THE 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF THE 



CEYLON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Vol. XXXV, COLOMBO, OCTOBER 15th, 1910. No. 



CO-OPERATION. 



By co-operation in Agriculture, whether 

 in supply of money, supply of seeds, 

 implements, or manures, or in sale of 

 produce, a vast economy is brought 

 about, and as we have on many occa- 

 sions pointed out, the small man, by this 

 means, and by this alone, is brought to 

 a stage where he can compete upon 

 equal terms with the capitalist. His 

 loss in the extra proportionate labour 

 required to bring his produce into the 

 hands of the co-operative sale agency, or 

 to take material away from the co-oper- 

 ative purchase agency, is more than 

 made up, among people of the same race, 

 by the greater efficiency of his labour 

 than that of the hired workers on the 

 large place. So much is this the case, 

 that it is beginning to look as if the 

 capitalist agriculture, now so pro- 

 nounced in the North, may be only a 

 phase, and that ultimately the victory 

 will be to the small holder. But to win 

 this victory, or even to hold his own 

 against the capitalist, the small man 

 must either combine — as he has done in 

 Denmark or Italy— or remain outside the 

 general progress of the world, and be 

 practically self-sufficient, like a large 

 part of the natives of Ceylon. 



The countries in Europe in which co- 

 operation in agricultural matters is 

 most fully carried out are perhaps 



Denmark, Italy, Germany and Prance. 

 In Ireland, the movement, thanks to 

 Sir Horace Plunkett, is having great 

 success ; in England it is now coming in 

 rapidly, and even in Scotland is begin- 

 ning. The British farmer, after a period 

 of outcry against the railways for not 

 giving him the same rate of freight 

 upon a casual box of eggs as they give 

 to^the Danish Co-operative Associations 

 that fill whole trains regularly with 

 butter or eggs, is now realising that it is 

 in co-operation that his salvation lies. 



If the ordinary villager of Ceylon is to 

 progress in agriculture, he must at the 

 same time adopt co-operation, or he will 

 simply become the prey of the money- 

 lender and the dealer, and will be help- 

 less against the competition of the capi- 

 talist. The question is in what way best 

 to bring home co-operation to him. 

 Amateur Societies are at work in 

 various parts of the island, the most 

 successful being that in Dumbara. The 

 success of this Society, small though it 

 is as yet, shows the way in which such 

 institutions must be worked up, for it i9 

 entirely due to the two or three men at 

 the head of it, These societies, which 

 have had energetic organisers, have 

 succeeded so long as these men have 

 been with them, and collapsed when they 

 left. An energetic head or secretary i9 

 required to work up a co-operative 



