EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 95 



amount of trouble, and also to considerable expense, the 

 result of their efforts in this particular direction was little 

 better than a complete failure. 



British Produce Supply Association. 



In the meantime, Lord Winchilsea had matured his plans 

 for a British Produce Supply Association which, formed 

 under the auspices of the National Agricultural Union, and 

 registered in March, 1896, was looked upon by the more 

 sanguine of its supporters as likely to lead to a " new era " 

 for the British farmer. 



The objects of the Association were thus explained by 

 Lord Winchilsea in an article entitled " Co-operation for 

 Farmers," published in the" British Producers' Handbook ": — 



The object of the Association is to assist the producer in the 

 disposal of his produce at every stage from the farm to the 

 market. This it proposes to do in the following ways : — 



1. By establishing depots for the direct sale of agricultural 

 produce, and by selling also, on commission, through salesmen of 

 its own stationed in London and in the principal provincial 

 markets. By this means the farmer, instead of being obliged to 

 consign his produce to salesmen of whom he often knows little, 

 and whose returns he has no means of checking, can send it to an 

 Association established in his own interest, and thus have a 

 satisfactory guarantee that it makes all that it is worth. 



2. By establishing from time to time depots at convenient 

 centres in country districts, where produce can be collected and 

 consigned to whatever market furnishes the best demand at the 

 moment. This arrangement will, it is hoped, in due course 

 enable the Association to obtain from railway companies the 

 same rates for the carriage of home produce which are now 

 granted almost exclusively to foreigners. 



3. By establishing, in connection with one or more of the depots 

 according to the nature of the district, an abattoir or a butter 

 factory, which will answer the double purpose of effecting a 

 further and important economy in the treatment of meat or 

 butter produced in the locality, and of serving as models for the 

 imitation of associations of farmers in other parts of the country 

 which might desire to follow in the footsteps of the parent Society, 

 and, while erecting their own abattoir or butter factory, as the 

 case may be, to avail themselves of its services for the ultimate 

 disposal of their produce in the market. 



4. It aims at gradually organising a better system for the 

 collection of produce in rural districts surrounding the depots, a 



