425 



Miscellaneous. 



A third function which roots sometimes have to perform is the storing 

 up of reserve food materials. Very often a large quantity of these has to be 

 stored, in which cases the root has to swell out to hold them, and we get 

 such modified forms of root as those of the carrot or turnip, dandelion, and 

 many other plants, in which the root is technically said to be tuberous. 



In a great many plants the roots that are first developed from the 

 seed (the true roots) do not remain throughout life the only roots that the 

 plant possesses, but it developes others from the stem which are called adventitious 

 roots. Almost all plants that have creeping stems do this to a greater or less 

 extent (PL 1). Yet another type of root is the parasitic root, such as may be 

 seen in the many species of Loranthus or mistletoe (Pilila, Sinh. ; Kuruvichchai, 

 Tarn.) that attack the trees in this country. These bore their way into the 

 stem of the plant on which the parasite is living (PI. 1). 



(To be continued.) 



AGRICULTURAL CREDIT IN GERMANY. 

 The spread of co-operative ideas in Germany during recent years has been 

 very marked, and nowhere, perhaps, have they been received with more favour 

 than in the agricultural world. In 1888 there were 4,821 co-operative societies 

 of all kinds, ten years later this number had increased to 16,069, while, according 

 to the Statistisches Jahrbuch, they numbered 23,221 on 1st January, 1905, with a 

 membership of 3,409,871. These included 14,272 co-operative credit societies with 

 a membership of 1,901,000, 1,595 societies for the purchase of agricultural requisites, 

 3,062 societies for the manufacture of dairy and other products, 682 other agri- 

 cultural societies, while the remainder were industrial and other societies not 

 distinctively agricultural. 



Credit societies, it will be seen, represent the most popular form of co-operation, 

 and account for 61 per cent, of the societies and 56 per cent, of the total membership. 



Some part of the success which has attended their formation in Germany 

 may be attributed to the financial support obtained by the formation of central 

 banks, devoting themselves more or less exclusively to co-operative business. 



The development in this direction, which has not previously been dealt 

 with in this Journal, possesses many features of interest. 



There are two classes into which the credit banks may broadly be divided ; 

 those founded on Schulze-Delitzsch system and those based on the Raiffeisen 

 principle. The difference between them has been frequently explained, and it will 

 be sufficient here to indicate the distinction somewhat briefly. 



Schulze-Delitzsch Banks.— The Schulze-Delitzsch Credit Societies were 

 designed by their founder, after whom they are named, mainly for the benefit of 

 mechanics and small tradesmen. They grant loans on promissory notes and bills 

 for short periods of from three to nine months, and at the same time encourage 

 their members to deposit their savings with the Society. At the time of their 

 foundation they rested on the principle of unlimited liability, but in later years 

 limited liability was also introduced, especially as their accumulations of capital 

 increased. Unlimited liability and self-help were, however, declared by Schulze 

 in 1858 to be the only principles justifiable in economy, and, moreover, " particularly 

 suitable to the character and manners of our people." As a matter of fact the 

 collective liability of the members to the extent of their whole means was at that 

 time the only system recognised by the law, but by an Act passed in 1889, the 

 limited liability of members was admitted. A new form of unlimited liability, by 

 which the member's risk was rendered more remote, was also introduced, but has 

 been but little adopted. 



