27 



CO-OPERATION IN THE PURCHASE AND TESTING 

 OF MANURES AND FEEDING STUFFS. 



Probably the two principal considerations which frequently 

 deter purchasers of fertilisers and feeding stuffs from having 

 samples analysed are expense and a desire not to offend the 

 seller. When small quantities of these articles are purchased 

 the fees for analysing each lot may amount to a considerable 

 proportion of the total cost of the goods. And the strong per- 

 sonal element which enters into the transactions of merchants 

 and farmers, who have maintained for a long series of years 

 business relations which were perhaps established by their 

 fathers and grandfathers, often makes it a difficult and delicate 

 matter for the buyer to do anything which would, however 

 remotely, suggest want of confidence in the seller. But these 

 considerations practically disappear in cases where co-operation 

 for the purchase and testing of manures and feeding stuffs comes 

 into existence. Expense is then reduced to a minimum, because 

 the analysis of one sample is sufficient to test the purchases of 

 all those who have obtained the same article from the same source 

 at the same time. There are in England and Scotland at the 

 present time about fifty or sixty associations which are in some 

 degree co-operative, and which concern themselves with the pur- 

 chase or testing of manures and feeding stuffs. It is not proposed 

 to describe any of the larger societies, such as the Western 

 Counties Agricultural Co-operative Association, the Lincoln- 

 shire Farmers' Association, and the Farmers' Supply Association 

 of Scotland. Such societies, owing to the extent of their opera- 

 tions, and the consequent complication of their organisation, do 

 not afford such clear examples of co-operative work as are fur- 

 nished by some of the smaller societies. And some of the larger 

 societies are, to some extent, trading associations, working partly 

 with a view to the profit of shareholders. 



Of the smaller societies no two seem to be exactly alike in 



