372 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 



parish is invited to act on its own account, and 

 (with the guidance which London offers to give) 

 begin a little network of local activity which, 

 while regarding its own particular village as its 

 real centre of action, will stretch out until it 

 touches the similar network set up by its neigh- 

 bours, parishes thus associating with parishes, 

 and counties with counties, until a really national 

 organization can be attained as the final out- 

 come of the movement rather than the starting- 

 point. 



It is this same idea of not attempting too 

 much to begin with that has led most of the 

 agricultural co-operative associations yet formed 

 in England to adopt, so far, only the elementary 

 form of combination represented by collective 

 purchase. Collective sale is a higher standard 

 which will be duly attained when the education 

 of farmers in matters co-operative has been 

 sufficiently advanced ; but collective purchase 

 has been universally found to represent the 

 most practical and the most hopeful means of 

 making a start. It has the disadvantage of 

 raising a certain amount of opposition on the 

 part of manufacturers and traders ; but Con- 

 tinental experience shows that agricultural co- 

 operation has been a decided benefit to honest 

 manufacturers and traders. It has greatly in- 



