104 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



During recent years there has been a very rapid growth of 

 co-operative societies for providing their members with elec- 

 tric light and power. , There are at present about 700 of these 

 societies. A scarcity of farm labor and the introduction of 

 different kinds of electrical farm machinery have been fac- 

 tors in a rapid increase in the number of these societies dur- 

 ing the past few years. The low cost of maintenance of 

 such machines ; the absence of expense when they are not in 

 use ; the ease and quickness of their operation ; the possibility 

 of one man's operating several machines at the same time ; 

 their freedom from fire risk, and their cleanliness, all favor 

 the use of electricity as a farm power. Its use has also 

 been found to be relatively very economical. These societies 

 are of three types, — those producing and distributing power, 

 those owning their installation but securing their electricity 

 from other sources, and those composed of groups of con- 

 sumers who guarantee the purchase of certain amounts of 

 power and thus obtain reduced rates. 



Other societies in operation are vine-growers societies, 

 beet-sugar factories, breeding societies and land purchase 

 and settlement societies. , 



An industry in Germany which assumes at least a par- 

 tially co-operative form is the distilling of denatured alcohol. 

 The distilleries are scattered through the country, about 

 4,000 in all, with a central selling depot in Berlin. The in- 

 dustry is based upon the utilization of the potato crop, nearly 

 80 per cent of all German alcohol being produced from this 

 tuber, whereby the crop is made a paying one. By concen- 

 trating 900 bushels into the original weight of 100 bushels, 

 and in this transformation using only the starch and return- 

 ing the balance of the product to the farm to be fed to stock 

 and returned again to the land, an exceedingly profitable 

 industry was created. 



All of the regulation German co-operative societies are 

 composed of at least seven persons banded together for the 

 furtherance of common business ends. These must take 

 shares and make themselves jointly and severally liable, 

 either to a fixed amount per share or to the full extent of 

 their property. The larger numl.)er of societies have organ- 



