STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 177 



parativoly uiikno\A''ii. Prior to that time, so little attention Lad been 

 given to the subject that much of the soil which experience has 

 demonstrated to be highly productive was deemed almost valueless. 



" This error has given way before the speeding plow, and the experi- 

 ence of a very brief period has demonstrated the great fact that 

 the agricultural resources of California are vast and almost incal- 

 culable — not only capable of supplying the millions destined to 

 inhabit the Pacific Empire now s])ringing up with magic rapidity, 

 with all tlie necessaries and luxuries grown in the most favored 

 regions of the world, but of producing a large surplus for external 

 commerce. 



" It is believed by those well informed on this subject that the 

 immense sum of $25,000,000 is employed in the import provision 

 trade of California. Is it not important to arrest this vast drain upon 

 the country? We have also reliable information that within the 

 past year there has been imported more than half a million barrels 

 of flour, making from $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 for this single article 

 alone. The latter sum will now hereafter, in all probability, be 

 retained in the country, as the home production will fully supply the 

 home demand." 



The bill passed the Assembly by an almost unanimous vote, and 

 passed the Senate by a vote of 18 to 8, and was approved by the Gov- 

 ernor on the loth of May, 1854. By this Act the Society was author- 

 ized "to buy, hold, and sell real estate not to exceed two sections of 

 land, to be held for the purpose of establishing a model or experi- 

 mental farm or farms, erecting inclosures, buildings, etc., calculated 

 or designed for the meetings of the Society, and for an exhibition of 

 the various breeds of horses, cattle, mules, and other stock, and of 

 agricultural, mechanical, and domestic manufacture and productions, 

 and for no other purj^ose." 



The officers of the Society were to be a President and seven Vice- 

 Presidents, a Recording Secretary, a Corresponding Secretary, and 

 Treasurer, to constitute a Board of Directors to hold office one year. 

 The first officers were named in the charter, and were as follows: F. 

 W. Macondray, of San Francisco, President; Vice-Presidents, E. L. 

 Beard of Alameda, J. K. Rose of San Francisco, D. W. C. Thomp- 

 son of Sonoma, H. C. Malone of Santa Clara, W. H. Thompson of 

 San Francisco, and C. I. Hutchinson of Sacramento; Corresponding 

 Secretary, J. L. L. F. Warren, of San Francisco; Recording Secretary, 

 C. V. Gillispie, of San Francisco; Treasurer, David Chambers, of 

 San Francisco. 



In the Act of incorporation the sum of $5,000 a year was appro])ri- 

 ated from the State treasury for the term of five years, to be used in the 

 payment of premiums awarded by the Society, and for no other pur- 

 pose. The Board of Directors, in pursuance of the Act, met in San 

 Francisco in June following, accepted the Act of incorporation, pre- 

 pared and adopted a constitution for the government of the Society 

 and its fairs, adopted and published a premium list, and fixed the 

 time and place for holding the first State Fair. The time for the fair 

 was fixed to commence on the 4th of October, 1854, and the place San 

 Francisco — the cattle show at the Mission, and the agricultural and 

 horticultural exhibition in Musical Hall. This exhibition embraced 

 specimens of nearly all of the grains, vegetables, and fruits, and 

 though not large, excited the wonder and astonishment of all who 

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