A FARMERS' FEDERATION IN WALES 307 



the first and only co-operative factory that yet 

 exists in Great Britain for the making exclu- 

 sively of Stilton cheese. It constitutes a genuine 

 attempt on the part of Leicestershire farmers to 

 combine their forces in competition with the 

 proprietary cheese factories, with a view to their 

 obtaining a better return from their raw ma- 

 terials, and they have entered into the scheme 

 with great heartiness. The Duke of Rutland 

 let them have a large building in the village, at 

 the low rental of £1G a year, for the purposes of 

 a dairy and store, and the farmers themselves 

 did all the carting of the materials required for 

 the various alterations. The cheeses that have 

 been made have sold well, and the society pro- 

 mises to be a success. 



Wales must, perhaps, be regarded as having 

 shot ahead of England, for while the latter 

 country has at present only local co-operative 

 societies, affiliated to the central organization in 

 London, the former has now a " Welsh Farmers' 

 Federation " of agricultural co-operative socie- 

 ties. The main purpose of this federation is to 

 bulk the orders for farmers' necessaries collected 

 by the individual societies. Of these there were 

 20 at the end of 1903, the membership being 

 about 3,000. With one exception, the whole of 

 the Welsh societies are co-operative trading 



