10 
The Farm, 
Union amongst French 
Farmers, 
Whex France paid promptly the enor- 
mous war indemnity demanded by Ger- 
many, who found the money? Nota few 
millionaires; not the Gevernment as a 
Government; Lut the people as a whole, 
and none furnished greater ccntributions 
than the farmers. How isthis? Travel 
through Fiarce and ycu will see vast 
areas uncer cultivation by small farmers, 
each individual holding ranging frem 3 
tciea to 6(0 ecres. Every available inch 
is cultivatcd, and every farmer puts away 
a few frercs te be invested in Goveinment 
recurities. Tle greatest oiganisation in 
_the wcrleé— the fain ers’ organisation— has 
for the past twenly years gone quietly 
end slow}y akout its wa1k, naking fresh 
sirides every year. 
Ur cer a law cf the Third Rezullic, of 
21st March, 184, the French farmer— 
eud uicer that head is incluaed the lend: 
holdcr, the cecuyier cf the Jands, and the 
egriculiurists cf every degree— is em- 
yowered to crganise societies for the 
eccucmic, industilal, con mercial, and 
agiicultural ketterment of his class. They 
ate permitfed to yosress ihe reelty neces- 
sa1y fcr thei) meetings, ibiary end lecture 
Iccms, to e:teblich bkarhs*:mceng their 
membeis, to prcvide yensions for the 
aged, relief funds for the sick and needy, 
and to cyen cflices for the unemployed, 
They are emycwered to oj ganice tribunals 
fcr the settlen cnt of a]l ccntentions be- 
tween worknen cr Letween worknen and 
employers. 
Uncer this law farmers ard persons 
having to do with either the growing or 
disposing of faim picducis have combined 
to the number of 8,501,695, and are com- 
prehended in 7,089 societies, These are 
the figures for Ist January, 1900- 
The farmcrs’ sccieties combine and 
organise in a larger bedy, called a union, 
of which there are ten in France now— 
the Nozthern Union, headquarters in 
Boulogne; the Normandy Union at Caen ; 
the Breton Agricultural Unicn, Rennes ; 
the Western Union, Angers; the Bur- 
gundy Union, Dijon; the Alpine and 
Provence Union, Marseilles; the South- 
western, Bordeaux; the South-eastern, 
Lyons; and the Union de Midi, Toulouse. 
Over these is a central body in Paris, to 
which all unions report, and which repre- 
senis their interests in the French legis- 
lative body and in the more important 
matters of business, ‘ 
The societies are each divided into a 
number of subordinate groups. The 
departmental or county union is divided 
into syndicates, these into cantonal or 
township unions, and these once again into 
communal or neighborhcod syndicates, 
Ficm the highest to the lowest political 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
unit they are all interlinked, harmonious, 
"and independent. 
As to the advantages of this vast organi- 
sation, they are summed up :—The buying 
by wholesale of fertilisers and farm imple- 
ments, doing away with all middlemen ; 
the securing of cheap transportation of 
all the products at one time. thus reaching 
the most. desirable maikets in the best 
time. As to his profit, it is obvious. 
With the competition destroyed, the 
poorest farmer is on the same footing as 
the richest. The prices are never cut. 
The scciety always sees to that. 
In regard to specific instances where the 
union lis 1eceived kencfit, it may be 
mentioned that the sy udicates of Brittany 
and Notmendy control the butier market 
cf Patis. Its trains, starting from the 
rmallest of hamlets, rapidly and expedi- 
ticusly collect the butter, and get it ito 
Puris «t small cost. The experience of 
the apricot-growcrs of Roquevaire ind 
Lescours is another. In former ycars 
the sale of their cutput hardly paid 
expenses. Since the union it hes flour- 
ished. The harvests are all brcught toa 
place wgrecd upon, and a sales’ agent takes 
charge cf them. Children employed by 
the syndicates remove the stones from 
the fruit, which sell frem 4s. 94d. to 
7s. 11d. per 22046 1b, The stones last 
year weighed 65,000 lb., and were picked 
Ly 150 women and children. 
