178 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



beheld it. At the Mission were shown horses, cattle, sheep, swine, 

 and poultry, and there were a few animals in each department that 

 would have done credit to anj" State in the Union. No exhibition at 

 all comparable in extent, variety, and excellence had heretofore been 

 held in any State so young since the organization of the American 

 Union. 



Its effects in stimulating the material industries of the State were 

 very great, and nothing had occurred since the first discovery of gold 

 that attracted so mucli interest generally in California history as this 

 exhibition of the agricultural resources. The amount of premiums 

 awarded and paid at this fair was $4,660. 



At the annual meeting of the Society held during the fair, C. I. 

 Hutchinson, of Sacramento, was elected President of the Society for 

 the ensuing year, and W. W. Stow of Santa Cruz, John A. Sutter of 

 Sacramento, Sherman Day of Santa Clara, James Allen of Yuba, A. 

 P. Smith of Sacramento, Vice-Presidents; Pev. 0. C. Wheeler of 

 Sacramento, Recording Secretary; J. L. L. F. Warren, Corresponding 

 Secretary; Angus Frierson, of Sacramento, Treasurer. 



One of the first acts of the Executive Committee of the new Board 

 was to call a State Agricultural Convention for the purjDose of waking 

 up a more general interest in agriculture, to meet in Sacramento 

 April 25th, 1855. In pursuance of this call the Convention assembled 

 in the rooms of the City Council on that day. There Avere present 

 representative agriculturists from every portion of the State. The 

 Convention, for want of room, adjourned to the Assembly Chamber. 

 C. I. Hutchinson, of Sacramento, was made President of this Conven- 

 tion, and 0. C. Wheeler appointed Secretary. The Convention was 

 addressed by the President, who dwelt at length upon the many 

 advantages of soil and climate presented to the farmer in California, 

 and urged united action and system in perfecting modes of cultiva- 

 tion and securing the legitimate fruits of these advantages. At this 

 Convention many questions of vital importance to the agriculture of 

 the State at that time were discussed, and an address to the agricul- 

 turists of the State was adopted and published. The Convention was 

 addressed by Sherman Day, D. F. Douglass, Judge E. B. Crocker, C. 

 T. Ryland, Wilson Flint, O. C. Wheeler, and others, upon the general 

 subject of agriculture. Also, by Governor McDougal, who urged the 

 employment of the Chinese in the cultivation of the soil in California. 

 Selim E. Woodworth also addressed the Convention at some length 

 upon the importance of planting trees and cultivating forests in the 

 great plains of California, urging the scarcity of shrubbery in the 

 agricultural districts of the State. 



The second annual fair of the Society was held in Sacramento, 

 commencing September 25th, 1855; the general exhibition at the 

 State House, and the cattle show at the Louisiana race track. The 

 exhibition in every respect was a very great improvement on the 

 first. In his opening address. President Hutchinson remarked: 

 " The occasion which calls together this large and respectable assem- 

 blage is one of no ordinary interest. Before us, spread out in rich 

 profusion and beautiful array, fresh from the prodigal hand of 

 nature, we behold the results of California agriculture — some of the 

 results which in this young State and under the auspices of an intel- 

 ligent people have followed the application of enterprise and indus- 

 try. Looking back through the five brief years of our existence as a 

 State, we wonder at the position in which we find ourselves to-day." 



