AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY AND IMPLEMENTS 1649 



machines and final!}' machines for preparing food stuffs. The largest in- 

 crease in output in 1913 was in thrashing machines. Before the war the de- 

 mands of Russian agriculture for this type could be almost completely 

 satisfied, with the exception of steam thrashing machines. The output of 

 very small works is not included in the abo^•e data, as exact figures are not 

 available, but this is very considerable throughout the Russian Kmpire. 

 II. -- The co-operative supply of farm machinery in Russia is 

 assuming some importance. .Actually, of a total value (£ 13 000 000) of 

 machines sold on the Riissian market in 1914, 10.8 per cent, or £ i 502 000 

 represents purchases made by members of credit associations or by their 

 district societies. 



The developmetit of the co-operative sup])ly of agricidtural machi- 

 nery by members of such organisations can h-^ realised from the following 

 figures: in 1912 i 638 co-operators bought goods value £ 677 000; in 191 3 

 their niunber rose to 2 457 and value of their purchases to £ i on 000; 

 in 1914 their number was 3 000, or 20 per cent of the total number (15 000) 

 of co-operators in Russia at that time. 



A good proportion of these co-operators are combined in district 

 societies. Ele\-en of the latter included 723 co-operators, or 24.1 per cent of 

 those dealing in agricultural machinery. The total purchases made by the 

 II societies in IQ14 reached £ lO-j 000, or 7 per cent of the total co-oper- 

 ative supply. The majority of the societies belong to Southern Russia and 

 the value of the purchases made by each of them ranges from a minimum 

 of £ 2 120 (Ekaterinslaw S(X;iety) to a maxinmm of £ 32 000 (Ektarin- 

 bourg societ}-). In spite of the large differences in their piuchases, there is 

 a common side to the societies' activities which should not be overlooked. 

 The co-operative supply of machinery is not limited merely to acting as 

 middleman between the manufacturer and the farmer, but is closely re- 

 lated to the improvement of agriculture in the district and consequently 

 is co-ordinated to its needs. For example, almost half the societies have 

 agricultural experts in their service or special adviser who regularly work 

 for them. The greatest activity has been displayed b}' the Kouban society 

 which has its own st iff comprising: 6 agriculturalists, a special expert to 

 the society and advisers in special branv_'hes. 



The co-operative societies are not satisfied with dealing only, which 

 does not toiich the problem of providing th.e population with agricultural 

 machines^ and accordingly they have embarked on co-operative manufac- 

 ture. An interesting example of this movement is found in the venture of 

 the Melitopol society which has put up a factory for niaking winnowing 

 machines with an actual output of 100 > per annum. As this venture proved 

 vejv successful, the directors of tlie Melitopol society decided last year to 

 start the co-operative manufaci-ure of other agricultural machines. The 

 Ekaterinbourg society has also shown much energy in the construction of 

 its factory: the initiative of this organisation has been favourably received 

 by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Imperial Dinna and the Zemstvos. The 

 idea of forming co-o]^ertive factories for agricultvind machines is under 

 consideration in other societies, and if the latter succeed in combining 



