308 ENGLAND AND WALES 



organizations. The movement is taking strong 

 hold among the Welsh farmers, who are begin- 

 ning to realize the need there is for them to 

 study the business aspects of their industry. A 

 special feature of the campaign in Wales is that 

 the opening of a store by each society, under 

 the charge of a manager, is found essential to 

 success ; while as the societies get firmly estab- 

 lished they develop other lines of usefulness, 

 among them being the improvement of live- 

 stock, the disposal of members' produce, the 

 acquiring of weighbridges, etc. 



Among the most successful of the Welsh 

 societies is the one formed in the Vale of Tivy, 

 West Cardiganshire. This society increased its 

 turn-over from £700 in 1901 to £6,000 in 1902, 

 when the balance-sheet showed that, after pay- 

 ing all expenses, and after having already en- 

 abled the members to share in the profits, there 

 was a surplus of £300 over and above the capital 

 originally invested. The membership of the 

 society is about 600, mostly " small " people, 

 whose individual purchases of maize, meal, bran, 

 etc., nevertheless swell in a surprising degree the 

 sum total of the business done. In 1902 the 

 society grouped the Christmas poultry of its 

 members, and disposed of it at a good figure, 

 breaking up an old " goose fair ring," which had 



