888 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



T1k> dciuoiistratidii work at pri'scnt consists in iiractit-al fiolil inslruetioii to 

 farniors in scientitic agriculture by means of field agents, the instruction being 

 confined to a few essential subjects. AVhen the rudiments of jrood farming are 

 mastered the farmer secures a greater income for his labor, and he is then 

 taught that this greater income should bo applied to the n-duction of debt, the 

 betterment of the family and the home, and the improvement of rural condi- 

 tions. It is claimed that where cooperative demonstration farming has been 

 carried <m with suflicient intensity to influence public ojiiniou there have re- 

 sulted increased yields per acre, the purchase of more and better horses or mules, 

 a great increase in the use of better implements, general interest in seed selec- 

 tion and the use of the best seed, home and school improvements, more months 

 of schooling, better highways, increase of a healthy social life la the country, 

 and intense interest in agriculture. 



Cooperation true Americanism, W. M. IIavs {Rulciyh, .Y. C, liWH, i>}>. 11). — 

 This is an address by the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture of this Department 

 read before the Southern States Association of the Commissioners of Agricul- 

 ture and Othei- Agricultural Workers at Columbia, S. C.. in November, 1907. 



The autlior describes the methods and extent of business carried on by various 

 cooperative dairy, fruit, grain, irrigation, draiiuige, meat, egg, breeding, and 

 credit associations in the Inited States and foreign countries, points out the 

 advantages of such organizations in encouraging farm life and promoting 

 national welfare, and urges the appointment of a nonpartisan federal coopera- 

 tive organization conmiission to supervise, encourage, and assist the formation 

 of cooperative enter])rises in the I'nited States. 



Agricultural organization, E. Smithells {Agr. Htudviits^'' Gaz., n. ser., 

 l-'f {1D08), Xo. 2, PI). Jp-ol). — Notes are given on the general principles which 

 govern in cooperation, and improvement in the agricultural industry in England 

 is discussed from the following points of view : (1) That the cost of pi'oduction 

 must be reduced; (2) that the returns for produce sold must be increased; and 

 (3) that the general conditions under which farming is caiTied on must be im- 

 proved. Cooperation among farmers is believed to be the only means to the 

 attainment of these ends. 



Producers' associations and cooperative selling and credit societies in 

 France to January 1, 1908 {Bui. Off. Travnil [Fninvc}, /.7 (MIOS), Xox. S, pp. 

 ISO-lJfl ; 9, pp. 8-'f-'f-852; 10, pp. 978-085; 11, pp. 1109-1113).— Coiui^etc returns 

 for the year 1907 are presented and discussed. 



The producers' associations numbered 414, as compared with 3(52 at the close 

 of 1906 ; the selling associations numbered, respectively, 2,301 and 2,166 for the 

 same periods; and the cooperative credit societies, including 17 district banks 

 and 2.168 rural banks, numbered 2,185 at the close of 1907, a gain of 530 

 societies over the preceding year. 



A serious menace to agricultural associations, IIubert-Vallekoux {IJcon. 

 Franr., 36 (1908), II. Vo. -'/N, pp. 787-789). — The author maintains in this 

 article that the test cases made in the courts of France as to the legal standing 

 and functions of agricultural associations must result in their disorganizaticm 

 unless the government so amends the law as to permit the cooperative i)urchase 

 of supplies and sale of produce in bulk for the benefit of members. 



The legality of the operations of agricultural associations, R. AVokms 

 (Bid. t^oc. Xai. A(n: Fniuce. (i8 (W08), No. 8, pp. (;0(i-G29). — The author dis- 

 cusses the decisions of the courts of Fx'anee with reference to agricultural 

 associations, differentiates their functions from those of agricultural cooper- 

 ative societies, summarizes the main points of the proposal made by the minister 

 of agriculture relative to a law legalizing the oiteratious of " economic agri- 



