Along these two lines, the collectives and the state
farms, there will be developed the complete collectiviza-
tion of the Soviet village.
One of the most important developments in the col-
lectivization movement was the creation of machine-
tractor stations which had their first trial on one of the
state farms, Shevchenko, in the Ukraine. This experi-
ment, whose initiator was A. M. Markevich, an agrono-
mist, spread widely and received the support of the
Soviet Government. A machine-tractor station, ac-
cording to the definition of Markevich, is a center for
all the mechanical power and the technical equip-
ment necessary for supplying to the fullest extent the
production needs of agricultural enterprises. This
makes possible an immense economy in technical means
of production, their maximum utilization through
machine-tractor stations within the limits of a radius
of more than 15 to 20 kilometers.
Collective farms, which have been organized on ter-
ritory served by a machine-tractor station, enter into
agreements with the latter as to conditions for the
cultivation of the fields of the collective farms by the
machine-tractor station. The agronomic aid rendered
by the machine-tractor stations and the enlisting of
members of the collective farms into the working staffs
of these stations decidedly transform the aspect of the
countryside served by these stations. Machine-tractor
stations first of all lead to the growth of the sown area
and to the bettering of production. Thus, in the
Berezov district on farms served by machine-tractor
stations and organized in 1928, the planted area in-
creased as much as 28.4 per cent, while in villages not
served by stations the planted area either remained
unchanged, or increased on the average about 4.5 per
cent.
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