Now this is exactly what we want. For instance, these members have found out that the profit on potatoes when home-grown farmyard manure alone was used was only 14_s._ 6_d._ per acre; and that a suitable combination of artificial manures gave a profit of £14 12_s._ 6_d._ an acre, with double the yield. Mutual help and the spread of knowledge; more men and women on the land--this is the value of the agricultural co-operative movement, whose importance to this country it is impossible to over-estimate. From letters of small holders I take the following remarks:-- "Of course it's absolutely necessary that the prospective small holder should have a thorough knowledge of farming." "In regard to implements, you need as many of some sorts on a small holding as you do on a large farm. A small man can't afford to buy all, so he has to work at a disadvantage.... Then as to seeds, why not buy them wholesale, and sell them to the small holder, also manures, and many other things which the small holder has to pay through the nose for." "Men with no actual knowledge of land work would rarely succeed whatever financial backing they might receive." "About here small holdings are usually let to men who have been tradesmen or pitmen, and they of course cannot be expected to make the most of them." "When you restrict a farmer to 50 acres he ought to be provided with ample and proper buildings for every kind of stock he wishes to keep." These few remarks, which might be supplemented _ad libitum_, illustrate the difficulties and dangers which beset any large scheme of land settlement by our returning soldiers and others. Such a scheme is bound to fail unless it is based most firmly on co-operation, for, without that, the two absolute essentials--knowledge, with the benefit of practical advice and help; and assistance by way of co-operative finance, and co-operatively-owned implements, will be lacking. Set the returning soldier down on the land to work it on his own and, whatever his good-will, you present the countryside with failure. Place at his back pooled labour, monetary help and knowledge, and, above all, the spirit of mutual aid, and you may, and I believe will, triumph over difficulties, which are admittedly very great. VI CO-OPERATION (ALLOTMENTS)