8 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION 



on behalf of the associated farmers through the instru- 

 mentality of the rural or agricultural bank, which was thus 

 not only to provide the cultivator with credit, and so keep 

 him out of the hands of the usurer, but also to enable him 

 to lay out his money to the best advantage. 



These arrangements, applied in the first instance mainly 

 to fertilisers, were afterwards extended to the improved 

 machinery and the concentrated feeding stuffs which 

 agricultural science had likewise introduced in the interest 

 of better production. 



Co-operative Purchase. 



Meanwhile the great increase in the demand for all these 

 things had led the industrial and commercial interests 

 concerned in their supply to form " trusts," " rings," or 

 " syndicates," with a view both to controlling the output 

 and to keeping up the prices. So there came still further 

 need for the farmers to combine in self-defence. 



Special societies for joint purchase now began to be 

 formed, as distinct from what the rural banks had been 

 doing, and in course of time the new societies joined together 

 in federations which were in a better position to deal direct 

 with manufacturers and to obtain lower terms for their 

 affiliated societies by purchasing large quantities, and by 

 saving intermediate profits, while they could also arrange 

 for trustworthy analyses, and thus obtain a guarantee of 

 quality. 



All these things helped even the small producer both to 

 face the changes that science had introduced into production 

 and to put his business of agriculture on a better business 

 footing. 



Foreign Wheat. 



The forcing on the producer of these various measures 

 became still more pronounced under the conditions leading 

 to the agricultural crisis which began to affect Europe in 

 general when the newer countries were able to send, at low 



