THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1881. CO-OPERATION AMONG FARMERS.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2230, 21 April 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1881. CO-OPERATION AMONG FARMERS.

The necessity of co-operation among farmers has, for some time past, beau forcing itself into public notice. The welfare of our agricultural classes is of the utmost importance to the community, for the hardy yeoman is now as much the backbone of the State as in the days when railways and telegraphs were not. The movement begun in Oamaru has been spreading rapidly, and no doubt the system whereby the profits on produce are brought directly into the farmers' pockets without the intervention of tho middleman will in course of time entirely supersede the existing state of affairs. And another aspect of tho advantages of such societies is being made apparent in Australia. The impossibility of small farmers or selectors competing with the American grain-growers has there made itself strongly felt. As the " Argus " remarks, everyone desires to see the land in the hands of substantial yeomen all tilling their own acres, but no laws that human ingenuity can devise will ever maintain a race of small proprietors unloss farming can be made to pay. The eternal round of grain and potatoes must therefore be abandoned, and the small farmer must look, in part at least, to tho necessity of varying his products and choosing crops particularly adapted to tho climate and soil. In Adelaide a Dr. Scliomburgk has turned his attention to this matter, and has recommended tho cultivation of wattle and the olive, of flax, rapo, homp, canary seed, chicory, Zauto currants, Sultana raisins, flowors for perfumers, &c. Such advice, no doubt, is sound enough, and would bo quite applicable to New Zealand, tho suggostod crops being of course modified to suit tho country; but unfortunately there is tho matter of expense to consider. Small farmers have no money to make experiments with, and cannot wait for returns, and mercantile firms do not caro about touching what they consider to bo risky commodities. It is hero that ono of the advantages of Co-operative Societies should be made to be felt. It is more than a more matter of pounds, shillings, and ponco, with them. Tho entire interest of tho order to which tho co-operators bolong is at

stake, and that society would be badly managed and short-sighted that would not tako the utmost pains to foster a spirit of enterprise among the farmers. The individual planting a new crop would then be in the hands of friends with whom the success of his experiment, financially and otherwise, would possess not only a particular but a general interest. This view of the use of Farmers' Co-operative Societies should not be overlooked in the present state of our agricultural prospects.