174 AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATION 



Ipswich depot (conveniently situated in immediate 

 proximity to the cattle-market), while the other devotes 

 much of his time to attendance at various markets in 

 the Eastern Counties Ipswich, Saxmundham, Wood- 

 bridge, Beccles, and Norwich where he meets mem- 

 bers and transacts business with, or for, them, supple- 

 mented by visits to Mark Lane. 



Although only a few examples are to be seen at the 

 Ipswich depot, the operations in regard to purchase 

 for members embrace every possible requisite likely to 

 be wanted either by an individual farmer or in the 

 management of an estate. Thus, while a farmer can 

 buy, through the association, agricultural machinery or 

 implements, feeding-stuffs, seeds of all kinds, manures, 

 coal, binder - twine, sacks, or anything else he wants 

 (the goods being consigned to him direct from the 

 makers, or, in the case of coal, from the collieries), the 

 estate agent can procure, in the same way, forest-trees, 

 glazed pipes, bricks, hardware, paint, and so on, in 

 almost endless variety. The association has become, 

 in fact, a sort of * universal provider ' of agricultural 

 requisites, and it claims that, by purchasing in bulk, 

 by knowing where and how to get the best terms, and 

 by always paying cash, and getting cash from members 

 within twenty-eight days, it can and does supply most 

 things at a substantially cheaper rate than even ' large ' 

 farmers could purchase them for themselves, while 

 offering, also, a greater guarantee in regard to quality. 



One of the chief advantages it secures is in dealing 

 direct with manufacturers. At first (as already indi- 

 cated in connection with the Agricultural Organization 

 Society) some difficulty was experienced in this respect, 

 but certain manufacturers who would not recognise 

 the Eastern Counties Association in 1904 were keen 

 enough to get its orders in 1905. As regards the 



