No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 25 



AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICUL- 

 TURE. 



AN ACT 

 To Establi>sh a State Board of Agriculture. 



Section 1. Be it enacted, etc., That the Governor of the Common- 

 wealth, the Secretary of Internal Affairs, the Superintendent of 

 Public Instruction, the Auditor General, the President of the Penn- ' 

 sylvania State College, and one person appointed from or by each 

 agricultural society in the State, entitled under existing laws to 

 receive an annual bounty from the county, and three other persons 

 appointed by the Governor, with the consent of the Senate, shall con- 

 stitute the State Board of Agriculture.* 



Section 2. One-third of the members appointed shall retire from 

 office on the fourth Wednesday in January in each year, according 

 to their several appointments. The vacancies thus occurring shall 

 be filled in the same manner as above provided, and the persons thus 

 appointed shall hold their office for three years from the expiration 

 of the former term. Other vacancies may be filled in the same man- 

 ner, for the remainder of the vacant term. 



iSection 3. The board shall meet at the capital of the State, at 

 least once in each year, and as much oftener as may be deemed expe- 

 dient. No member of said board shall receive compensation from 

 the State, except for necessary personal expenses, when engaged in 

 the duties of the board. 



Section 4. They shall appoint, and prescribe the duties of a secre- 

 tary of the board, who may receive a salary, not exceeding fifteen 

 hundred dollars a vear. 



•Note. — Extracts from the law. 



"That when any number of individuals shall organize themselves into an agricultural or 

 horticultural society, or any agricultural or horticultural society now organized within any of 

 the counties of this Commonwealth, shall have adopted a constitution and by-laws for their 

 government, elected their officers, and raised annually, by the voluntary contributions of its 

 members any sum of money which shall have been actually paid into their treasury, for the 

 purpose of being disbursed for the promotion of agricultural knowledge and improvement, and 

 that fact be attested by the affidavit of their president and treasurer, filed with the commis- 

 sioners of the county, the said county society shall be entitled to receive annually a like sum 

 from the treasurer of their said county: Provided. That said annual payment out of the 

 county funds shall not exceed one hundred dollars: Provided further. That but one such so- 

 ciety in any county, shall be entitled to receive such appropriation in any one year, under 

 this act."— Section 4, Act No. 203, 1S51. 



"That there shall be but one member of the Board from any county in the State. That any 

 county asking for representation in the Board must have an agricultural society which shall 

 raise a sum of money each and every year, for the advancement of agriculture, so as to be 

 entitled to an annual bounty on the conditions prescribed in the acts of ISol and 1876." — From 

 Rules of the Board. 



