l6 IXFORJVIATIOX RELATIXPt TO CO-OPERATION AND ASSOCIATION 



of note that tlie yield of the small farm leased was almost tripled in ten 

 years, and that while the previous single lessee had barely supported a 

 single peasant's family the co-operative society maintains on the farm in 

 better conditions three families. It should also be noticed that when the 

 lease fell in the rent was doubled, and that the value of the farm has much 

 increased by the co-operative society's enlightened cultivation, the philan- 

 thropic body which let it thus deriving much benefit. In confirmation of 

 this there is an interesting passage in the report of the deliberations of the 

 civil hospitals of Borgo San Donnino as to the concession of a second farm : 

 " Seeing that the intervention of the co-operative societ}" has already 

 markedly raised the rent, that as lessee of other farms the co-operative 

 society has proved itself to be a stranger to speculative aims, and to care 

 for the improvement of such farms and of the condition of labourers, 

 and that therefore the lower price which the administration will receive 

 will be amply compensated for b^^ the improved state of the farm when 

 the lease falls in... the administration resolves by an unanimous vote to 

 grant the lease to the co-operative society rather than to any individual". 



Another flourishing collective farm is that of Ravadese which obtained 

 in IQ13 the lease of two holdings and " healed the wound of unemploy- 

 ment " in that it ensured continuous and remunerative work to some thirty 

 families (i). After the sacrifices of the first two years, and the expensive 

 w^orks and organization which were absolutely necessary to these two farms, 

 the society'' " is now in such an excellent position that it is sure of a pros- 

 perous and fruitful life ". 



The facts that have been given are enough to show all the importance 

 which the movement represented by the collective farms is destined to 

 acquire in the province of Parma. 



* 

 * * 



4. AN IMPORTANT MEETING OF AGRICUI^TURAI, CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES. 

 — La Cooperazione lialiana, Milan, No. 1269, 9 November 1917. 



On the 28th of last October there was held at Milan an important 

 meeting of representatives of all the agricultural co-operative societies and 

 of many co-operative societies of labour and consumption in the province (2) , 



(i) See the interesting pamphlet of Antonio Bizzozero,Lc afflttanze collettive per assicu- 

 rare il pane e il lavoj-o agli umili (Collective Farms for Ensuring Bread and I^abour to the 

 Poor). Unione delle Cattedre Ambulanti di Agricoltura Italiane. Opuscoli di propaganda. 

 No. I, Tip. Pelati, 191 7. 



(2) Shortly before, on 9 September, another meeting was held of co-operative consumers 

 and agricultural societies of the pro%'inces of Bari, Foggia, I^ece and Potenza, at fhelsUtuto 

 Nazionale di Credito per la Cooperazione. It was resolved, among other things, legally to cons- 

 titute a federation of co-operative consumers' societies which should have its seat at Bari and 

 should aim at acquiring the goods needed by the federated societies and giving them necessary 

 help. Where agricultural co-operative societies were concerned, the meeting dealt with the 

 relations to be established with sister societies in the north of Italy for the exchange of agri- 

 cultural produce. See in this connection La Cooperazione Agricola , Bologna, No. 2,25 Septem- 

 ber 1917. 



