

 tions did not come under the head- of cooperative societies and could not carry 

 on their functions under the laws relating to the latter, but the congress 

 demanded that laws be passed permitting the agricultural associations to fur- 

 nish to their members all the materials and machinei'y necessary for the 

 exploitation of the land. 



