EXPLOITING THE FARMER 167 



you do with it ?' ' Oh,' was the reply, ' I shall send 

 it to some place where they know nothing about 

 analysis.' 



In this same district I found there were dairy-farmers, 

 not members of the society in question, who were 

 spending 300 or 400 a year on cake more than they 

 paid for rent. They judged of the value of the cake by 

 the effect it had on the animals (never troubling to ask 

 for analyses, which they would not have understood), 

 and they bought through some neighbour, who knew 

 as little about analysis as they did themselves, but who 

 got a commission from the manufacturers on the orders 

 he secured. 



In regard to manures, seeds, and other things besides, 

 the victimizing of the British agriculturist has been 

 carried on quite as relentlessly as in the case of feeding- 

 stuffs. But, even when the commodities supplied are 

 thoroughly honest, it stands to reason that a group 

 of farmers, giving one big order, should be able to make 

 better terms, especially if they can deal direct with a 

 manufacturer, than if each bought separately through an 

 agent or a shopkeeper. 



It was considerations such as these, combined with 

 the lessons taught by what was being done in other 

 countries, that led to the formation, in April, 1901, of the 

 Agricultural Organization Society, the headquarters of 

 which are at Dacre House, Dacre Street, Westminster, 

 S.W. The society has since had a very sturdy fight in 

 endeavouring to overcome the prejudices of generations, 

 in seeking to convert to new ideas and new methods a 

 class of men notoriously averse to change, and in trying to 

 place British agriculture itself, so far as circumstances 

 permit, on a more thoroughly commercial and practical 

 basis. It required courage to attempt such things as 

 these, especially when others had failed before ; but the 



