492 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



the, and cattle iusurauce societies for 1908, in comparison with similar data 

 for the 10 preceding years, are reported and discnssed. 



Scottisli Agricultural Organization Society {Jour. Bd. Agr. [London], 17 

 {1910), No. 2, 1)1). ISS-l-iO)- — The returns show a total of 39 affiliated societies 

 in 1909, a gain of 16 over the preceding year. The milk and poultry societies 

 were especially prosperous, and the members of district societies were sub- 

 stantially benefited in the price and quality of seeds, manures, feeding stuffs, 

 implements, and other requisites purchased, and in the sale of produce. 



Assistance to farmers, H. A. Hime {Natal Agr. Jour., IJf {1910), No. 5, pp. 

 595-599). — The text of the law which provides for loans to farmers in Natal for 

 erecting fences and dipping tanks on their farms is reported and discussed. 



Loans for dipping tanks are limited to flOO and for fencing to the supply of 

 the material only. The loans are repayable, together with interest thereon at 5 

 per cent per annum, by 13 equal yearly installments not including the first year 

 after the loan is made, except that any borrower may pay off all his liability 

 with interest to date of payment at any time he may Ayish to do so. 



Cooperative credit {Indian Agr., 35 {1910), No. 6, pp. 176, i7?).— This article 

 discusses the rapid development of agricultural cooperative credit in India, the 

 returns showing a membership of 184,000 in 1908-9 as compared with 90,000 in 

 1906-7, and nearly a fourfold increase in capital and expenditures. 



The future success of the movement in India is regarded as depending upon 

 the successful solution of the problems of finance and supervision. The value 

 of cooperation in solving the former is believed to be firmly established, while 

 the most satisfactory solution of the latter is believed to consist in the further 

 extension of the cooperative principle " by the organization of societies as they 

 increase in number into local unions and the federation at a later stage of these 

 local unions into central unions, the ideal to aim at being that the unions should 

 not only finance their own societies but also supervise them and encourage the 

 further growth of the movement in definite areas." 



The Agricultural Bank of Egypt [Indian Agr., 35 {1910), No. 6, pp. 165, 

 106). — This article discusses the present status of agricultural credit in Egj-pt 

 and its bearing on the situation with which the Agricultural Bank of Egypt is 

 confronted. The outstanding loans of the bank to Egyptian farmers amount to 

 about $40,000,000 distributed among .238.000 debtors, "and the proportion of 

 arrears to the amount of annuity which fell due to be collected during the year 

 rose from 3.1 per cent in 1906 to 17.7 per cent in 1909." The inability of the 

 debtors to meet their obligations is attributed in part to the loans having been 

 expended for unproductive purposes. 



The experience of the Egyptian bank is regarded as an argument in favor of 

 establishing cooperative credit associations which teach the borrower to be 

 thrifty and self-reliant, and it is now proposed to form in Egyptian villages 

 cooperative organizations with which the bank can deal directly. 



Concerning the economic condition of farm laborers in the Netherlands, 

 E. Dreesman {Cultura, 22 {1910), Nos. 257, pp. 17-20; 258, pp. 64-74; 259, pp. 

 131-135; 260, pp. 174-lSO; 261. pp. 249-261; 262, pp. 294-300; 263, pp. 352-361).— 

 A detailed study of the physical, economic, and social conditions affecting the 

 life of farm laborers in the Netherlands. 



[Wages of agricultural laborers in Hungary], E. Howard {Diplo. and Cons. 

 Rpt. [London] Ann. tier., 1910, No. 4429, pp. 20, i2).— The rates of wages paid 

 to men, women, and children engaged in agriculture in Hungary during 1908, as 

 compared with similar data for 1901, together with statistics of the number and 

 classes of the agricultural population, are presented and discussed. The custom 

 of providing laborers with food is gradually passing away, and the figures pre- 

 sented show that wages have been increased accordingly. 



