692 Notes on Agriculture Abroad. [now, 



An account of the activity of these associations in Russia generally 

 was given in this Journal for November, 1910, p. 680. 



Agricultural Co-operation in Germany. — The following account of the 

 growth and present position of agricultural co-operative societies in 

 Germany is given in the Report of H.M. Consul-General, Sir Francis 

 Oppenheimer, on the trade and industries of Germany in 1910 (F.O. 

 Reports, Annual Series, No. 4773.) 



The co-operative society movement was in Germany originally an 

 almost exclusively industrial one, and limited to the towns. Separate 

 agricultural organisations did not exist, and in so far as agriculturists 

 resorted to co-operative organisation for satisfying their need for credit 

 they joined the societies in the towns. These had been well received, 

 and spread rapidly under the energetic leadership of Dr. Schultze, of 

 Delitzsch. The scheme adopted was, broadly speaking, the British 

 co-operative system. Not till the 'sixties of the last century were the 

 first beginnings of a purely agricultural co-operative system evolved, 

 the object of which was not only the granting of credit, but also the 

 purchase of goods. This movement assumed larger proportions only 

 from about 1890 onwards, and then developed with exceptional rapidity. 

 It was the period in which German agriculture commenced a more 

 energetic political activity generally and when agricultural interests 

 became prominent in all questions. According to expert estimates there 

 existed at the end of 1908 about 16,500 loan associations with 2,300,000 

 members. The number of produce or trading societies at the same 

 time was 4,829, with 476,259 members; the number of the distributive 

 (store) was 2,110, with 1,131,453 members. The number of the build- 

 ing societies was 800, with 150,000 members. The total membership 

 of these societies was estimated at 4,400,000. 



As far as the purely agricultural societies are concerned, the follow- 

 ing table shows the growth in their numbers : — 





1890. 



1 goo. 



1910. 



Agricultural Loan Associations 



1,729 



9,763 



i5,5i7 



Co-operative Trading Associations ... 



537 





2,280 



Dairy Produce Associations 



639 



1,917 



3,333 



Other Associations 



101 



841 



2,715 



Total of purely Agricultural Co- 

 operative Societies 



3,006 



13,636 



23,845 



It follows that the agricultural societies have experienced their 

 greatest increase in the current century. The number of their menu j 

 bers is estimated at 2,000,000, and to every 2,600 inhabitants of the ■• 

 German Empire there is one agricultural society. The concentration of 

 German agriculture into societies, therefore, by far exceeds the same 1 

 tendency in the United Kingdom. The societies among themselves are ; 

 again grouped in federations, among which the Imperial Union of 1 

 Agricultural Societies is the largest. On June 1st, 19 10, the most | 

 prominent among the members of this Imperial Union were the credit 

 societies with 12,894 societies, of which 12,161 societies, with a mem- 



