COMBINATION AMONG FARMERS. 107 



comprised of delegates representing each village or com- 

 mune in which not less than ten members reside. In 

 both cases the director or delegate acts, as a rule, as the 

 administrative agent for his district, and conducts the 

 necessary correspondence with the central office. The 

 syndicates derive their resources mainly from the members' 

 subscriptions, and from a small commission levied on the 

 sales and purchases effected. Some of the more fortunate 

 among them have been the recipients of gifts and legacies, 

 while others are subsidised by the conseils-generaux 

 and by the agricultural societies. Usually the subscrip- 

 tion ranges from 2s. 6d. to 55. per annum, though in a few 

 cases it is less than half the smaller sum mentioned. 

 Sometimes there is a graduated scale of subscriptions 

 arranged to meet the circumstances of the different 

 classes of members, so that a poor peasant farmer pays 

 less than his richer neighbour, while the labourer's con- 

 tribution is merely nominal. Another system has been 

 adopted by three or four associations whereby the ordi- 

 nary members' subscriptions are proportional to the area 

 of land they own or occupy, or to the amount of land tax 

 to which they are assessed. Then, too, in many syndi- 

 cates there are, in addition to the ordinary members, 

 " founders " and " honorary members/' chiefly country 

 squires, retired officers, and other local magnates, who are 

 candidates for the more prominent positions in the syndi- 

 cates, and whose subscriptions always exceed those of the 

 ordinary members. It is an almost general practice to 

 charge a small commission on the transactions under- 

 taken on behalf of the members, especially in respect to 

 the purchase of manures. This goes to defray the ex- 

 penses of analysis and distribution, and is usually fixed 

 at i per cent, or 2 per cent, on the invoice prices ; it 

 seldom exceeds 4 per cent. 



Nearly all the syndicates were originally formed for 

 the purchase of artificial manures and for the suppression 

 of fraud in the manure trade, two objects which still 



