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. 
ry