74 
The Middleman in Agriculture. 
hour he is on the railway. The improved methods of carrying 
meat have really made the old system obsolete, a fact which 
our foreign competitors in many cases recognise. It would be 
absurd to suggest that the practice-: — which has been tried in a 
few instances in the North — of slaughtering on the farm can 
be generally adopted, but it would certainly seem that farmers 
might by some means of combination slaughter their beasts 
nearer home, and sell them in carcass instead of “ on the hoof.” 
They would thus avoid the deterioration and waste necessarily 
incidental to a railway journey, they would know exactly how 
much dressed meat they had to sell, and the “ fifth quarter ” 
would more than pay the cost of slaughtering. 
Farmers are buyers as well as sellers, and they are interested 
therefore in reducing, if possible, the margin of profit on farm 
requisites, such as manures and feeding stuffs. A committee 
of the Central Chamber of Agriculture has just presented a 
report on the subject of Co-operation for Purchase, which is 
based on a considerable amount of evidence collected by them. 
They state that there are in the kingdom about thirty co-opera- 
tive societies for supplying farm requisites. Some of them, 
however, like the well-known Lincolnshire Association, deal 
only in one commodity, while at least half do not deal in more 
than two or three articles. The report gives brief particulars 
of a few typical associations. The following may be taken as 
representing a strictly local one of good standing : — 
South Durham and North Yorkshire Association (established 1878), head- 
quarters Darlington, has from forty to fifty members, who pay an entrance 
fee of 2d. per acre, and 2s. per ton registration fee on all manures ordered. 
Only manures are dealt in at present. The secretary sends in January to 
each member a list of manures, which is returned marked with the number 
of tons of each kind required, and the month in which it is wanted. All 
the requisitions having been scheduled, the secretary advertises for tenders 
from manufacturers, stating the quantity of each manure required, and the 
station at which it is to be delivered. 
The committee reported that they were strongly impressed, 
from the information laid before them, with the advantages which 
may accrue to farmers by the adoption of the principle of co- 
operation. With careful management the risk of failure is 
small, as is proved by the fact that, so far as they had been 
informed, no agricultural co-operative association formed for the 
purpose of purchasing farm requisites has failed. 
This fact, viz., that there is no instance on record of a 
co-operative purchasing society having failed, is very note- 
worthy. Candour compels the admission that this is by no 
means the case with regard to co-operative societies for the sale 
