224 AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATION IN IRELAND. 



The number, membership, and trade of the Agricultural Societies in 1900, 

 _ . ,, , as compared with 1809, is shown in the appended 



Agricultural statement :- 



Societies. 



Number. Membership. Trade. 



On 31st Dec, 1900 - 106 11,961 £j/[,2Q2 



On 31st Dec, 1899 - 104 11,606 68,217 



Increase, - 2 355 ^^5.985 



They are distributed among the four provinces thus : — Leinster, 26 ; 

 Munster, 17; Ulster, 9; and Connaught, 54. 



The two developments of their business which call for special notice are 

 the improvement of live stock, and the establishment of " experimental 

 plots." 



Hitherto far too little importance has been attached by our Societies to 

 the improvement of live stock, and it has been left almost entirely to indi- 

 viduals to breed and maintain pure-bred herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, 

 a most costly undertaking, and one quite beyond the means of the average 

 farmer. The Royal Dublin Society has rendered a signal service to the 

 country in this direction, but we believe that in future by doing this work 

 in conjunction with the Agricultural Societies its value to Irish farmers will 

 be greatly enhanced. Without any external assistance the Societies have 

 in many cases enabled small farmers to provide themselves at a moderate 

 cost with pure-bred bulls, boars, rams, and even stalHons, and this most 

 valuable work is being now undertaken by Societies in the very poorest parts 

 of the country where improvement was needed most. It is quite impossible 

 to estimate the extent to which the hve stock of the Irish farmer may be 

 capable of improvement through the judicious introductions of strains suited 

 to the conditions of each district. The improvement of stock is a branch of 

 the farmers' business which can be well and economically effected by co- 

 operation, but, like the Agricultural Banks, the good results will not all at 

 once be noticeable, and cannot be expressed in pounds, shillings, and pence. 

 The Department of Agriculture will make the improvement of live stock 

 part of its programme, and it will find no more valuable auxiliary in this 

 work than Societies, whose members know what they want, and whose 

 business training, and methods of self-help will enable them to show far 

 better results from a small but judicious expenditure than could possibly be 

 expected from a much larger outlay upon an unorganised community. 



In their initial stages our Agricultural Societies naturally find it somewhat 

 difficult to obtain the accommodation which they require in their business 

 from the existing Banking institutions in the country but as the true char- 

 acter of these Societies becomes more manifest this difficulty tends to 

 disappear, as it has invariably done in other countries. Societies, therefore, 

 are forced to obtain such accommodation on the joint and several security 

 of the members of their Committees at current bank rates, to enable them 

 to give their members the credit to which they have been accustomed in the 

 past. Short of a rigid cash basis, this is decidedly the best plan for an 

 Agricultural Society to adopt in financing its business. The loan is in the 

 form of an over-draft, and interest is, of course, only paid upon what is 

 actually due to the bank for the time being. This arrangement enables a 



