270 IRELAND 



To get the Irish people to adopt his proposals 

 was, however, tremendously uphill work. The 

 need for action was evident enough, for the 

 position the Irish farmers had secured for 

 their produce on English markets was being 

 threatened by other countries which were adopt- 

 ing scientific processes that gave them an 

 immense advantage over the " miserably out-of- 

 date methods " (as Mr. Plunkett himself called 

 them) of the Irish farmers, who had, further, 

 been deprived by steam, electricity, and re- 

 frigeration of whatever advantages they once 

 commanded with regard to nearness to markets. 

 " Your very existence," he told them, " is 

 threatened by circumstances of which you have 

 little knowledge, and over which you have, at 

 present, no control." But he addressed fifty 

 meetings before he got the first co-operative 

 dairy started, and it was not until another 

 twelve months had passed that he saw the 

 second. Then success gradually became more 

 assured, so that in 1891 the creameries and 

 co-operative societies numbered 17 ; in 1892 

 there were 25; in 1893, 30; and in 1894, 33. 

 The movement had then so far progressed 

 that it could no longer be controlled by 

 individuals, and the Irish Agricultural Organ- 

 ization Society was formed, the number of 



