290 ENGLAND AND WALES 



on co-operative lines), had become an absolute 

 necessity if the countries concerned were to 

 hold their own amid the rivalries of the nations. 



What we are here concerned in, therefore, 

 is to see the extent to which this second 

 stage has been reached in England, and the 

 conclusion forced upon one is that, so far as 

 our own country is concerned, agricultural co- 

 operation in any approach to a widespread and 

 practical system is still absolutely in its infancy. 

 Leaving out of account certain associations 

 which are really commercial in their working, 

 the Aspatria (Cumberland) Agricultural Co- 

 operative Society, established in 1869, and still 

 in active operation, was one of the earliest 

 representatives in England (if not actually the 

 first) of what may be called the " Continental " 

 type ; but though a few others may also have 

 been formed, all these must be regarded as 

 isolated efforts rather than as constituting any 

 approach, in even the most modest way, to a 

 national movement in favour of co-operative, as 

 against purely joint stock, combinations. 



It was the National Agricultural Union, with 

 which the late Lord Winchilsea was associated, 

 that constituted the first real effort to organize 

 British agriculturists on a national basis ; and it 

 was the British Produce Supply Association, 



