3 8o 



Co-operation in Holland. 



the tenant has improved by the addition of sand, brought from 

 the dunes, and by heavily manuring it with horse-dung. On 

 this holding large quantities of grapes, melons, tomatoes, 

 cucumbers, peas, beans, pears, plums, early cauliflowers, endive, 

 and strawberries are grown. The tenant works himself from 

 early morning till night, and employs five labourers, to each of 

 whom he pays 18s. a week. He keeps himself, a wife and five 

 children on the profits from the sale of his produce, but his out- 

 goings for rent, labour, and manure are so heavy that the 

 standard of living of the family is necessarily a low one. 



To men in this position it is important that their produce 

 should be sold to the best advantage, and to secure this result 

 it is recognised that the quality of the articles produced should 

 be maintained at a high level, and that the middleman should be 

 as far as possible eliminated. It is with these objects in view 

 that the Dutch market gardeners have combined for the joint 

 sale of their produce, through the agency of co-operative associa- 

 tions, of which the Westland Society is one of the most 

 successful. 



The object of the Westland Society, as set forth in its 

 printed rules, is to promote the sale of market garden produce 

 of the Westland by supervising the quality, quantity and packing 

 of the produce, by holding auction sales, by exporting goods of 

 first-rate quality to foreign markets in order to direct attention 

 to the character of Westland market garden produce, by im- 

 proving the systems of cultivation, and by taking any steps 

 which will further the disposal of the crops. 



The society has a registered trade mark in the form of a blue 

 diagonal label, which each member is allowed to affix to the 

 produce he brings to the auction ; provided that the goods have 

 been previously passed by the Committee, whose duty it is to 

 see that they are properly packed, that the contents of the 

 packages, bags, or baskets agree with the weight stated on the 

 label, and that the articles are sound and of good quality 

 throughout. 



The Westland Society consists of a federation of seven branches, 

 five of which have erected their own auction halls with 

 borrowed capital, while in two cases the auctions are held in 

 hired buildings. Sales are held every night in summer, three 



