MAKr^IIALL IM.NX'IOCEV ■\VLL^)Ei:. 



of the Exccutivo Council of Mas-sachusetls, to appoint a special board of coniniis.sion 

 ei"s to examine the subject and to report to the next Legislature. Mr. Wii.dkr Avas 

 appointed Chairman of this Board; and the next year he, in connection with the Kev. 

 1M-. Hitchcock, then President of Amherst College, made an elaborate report, show- 

 ing the advantages to European countries from their agricultural schools and colleges. 



In 1851, Mr. AV^ildeii, with otliers, called a convention of delegates from local agri- 

 cultural societies in the State, to meet them in the State House, in Boston, and of that 

 body he was chosen President Tliis, with the preceding action, lead to the creation 

 of a permanent Board of Agriculture by the Legislature, sustaining a similar relation 

 to this industrial art as the Board of Education does to the system of common instruc- 

 tion — having its own laws and secretaiy, and constituting a coordinate branch of State 

 government. Of this Board lio has been a member from the beginning, and has taken 

 a prominent part in all its deliberations and actions. It has a department in the Cai)i- 

 tol, with a secretary, who superintends the farm connected with the State Reform 

 School in "Westborough, exerts a salutary influence upon the agriculture of the Com- 

 monwealth, and promises to do stiJl more for its advancement. 



Next he sought to extend this reformation through the country. lie united with 

 others in a call for a National Convention, composed of delegates from State Agricul- 

 tural Societies, to meet in the city of Washington, on the 24th day of June, 1851, a 

 call which was cheerfully responded to. The meeting was fully attended by persons 

 from various parts of the country, and by members of Congress, the President of the 

 United States and Heads of Departments, and resulted in the formation of the United 

 States Agricultural Society. 



Having finished the business for which they had assembled, tlie members of the asso- 

 ciation resolved upon a visit to the Executive, and invited their presiding officer to 

 accompany and introduce them. They called upon President Fillmore and Damel 

 Webster, Secretary of State, to each of whom he tendered their congratulations and 

 whose aid he invoked in appropriate speeches, to which they responded. 



Of this Convention and also of the Society, Mr. Wilder was chosen President. The 

 latter office he has held for three years. At its first annual meeting, February 2, 1852, 

 he delivered an address, in which he specified the objects of the Association and the 

 means of accomplishing them. He presided at the first exhibition of the Society, 

 which was restricted to that noble animal, the horse, and was held in Springfield, 

 Mass., October, 1853. It was attended by twenty thousand people, and many thousand 

 dollars were awarded in premiums. Never before were so many rare specimens of tlie 

 difi"erent breeds of that noble animal brought together. The sight of them, mounted 

 or driven in the vast amphitheatre, was truly a sublime spectacle, and the occasion was 

 pronounced by the journals of the day one of the most imposing ever witnessed in 

 America. 



At the festive board there were seated nearly two thousand persons, among whom 

 were Hon. Abbot Lawtience, late Minister to England, Governor Setmoub of New York, 

 ex-Goveraor Floyd, of Virginia, and other distinguished guests. 



The next exhibition of tliis Society was held in Springfield, Ohio, October, 1854, and 

 was confined to neat cattle. It was attended by thousands, from all sections of the 

 Union, from the Canadas, and from England. Several thousand dollars were awarded 

 in premiums, and the show of animals surpassed in quality any that had been previ 



