q 
170 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Maz., 1900. | 
Country. No. Description and Objects. 
Belgium tm eat vs 50 | Agricultural societies for direct purchasing of seeds Ba | 
supplies, beside several hundreds of creameries *” 
distributing societies | 
Denmark ax os _ 600 | Distributive societies cote 
DYER ay rir ay: 1,000 | Farmers’ co-operative associations, chiefly butter, bae™ | 
and dairy products 4 
Sweden ae a. uot 300 | Creameries 
Italy... at: si Bs 500 | Distributive associations 4 
Ditto aS a4 Nie 1,000 | Creameries for butter and cheesemaking at 
A large number of farmers’ associations for finan@™ 
and other assistance s| 
Switzerland ... fee es 200 | Distributive societies 
Ditto bs a a 400 | Workers’ associations of all kinds ‘ o 
Spain ... ich as fe 50 | Agricultural societies for co-operative purchasing ined | 
Austria and Hungary ah) 1,200 | Distributive and agricultural societies for comp” | 
purchasing, sales, &c. Jorge 
Canada ire ae i 2,500 | Co-operative cheese and butter factories; also °*? | 
number of agricultural and distributive societies tet 
INTERNETS ag ee, 500 | Co-operative associations chiefly for cheese and bull 
with only a few distributive associations. { 
South Africa ... a Fh af A few distributive societies sont 
West Indies ... at ~ ste A few agricultural co-operative societies for the J 
sale of their members’ products. { 
7 
The above returns are from a publication received of the latest returD® 
November, 1898, and are simply farmers’ organisations. 
Agriculture. 
THE VALUE OF SHELTER FOR STOCK. : 
In the cold regions of Europe and America the question of shelter during Fi A 
rigorous winter season is one of great importance, and yet it is one which 
not command the universal attention to which it is entitled. The subject the 
two aspects. ‘The first is that of profit, the second is that of sympathy with fot 
sufferings of dumb animals which look to man who profits by their existence 9 
care and protection. How common it is on many farms, whose owners are ¥ ot 
able to care for their stock, to see the unfortunate cattle and horses, with t oh 
tails to the blast, freezing or rainy, or both at once, their legs drawn togeth a 
theit bodies tucked up, backs arched, shivering with cold and wet, the very a 
ideal of utter misery and dejection—a spectacle to call forth the commiset "fe 
of every right-thinking person. It may be said that wild animals do not ®V 
any inconvenience from this want of shelter, and therefore that kindred stor 
should not be any worse off. But this is quite illogical. The wild buffale oot 
bison on the vast prairies of America, the lion of the deserts of Africa, the % 
on the bleak hills of Scotland, the chamois of the snowy Alpine peaks tot 
countless birds exposed to all vicissitudes of weather, are free to seek § a 
known to them. They are not “cribb’d, cabin’d, and confin’d” in a twenty; 5 “ 
or 100 acre paddock, often without even a solitary tree to protect bei. | 
from wind or rain. ‘The domesticated animals are simply helpless b!¥ 4 
depending on their owners for little comforts which are too often withheld, sii 
that to the detriment of the pocket of the short-sighted farmer. In this ol? to 
shelter is required not so much against cold and rain (although that is muC 
be desired) as against the intense heat of the summer sun. It is no unco™ Hi 
thing for farm horses and other stock to be sunstruck, and deaths from 
