172 SWITZERLAND 



mercilessly to the Swiss peasant, he, with good spirit and 

 a lighter heart, and with, also, a skill at which one cannot 

 fail to wonder, applied himself to the development of a 

 great system of organized action. 



The actual pioneer of the movement was a 

 certain landowner in Raterschen (Canton Ziirich), 

 who had purchased wholesale a large supply of 

 chemical manures on such lower terms than his 

 neighbours were paying that they formed an 

 agricultural association, in 1874, in order to 

 secure similar advantages for themselves. Their 

 example was followed in other localities, and in 

 1877, at a general assembly of members of 

 agricultural societies in Zurich, Professor Dr. A. 

 Kramer strongly recommended a general resort 

 to organization for combined purchase of agricul- 

 tural necessaries, in the interest both of economy 

 and of quality. Even, however, when local 

 combinations had been formed, the prejudices 

 of the farmers made them reluctant to group 

 their orders with those of farmers in other 

 districts, and it was only in May, 1881, by the 

 active exertions of a young parish priest at 

 Elsau, in Dynhard, that the first approach to a 

 district federation of local organizations was 

 effected. From that time the general move- 

 ment spread with great activity, and in 1887 

 there followed the formation, at Winterthur, of 



