STATE AID— INDIVIDUAL EFFORT 101 



agricultural science and agricultural combina- 

 tion ; but the fact remains, all the same, that in 

 the results actually brought about the State 

 played a secondary part, the credit for what was 

 done being chiefly due to individual workers. 

 The general position will, perhaps, be better 

 understood from the following most instructive 

 account of developments in Luxemburg, as re- 

 lated by M. l'Abbe Couturiaux at a conference 

 of priests held at Seraing in September, 1900 : — 



Vast expanses of land in the Ardennes region remained 

 uncultivated, producing nothing but bracken, broom, and 

 heath. The Government, by means of numerous con- 

 ferences, had sought to spread the use of chemical 

 manures ; but the cultivators were mistrustful, and those 

 who attempted to use such manures found that they paid 

 very dear to small dealers for phosphates and nitrates 

 which were more or less falsified, and gave them an in- 

 adequate return for their outlay. 



In 1892 there were established at Ortho, in the north 

 of the province and in the German section of Luxem- 

 burg, the first leagues, or syndicates, of peasants for the 

 purchase in common of chemical manures and concentrated 

 feeding- stuffs for cattle. Experience soon showed the 

 value of such institutions. The peasants found they 

 could buy, at lower prices, products of a superior quality, 

 guaranteed by trustworthy analyses against fraud. The 

 soil began to produce abundant harvests; the cattle, 

 better nourished, improved in quality and gave a richer 

 milk. Confidence in the future revived many hitherto- 

 discouraged cultivators. 



