REPORTS OF COMMITTEES. 131 



agreeably to the appointment of the Board ; but he is happy to 

 be the medium of communicating the concurrent testimony of 

 many gratified witnesses. 



Robert C. Winthrop. 



Boston, December 4, 1855. 



PLYMOUTH. 



The undersigned, having been appointed a delegate to attend 

 the Annual Cattle Show of the Plymouth County Agricultural 

 Society, has attended to that duty. 



The Plymouth County Society is one of the oldest in the 

 State, having been formed in the year 1819. A history of the 

 progress of the society, from its formation to the present time, 

 has been furnished me by Mr. Latham, the present secretary. 

 As eveiy thing relating to this " home of the Pilgrims " is in- 

 teresting to New England people, and as a new era in the affairs 

 of this society, which undoubtedly will have an influence upon 

 the future transactions of others, has transpired, it seems to me 

 to be proper to allude to its progress and present condition at 

 some length. At the time of the organization of the society, 

 the fee for life-membership was fixed at ten dollars, and for 

 yearly members at one dollar. Rev. Morrill Allen, of Bridge- 

 water, was the only person who paid ten dollars. He has 

 always been an active and most useful member of the society, 

 has been its president, and is now surpervisor. He is a practi- 

 cal agriculturist. It appears that only about sixty persons 

 joined the society during the first year, at one dollar each, but 

 the terms of admission were soon altered. The yearly member- 

 ship was abolished, and the fee for a life-membership was estab- 

 lished at five dollars. About two hundred persons joined the 

 society in 1820, and from that time up to 1854, but few persons 

 joined the society annually. Since the formation of the society, 

 five hundred and thirty persons have joined it, three hundred 

 and fifty-three of whom are now living, and two hundred and 

 eighty-three of that number have become members since Octo- 

 ber, 1851. 



