THE FOREIGNER'S BIG LOADS 7 



in greater detail on a future occasion. But 

 while I was pursuing my inquiries in these direc- 

 tions, the cardinal fact that was always being 

 brought to my attention was that the agricul- 

 turist abroad was not a mere unit, as he is in 

 this country, but a member of a highly and 

 skilfully organized combination which could 

 not only dispose of its production in big loads, 

 but was also able to purchase its necessary sup- 

 plies in such large amounts as to secure a 

 substantial reduction alike in their cost and in 

 railway rates for their transportation. 



This fact led me to make a careful study of 

 the conditions of agriculture abroad, and to seek 

 with great minuteness for the answer to the 

 question constantly before my mind : " How is 

 it that the foreigners are able to send us such big 

 loads ? Are there any special advantages they 

 possess which might be secured by the British 

 farmer as a means of improving his own posi- 

 tion ? ' And the more I inquired the more I 

 was met by this striking fact : That in every one 

 of the countries now pouring their agricultural 

 produce into Great Britain there has been an 

 agricultural revival which has led to the spread- 

 ing throughout each of them of a more or less 

 complete network of agricultural organization, 

 manifesting itself, in varying degrees, in the 



