1026 



Friskney Credit Society. [march, 



the case of some of the experiments, an examination of the 

 results makes it appear probable that the soil originally con- 

 tained sufficient potash to meet the requirements of the crop 

 grown. 



It is not intended, however, to discuss the experiments in 

 detail, but to call attention to the importance of "avail- 

 ability." At the present time certain new substances are being 

 offered as potash manures, and in such cases intending pur- 

 chasers would do well to obtain an analysis showing the pro- 

 portion of potash soluble in water. For purposes of com- 

 parison, it may be remembered that kainit usually contains 

 about 12 per cent, of potash soluble in water. 



Friskney is a large rural parish in Lincolnshire, on the shore 

 of the Wash, between Boston and Skegness. Its area is 



about 7,000 acres, and its population 

 Friskney about 1,300, not at all closely packed 



Credit Society. together. Some of the land is fairly 



high-lying and dry, but much has been 

 reclaimed from the fens on the one hand, and from the sea 

 on the other. Much of it is of good quality, commanding 

 rents up to £2 10s. or even £^ per acre. There are 121 

 small holdings of from 1 to 50 acres, besides 75 acres held 

 in plots of an acre or less, generally in long, very narrow 

 strips. Among the most paying crops are potatoes; cabbage, 

 celery and mustard : early potatoes, which come into the 

 market after the Jersey supply, sometimes fetch £2$ or £30 

 per acre. Agriculture as practised by small occupiers is a 

 prosperous business in this neighbourhood, and it is said 

 that all dues and rates are punctually paid, and that it is 

 seldom that a labourer is out of work. 



Such a parish, with so many small agriculturists, some of 

 whom own their holdings, is a suitable place for a Co-operative 

 Credit Society; and owing mainly to the influence of Mr. 

 Woodhead, J. P., who himself owns and works a moderately- 

 sized farm in the parish, and of Mr. Robinson, the school- 

 master, such a Society was started in 1903, with the help of 

 the Co-operative Banks Association, which has since been 

 absorbed in the Agricultural Organisation Society. The 



