EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. in 



teachings of science left off, and the economies effected in 

 the joint purchase of agricultural necessaries by a group of 

 producers in Worcestershire or elsewhere ; the better control 

 they got of the market ; the obvious superiority of properly- 

 gathered and properly-graded consignments on a larger 

 scale ; the realising of better prices from sales — these and 

 other advantages, steadily increasing in range and extent 

 as the work underwent still further development, were 

 object-lessons in agricultural combination which could not 

 fail to produce a good effect even where the aforesaid earlier 

 efforts had failed ; while the policy followed by the founders 

 of the movement was to establish small local societies, and 

 allow these to form the real basis of an organisation eventu- 

 ally to assume national proportions, rather than to work 

 in the opposite direction by starting a national movement 

 first and the local societies last. 



In 1904 the Society enlarged the scope of its operations by 

 absorbing the Co-operative Banks Association, and in 1909 

 came the taking over of the organisation work of the National 

 Poultry Organisation Society, concerning which more will be 

 said in the section dealing with " Eggs and Poultry." 



Joint Boards. 



Down to 1908 the agricultural co-operative movement 

 was operated on independent lines by the central societies 

 of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland respectively ; 

 but a conference held in Dublin on June 12 in that year by 

 representatives of the three bodies decided, in the words of 

 a pamphlet subsequently issued by Sir Horace Plunkett, 

 " that some permanent machinery should be established 

 whereby mutual consultation in matters relating to organisa- 

 tion, and united action in matters relating to trade, could 

 be resorted to whenever the work of organising the farmers 

 of these islands seemed likely to be furthered thereby." To 

 this end there were appointed two boards, the one a Joint 

 Board for Agricultural Organisation, and the other a Joint 

 Board for Agricultural Co-operative Trade. The former 



