AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 129 



ON THE MANAGEMENT OF AGKICULT- 

 UKAL SOCIETIES. 



MIDDLESEX SOUTH. 

 A Prize Essay, by Joseph N. Sturtevant. 



I propose to offer some suggestions on the management of 

 agricultural societies. In doing so, I hope to have a hearing, 

 not that I may say anything that others have not thought of, 

 but because any. thought any one has to offer, on so interesting a 

 subject, ought to enlist attention. In treating this subject, I 

 shall not offer any recommendation which is not suited to the 

 present constitution of the society. I would not lay other foun- 

 dations than what are familiar to all , whether the present founda- 

 tions may be laid after a wiser plan, will not enter into the 

 scope of this essay to determine. 



There are at the present time in the State, thirty societies de- 

 voted to agriculture, each of which has the right of calling upon 

 the treasury of the State each year, for a bounty of some hun- 

 dreds of dollars, and of appointing a delegate to the State Board 

 of Agriculture. With the exception of a single one, I believe 

 they are organized in a similar manner, for the promotion of 

 similar purposes, which we affect in our own society. So many 

 societies having the like objects before them, and organized after 

 essentially the same plan, occupying so important a place in 

 the economy of the* Commonwealth, is proof that the interest 

 which they are engaged to promote is thought to be advanced 

 by their existence. But whether the cause of agriculture, 

 which amid discouragements, is still a chief interest among the 

 industries of the State, is sufficiently promoted by these socie- 

 ties organized in its behalf, must depend wholly upon their 

 management. If there is error here, it is possible for a society 

 to prove an injury rather than a service to the community in 

 which it is located ; and I make the suggestion in this place, 

 though not properly connected with the subject, that the State 



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