AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATION IN IRELAND. 225 



Society to purchase its members' requirements for cash and upon the very 

 best terms, and, actually in some cases, to earn a small percentage of profit 

 on each transaction where the trade cash discount is higher than the interest 

 paid to the bank. Societies do not as yet universally appreciate the value 

 of the commercial standing which a cash system of trading will enable 

 them to acquire. Their members have been accustomed all their lives to 

 take as much credit as they could get without enquiring too closely into the 

 price which they were paying for the accommodation. Capital can now be 

 procured for business purposes at much cheaper rates than ever before, but 

 still the majority of the farmers of Ireland prefer to deal on credit. If the 

 Agricultural Societies, therefore, did nothing more than to put an end to 

 such a wasteful and extravagant system of doing business they would have 

 rendered a signal service to the agricultural industry of the country. 



One very important branch of business has been developed by the Agri- 

 cultural Societies, viz. : — the sale of bacon pigs. Arrangements have been 

 made by which Societies can now send their pigs direct to the curers, 

 receiving payment for them in accordance with quality and weight. The 

 modus operandi is to collect a sufficient number of pigs to fill one or more 

 railway trucks, each member's pig or pigs being ear-marked with a tin label 

 bearing a certain number to identify his lot. When the pigs have been 

 killed, cleaned, and cloven, a return of their weight is prepared, and cheques 

 are made out in payment for each lot at the current market prices. The 

 curers report on the returns as to the quality of the pigs when killed and, 

 of course, the price is regulated by the quality ; they point out to the Society 

 from which the pigs come the shortcomings of any particular member's lot, 

 and thus pig-feeders obtain what was never before available to them, an 

 expert opinion on the quality of the pigs they supply. This enables them 

 to correct errors in feeding, etc., and it gives to the careful feeder the 

 proper value of his pig. The curer who buys the pigs allows a commission 

 of li'. per pig to the Society, which, in the case of many Societies, has 

 provided sufficient funds to remunerate their Secretaries. On the whole 

 this system works well, for it has resulted in the members of Societies in 

 remote districts obtaining far better prices for their pigs than they ever 

 before received. There is still, however, a very great difficulty in disposing 

 of heavy pigs which are over the weight required by the curers for bacon 

 piu-poses ; these are mostly sold in Scotland at present, and at, compara- 

 tively speaking, low prices. It is hoped that Societies may take up the 

 industry of killing and curing such pigs for the use of their members and 

 thereby displace a very large quantity of the inferior American salt pork, 

 which at present finds its way into the country, and is actually bought at a 

 higher price than that realised by the sale of these heavy pigs. 



Payment being made direct by the curers to the pig-feeders in these 

 cases precludes the possibility of including the sale of pigs in the returns 

 of their trade, and it is not possible to arrive at even an approximation of 

 the extent of the business thus done, but it may be assumed that it amounts 

 to several thousands of pounds sterling. 



In a few Societies some dissatisfaction exists owing to the fact that the 

 pigs are bought on a dead-weight basis and at a price fixed absolutely by 

 the curers, and it has been suggested that pigs should be bought alive and 

 by live weight. At present the curers do not see their way to agree to this 

 system of doing business, which, however, is that which governs the far 

 larger transactions of such centres of bacon-curing in Chicago, and it is to 



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