468 



ActRICui.ture Abroad. 



[Aug., 



which are being constructed in various parts of the country 

 iare expected to give a great impetus to agriculture by assuring 

 a greater measure of security as regards irrigation. Assurance 

 of progress is also given by the increased national production 

 of chemical fertilisers and agricultural machinery, and the 

 establishment of new schools and travelling boards for the 

 education of farmers in modern methods of cultivation. Per- 

 haps the most successful branch of the co-operative movement, 

 which is extending rapidly and receives the active support of 

 the Italian Government, is agricultural co-operation in the 

 form of collective farms, established principally in the North 

 and in Sicily; these have been found in most cases to result 

 in an increase of production and of the number of persons who 

 can live on the land. 



* * * * ^ * 



At the suggestion of the Eoyal Danish Agricultural Society, 

 supported by the principal agricultural societies and the 

 . . . Department of Statistics, Professor 0. H. 



Book keepin Larsen, of the Royal Danish Veterinary 

 in Denmark Agricultural School, has established 



a Central Office of Agricultural Book- 

 keeping, of which he is head, and an article by him on the 

 subject appears in the Monthly Bulletin (March, 1920) of 

 Agricultural Intelligence issued by the International Institute 

 of Agriculture at Rome. 



One of the objects of the Central Office is the elaboration of 

 the account books kept by local societies, with whom it is 

 collaborating with a view to ensuring that only the most suit- 

 able books shall be kept. In order to obtain uniformity and 

 reliability the local accountants meet periodically at the Cen- 

 tral Office to discuss the systems on which the books are 

 kept. Another object of the Central Office is to ascertain the 

 amount of capital invested and how it is allotted among the 

 various agricultural enterprises. It also seeks to compile a 

 comprehensive budget of gross profits, working expenses, net 

 profits and interest on capital, and to show the cost of produc- 

 tion, general working expenses (including those of horses and 

 implements) , household expenses, and the revenue yielded. 



The Central Office was opened in the spring of 1916. During 

 the first two years the work was of a preparatory nature, but by 

 the year 1919-1920 collaboration with 29 societies had been 

 effected, and it was believed that the number of account books 

 requiring elaboration would be 350. The Office is under the 



