CO-OPERATION IN EGG-FARMING 201 
As a rule a ton of middlings can be bought at least a pound 
cheaper than when purchased in ewt. lots, and what is true of this 
meal is true of all feeding-stuffs. Railway rates per ton are much 
less than in smaller lots, and thus co-operators save both in price 
and in carriage. Where « number of men are working together 
in this way there is usually one man (or more) who knows more 
about markets and prices and thus all get the benefit of the know- 
ledge of the best-informed man. Co-operation, where faithfully 
carried out, each one doing his best not only for himself but for 
his fellow-members, is usually productive of a steady progressive 
movement in the whole community. The specialist will readily 
give his advice, and the smallest man usually knows something 
that the biggest man may be ignorant of. Co-operation in goods 
and materials often leads to co-operation in ideas and invention, 
and in this way the least imaginative gets the benefit of the most 
far-seeing member of the group. . 
At the present time the egg-farmers of Britain have a unique 
opportunity for improving their position, and making it difficult, 
if not impossible, for the foreigner to invade our markets with eggs 
and poultry as he has done in the past, and it is only by intelligent 
co-operation that the best results can be obtained. 
The importation of eggs from abroad during the past thirty 
years has grown to an enormous extent, but since 1904 there has 
been a check in the quantities received. There is some ground for 
believing that this decline in foreign supplies may be more or less 
permanent, and as it has been accompanied by a rise in prices there 
is an excellent opportunity for British poultry-keepers to secure 
a larger share of the trade than has been the case hitherto. 
The fact that British payments for foreign eggs exceeded 
£9,000,000 annually shows that the egg business is not to be 
despised. 
The value of an egg is determined chiefly by its freshness, so 
that where it can be sold near the place of production it should 
command a higher price than where it has to be transported over 
long distances. Owing to this the producers in this country have 
a natural advantage over foreign exporters. In order to benefit 
