i86 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION 



C. EGGS AND POULTRY. 



An early effort to bring about better conditions in the egg 

 and poultry industry in Great Britain was begun in 1898 by 

 the National Poultry Organisation Society. The would-be 

 organisers of that date, however, started without much 

 experience and with the disadvantage of having to encounter 

 considerable prejudice. Nor, at first, did the society operate 

 on purely co-operative principles. 



Then, as now, there were two lines along which work 

 required to be done teaching and organisation. 



There was a great necessity for teaching in regard to 

 methods of production ; there was equal need of effective 

 organisation for sale. Farmers and small holders required 

 to be shown exactly what to produce and how to supply it ; 

 but they wanted, in turn, a guarantee that when they had 

 produced the qualities and the quantities desired they 

 would be able to market them to advantage. 



It was the second of these two functions that the National 

 Poultry Organisation Society took in hand. Educational 

 work it regarded as falling within the province of the 

 educational authorities, and notably within the schemes of 

 technical instruction undertaken by the County Councils. 



When the Agricultural Organisation Society came into 

 existence, in 1901, it naturally included the egg and poultry 

 industry within the purview of its operations. It agreed 

 with the earlier society on the point as to poultry instruction, 

 and was equally disinclined to undertake responsibilities in 

 this direction. In dealing, however, with organisation only, 

 there was the risk of the two societies overlapping. Steps 

 were taken to avoid this, and in the annual report of the 

 A. O. S. for 1903 it was said: "We are pleased to be able 

 to report that we have come to an arrangement with the 

 National Poultry Organisation Society that will prevent 

 overlapping in our respective propaganda." Where the 

 work undertaken by the A. O. S. was especially useful was in 

 the direction of inducing producers to adopt co-operative 

 methods. 



