EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS 35 



1909 was 1,093, and their membership was 71,395. The 

 185 horticultural societies, with a membership of 29,000, 

 complete their organisation with a series of regional federa- 

 tions, which, in turn, select delegates to a National 

 Committee for the progress of horticulture. 



Societies for the purchase of seeds, manures, foodstuffs 

 and machinery (including the purchase sections of the 

 cornices and leagues) number 1,123, with a membership of 

 70,208. Their purchases in 1909 amounted to nearly 

 £718,000. 



Of co-operative dairies in actual working in Belgium in 

 1909 there were 521. These had 56,805 members, possessing 

 162,000 cows, and the total sales for the year amounted to 

 £1,523,316. It was, however, reported in connection with 

 a National Dairy Congress held at Brussels in 1911 that the 

 general condition of the co-operative dairies in Belgium 

 was not satisfactory. For four or five years the position 

 had remained stationary, and in many provinces there was 

 even a considerable decline. One authority at the congress, 

 M. Collard Bovy, attributed such decline to bad organisation 

 and bad management, while economically, he said, " no 

 attention had been paid in Belgium to the fact that butter- 

 making was the least remunerative part of dairying, and that 

 cheese-making and various other subsidiary industries 

 which, under the guidance of technical advisers, might be 

 developed in connection with the dairies, would be more 

 lucrative." 



Apart from dairy produce, several systems of co-operation 

 for sale have been established, though societies which do not 

 also engage in the purchase of requisites are said to be far 

 from flourishing. Among the sale societies are 73 of beet- 

 root-planters, described as " rather leagues of defence against 

 the sugar manufacturers." 



Of cattle-breeding societies there were 447 in 1909. They 

 had 18,705 members, and the number of cattle registered on 

 the books of the societies was 56,727. Goat-improvement 

 societies numbered 425, with 40,260 members, possessing 

 48,505 goats ; pig breeders had formed 19 societies, with 



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