CHAPTER VII. 



CO-OPERATION FOR THE SALE OF FARM PRODUCE. 1 



The British farmer has more critics than admirers. This, 

 perhaps, is natural, because the qualifications of the former 

 are more common than those of the latter. You cannot 

 well admire a man without knowing something about him, 

 but you can criticise him quite brilliantly without any 

 such necessity. Those who criticise the British farmer so 

 readily might at least remember that, judged by results, 

 he still holds the foremost place among the cultivators of 

 the soil and the breeders of stock in the world. He still 

 grows the heaviest crops per acre and he still produces the 

 finest animals. Even his competitors, whether in foreign 

 countries or the colonies, have for the most part acquired 

 their skill from him. 



Professor Marshall, in his " Economics of Industry," 

 observes : — 



England has learnt lessons in agriculture from many 

 countries and especially the Netherlands, but on the whole 

 she has taught far more than she has learnt, and there is now 

 no country except the Netherlands which can compare with 

 her in the amount of produce per acre of fertile land, and no 

 country in Europe which obtains nearly so high returns in 

 proportion to the labour expended in getting them. 



In view of unbiassed testimony such as this — which it 

 would be easy to support by official statistics, if necessary 

 —the British farmer might at least be spared accusations 

 of incompetence. If it be true that in certain products 

 he is to some extent beaten in his own markets, do not the 

 British manufacturer and the British mechanic lie under 

 the same reproach ? 



1 Read before the Farmers' Club, February, 1896. 



