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BELGIAN AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATIVE 

 SOCIETIES. 



In 189S a special inquiry was undertaken by the Ministry 

 of Agriculture at Brussels, with the object of ascertaining the 

 number and nature of the co-operative associations of agri- 

 culturists existing in Belgium. From the results of this 

 investigation, which have been published in the Bitlletin de 

 l* Agriculture, it appears that in 1897 there were 1,964 societies 

 organised on co-operative principles in the rural districts of 

 the kingdom. This number included 585 associations for the 

 joint purchase of seeds, manures, and implements, 199 co- 

 operative dairies, 210 apicultural societies, 132 horticultural 

 societies, 71 associations for improving the breeds of cattle, 

 436 societies for the mutual insurance of livestock, 13 co-ope- 

 rative distilleries, and 172 agricultural credit banks, exclusive 

 of 134 branches affiliated to five central banks. 



The syndicates and societies for the purchase of manures, 

 seeds, and implements are constituted in accordance with a 

 law of May 18th, 1873, relating to the formation of com- 

 mercial societies, and their operations are conducted very 

 much on the lines of the agricultural syndicates of France, 

 an account'of which was furnished in an earlier number of 

 this Journal* 



The purely co-operative societies for joint purchase differ 

 from the syndicates in one respect, for, while the former 

 merely aim at providing their members with farming 

 requisites at the lowest possible prices, the latter are also 

 commercial enterprises for selling such goods at a profit for 

 the benefit of their shareholders, who are not necessarily 

 farmers. The most important of these syndicates is that of 



* Agricultural Co-operative Societies in France (Vol. I, Part I, Page 7). 



