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     A Period of Transition 141 
     
    
   
   
    
     GRANARIES 
     
    
   
   
    
     At the beginning of the 1860s another type of co-operative institu- 
     
     tion was set up by Acadian farmers on the Island. It was a sort of 
     
     agricultural bank commonly known as a “granary” (TR). This time, it 
     
     was the farmers in the parish of Egmont Bay who started the project, 
     
     motivated perhaps by Father Belcourt'”. A granary was, in fact, a bank 
     
     for seed grain that operated along the same lines as a regular bank 
     
     except that all the transactions took place in kind. Interest, shares 
     
     and dividends were counted in bushels of grain. The Moniteur Acadien 
     
     explains how granaries worked: 
     
    
   
   
    
     About one or two hundred farmers join together, each contributing the equi- 
     
     valent of ten bushels of oats, creating a stable capital. This does not represent 
     
     a big amount for each farmer. In the spring, the members who need seed grain 
     
     get it from the bank, undertaking to reimburse in the fall five bushels for 
     
     every four borrowed. This constitutes a fairly low interest which does not hurt 
     
     the borrower at all. “ 
     
    

    
     The interest more than pays for administrative fees; thus the capital 
     
     increases each year to the advantage of the shareholders in the association. 
     
     (TR)'? 
     
    
   
   
    
     This co-operative formula proved very useful for Acadian farmers 
     
     who often had to go into debt to pay for very highly priced seed grain 
     
     in the spring, thus perpetuating the cycle of chronic indebtedness. 
     
     In 1868, Acadian farmers had their institution incorporated by the 
     
     Island Legislature. The bill was entitled: “An Act for the incorporation 
     
     of Societies for the sale and distribution of Seed Grain on credit”. 
     
     This Acadian initiative attracted the praise of the anglophone press 
     
     who urged other farmers in the province to copy the example of their 
     
     French-language compatriots. The Examiner wrote: 
     
    
   
   
    
     The French Acadian inhabitants of Egmont Bay gave our small farmers an 
     
     example of self-help and co-operative effort which they would be well to 
     
     follow. [...] This industry [the grain bank] does infinite credit to the intelligence 
     
     and the independence of the Acadians of Egmont Bay. If such societies were 
     
     established all over the Island, there would be no necessity for the Government 
     
     ‘to come to the assistance of the farming population of the Island even in the 
     
     scarcest years.''®