378 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 



be drawn from the hop-producing districts of 

 Surrey and Hampshire, where it is no unusual 

 thing for the hop growers who begin with 

 obtaining advances from the dealers to finish 

 by realizing about three-fourths of the actual 

 value of their crops. 



An agricultural co - operative association, 

 backed up by an agricultural credit bank, could 

 meet this evil by itself undertaking the sale of 

 the produce, advancing to the farmer the greater 

 part of the amount which the crop might be 

 expected to realize, and paying the balance to 

 him — less a moderate charge for expenses — 

 when the transaction had been completed. In 

 this way the grower would no longer be at the 

 mercy of the dealers, better results would be 

 obtained for the sale of individual lots, and there 

 would, also, be a greater prospect of the market 

 prices being maintained, in which case the larger 

 class of growers would benefit as well as the 

 small ones. Reference to the chapter on " Hun- 

 gary " will show how effectively the system here 

 described has been carried out in that country in 

 regard to the production and sale of wheat. 



There is no need for me to enter now upon 

 any detailed statement concerning the precise 

 lines to be followed in the formation of those 

 co-operative credit banks which would provide 



