CO-OPERATION FOR SALE OF FARM PRODUCE. 119 



There were in 1885 only thirty-nine ; now there are 

 1,500, and their total membership is estimated at 600,000. 

 The purchase of artificial manures was their first, as it 

 remains their most important, object, and it is estimated 

 that since they commenced operations the yearly con- 

 sumption of manures in France has increased from 

 60,000,000 to 120,000,000 francs, while if the value has 

 doubled, the quantity used has probably trebled, owing 

 to the fall in prices. The syndicates also buy feeding 

 stuffs and fodder very largely, and to some extent imple- 

 ments. In some cases they have undertaken co-operative 

 production and sale of produce. 



We now come to our immediate subject — co-operative 

 distribution and sale. 



It is hardly necessary to point out that the ordinary 

 methods of bringing agricultural produce from the farm 

 to the consumer are often clumsy, complicated and costly. 

 There is great waste of money and time attendant 

 upon the system — or lack of system — which prevails. 

 Generally speaking, there is a large — and sometimes an 

 extravagantly large — margin between the price realised 

 by the farmer and that paid by the consumer. In a 

 paper which appeared last year in the Journal of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society I attempted to estimate the 

 total annual revenue from the produce sold off the agri- 

 cultural land of the United Kingdom, treating it as one 

 farm, and I arrived at the following figures : — 



Crops of all kinds .... 64,000,000 



Meat, including poultry and rabbits . 74,000,000 



Horses and other live stock . . . 6,500,000 



Dairy produce, eggs, wool, etc. . . 49,000,000 



^193,000,000 



It is, of course, impossible to say with any accuracy 

 what amount is added before the produce finally reaches 

 the consumer, but I venture to guess that the cost of 



