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the manufacturing of marketable commodities out of them, 

 wherever that is called for, in the case of small cultivators. 

 The woman carrying her basketful of eggs to market, and the 

 milkmaid trudging long distances to dispose of a diminutive 

 quantity of milk or of butter, in which cases the marketing 

 costs almost more in time and labour than the goods sold 

 will fetch, is an anachronism to-day, thanks to the help 

 which at any rate elementary Co-operation has brought. 

 However, business is to-day conducted on so large a scale that 

 the producer of fair quantities stands to profit nearly, if not 

 quite, as much by collective dealing. The larger the number 

 of cows, to stick to that point for the moment, the more 

 uniform will be the quality of milk for butter, or cheese 

 turned out. And uniformity counts for a great deal in 

 the market. Latte di vacca, pessima, latte di vacche ottima, 

 say the Italian peasants. And when you have very large 

 quantities to deal with, you can fit up an installation and 

 adopt practices adding to the value of the output which 

 are, on economic lines, beyond the power of the individual 

 farmer, even if he be a large one. One of the great benefits 

 resulting from Co-operation is, that it can surround the 

 individual farmer, who to-day, if he is to be successful, 

 wants to be a whole number of experts rolled into one — 

 farmer, live stock expert, engineer, chemist, physiologist, 

 botanist, entomologist, bacteriologist, and what not — with 

 a staff of experts, whose expert services come to him indi- 

 vidually for a song. On this point the large farmer, who 

 cannot be a master of all trades — non omnia possumus onines 

 — stands to benefit practically even more than the small 

 one. For in view of his larger operations, more depends 

 for him upon the good expert advice which the co-operative 

 society secures to him. But, to go back to our co-operative 

 dairy, you can do a good many things there, when operating 

 on a very large scale, that are quite impossible even in a 

 large private dairy. You can, for instance, keep your own 

 bacteriologist to examine and check, which nowadays helps 

 not a little in the sale. Also a large establishment means 

 a proportionally reduced staff, and therefore economy, such 

 as is well worth considering. You have the opportunity 



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