THE NEED FOR COMBINATION 47 



other things, the greater utilization of farming 

 products for economic as well as for food purposes, 

 and there is clearly abundant justification for all 

 that Germany has done in this direction. But in 

 the particular situation in which the German 

 agriculturists found themselves placed in their 

 time of depression, there was more to be done 

 than could be comprised in even the most 

 elaborate scheme of technical education. Science 

 could tell the farmer what it would pay him 

 best to produce, and how to secure big crops : 

 but it left him to his own resources in the way 

 of raising money, and of selling his crops to the 

 best advantage. It was in these circumstances 

 that he turned his attention to the possibilities 

 of co-operation, and soon the fact was recognized 

 that agricultural co-operation was an indispen- 

 sable sequel to agricultural instruction. Co- 

 operation has, indeed, been described by an 

 authority on the subject as "the German 

 farmer's stronghold and bulwark,'' and no one 

 who is acquainted with the facts will fail to 

 admit the aptness of the description. 



It was in the matter of finance that the adop- 

 tion of the co-operative principle assumed one 

 of the earliest and most practical of its varied 

 forms in regard to German agriculture. Falling 

 prices and other adverse circumstances had so 