The fruit is whitened and packed in 
heimetically sealed cans for shipment to 
Belgium, Holland, England, the United 
Stites. and Scuth Africa, The cutput 
frcm the cne con munity last year reached 
1,000,(CO lb. It contro!l'cd the market, 
and prices were secured which brought a 
profit {0 everyone. 
In cuery departn ent of agriculture the 
result is the same, The faimer is rapidly 
taking charge cf the maiket, and making 
terms which prove profitable. No one 
cuiside a syndicate can compete, because 
the society has all the advantage. He 
purchases his supplies cheaper, and in 
every way out-distances his rival. This 
is, of course, known to the farming class 
as a whole. Six hundred and fifty-six 
more syndicates were organised in 1900 
than in 1899. The number of new ones 
last 3 ear approximated 1,000. 
It will be only a question of a few years 
when every farmer and farm employee of 
the | epublic will be a member of the 
trust. There will be none to compete 
with him, He will have a monopoly more 
complete than any other in the world. 
Locksmith. Ete. 
GEBHARDT (August J. Gebhardt) 
e Locksmith, Gunsmith and Machi- 
nist, Grenfell Street (Rear of No. 70, 
right opposite Bible House) Adelaide. 
Repairs to Garden Tools and Implements 
a speciality, Keys fitted to any lock or 
any given sample. : : 
Cctober 2, 1907 — 
Humus in the Soil. 
The meaning of the word “ humus” is: 
decayed vegetable matter. Agricultural 
chemistry calls it organic matter. Soil 
is composed of two principal elements— 
mineral matter and humus. We have all 
noticed how readily newly cleared forest 
or prairie ground responds to a crop. 
This is because the land is rich in humus. 
After a time, because of constant crop- 
ping, ihe humus is worn out of the soil 
and it becomes barren in a measure, and 
particularly it fails to grow a crop in a 
drouth. The farmer has gone along year 
after year, taking off crops, and he has 
not resupplied the soil with decayed vege- 
table matter or humus. 
One very importent function of humus 
is to act bke a sponge and hold moisture. 
To illustrate :—Take atin panand punch 
the bottom full of holes, then fill it with 
coarse sand and turn cn a quart of water, 
Jt will be seen that a large portion of the 
water runs readily through the sand and 
outcfthe pan, Turn out the sand and 
fill the pan with dry muck, which is do 
cayed vegetable matter. Turn on a quart 
of water, and but little of it ill run 
through. As we said, the muck or humus 
holds the moisture like a sponge. ; 
The Adelaide Show, 
The Rryal Agricultural, Horticultural, 
and Floricultaral Society’s Show is known 
everywhere as the Adelaide,1un by Mr 
Creswell. Talking generally the show and 
Creswell are one and the same thing, and 
what a hnge concern it has grown into, 
Every year the show is extended, always 
worrying the Government for more space, 
and while they have the finest show 
grounds possible, the people get jammed 
in thousands, because there never is 
enough room for them. You hear some 
say, O, you see one show and they are all 
alike. Of course they are all alike because 
they are all shows. Trees are trees and 
they are more or less alike because they 
are trees but there is an infinite variety 
in them, if you know anything about them. 
The same with shows, the more you know 
about them the more interesting aud 
instructive they are. 
The last Adelaide September show was 
a great suec.ss, thanks to that wonderful 
organiser, the secretary. Every depart- 
ment was well represented and well pro- 
vided for, and the man or woman who 
adversely criticised either the managment 
or the exhibits, would do well to stop 
away and not spoil the admiration of the 
thousands of their fellows who are out to 
enjoy themselves. 
In these days of enlightenment in stock 
matters, no man is justified in keeping 
any but a pure-bred sire. If he has little 
use for him, the fact that he is raieing 
the quality of his whole herd is sufficient 
reason for keping him, - fh Fe 
