370 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 



to secure this organization, and put themselves, 

 as far as possible, on the same level of advantage 

 as their foreign competitors " ? 



The first essential in giving an answer to this 

 question has been to show the nature of the 

 various developments to which agricultural co- 

 operation abroad has led. This I have sought to 

 do in the present volume, which offers, as I think 

 I may fairly claim, an abundance of suggestive 

 facts for the consideration of would-be agricul- 

 tural reformers in this country. Happily, too, 

 the foundations of an effective system have 

 already been laid here by the representatives of 

 the Agricultural Organization Society ; and my 

 first recommendation, as the outcome of such 

 investigation as I have been able to make into 

 the general question, is that a generous degree 

 of public support should be given to this society 

 in order that its excellent work may be continued 

 on a broader basis. Any unnecessary multipli- 

 cation of independent and overlapping agencies 

 is an evil which should be avoided, and, from 

 what I have seen or learnt of foreign systems, 

 I do not think that any organization could have 

 been started on lines more practical, and better 

 adapted to meet the particular conditions of 

 our own country, than one finds represented by 

 the general policy of the society in question. 



