RISE AND DEVELOPMENT 15 



marts, where produce or live stock was disposed of under con- 

 ditions which gave a better prospect of fair prices than 

 when the individual farmer had been left to make the best 

 terms he could with an individual dealer. 



Whether with or without these co-operative auction marts, 

 it was found that combination for sale gave better returns 

 to associated farmers who had already, as we have seen, had 

 the advantages resulting from combination for credit and 

 production. 



Supplementary Combinations. 



Once successfully established on the broad lines already 

 mentioned, the spirit of co-operation in agriculture spread 

 out in many other directions besides. 



Co-operative insurance of livestock, for instance, was 

 very widely adopted. Agricultural accidents were also 

 insured against co-operatively. In some countries insurance 

 against storms or hail was resorted to, and in most of those 

 where agricultural organisation has been established at all, 

 the societies obtain for their grouped members better terms 

 for fire insurance than could be got through an agent. 



In Roumania there are agricultural credit banks which 

 finance rural associations constituted for the special purpose 

 of enabling peasants to lease land direct from the owners 

 of large estates instead of through the middlemen who had 

 previously exploited them. 



Co-operative societies of viticulturists, also, are common 

 to most wine-producing countries on the Continent. 



Mutual Help. 



* 



Nor have the social advantages been less marked than the 

 economic. 



A new spirit is taking possession of the agricultural mind 

 wherever the organisation movement has been established. 

 A new rural democracy, inspired by fresh hopes and 

 aspirations, and with vistas of new possibilities opened 



