138 CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS 



made the statement, "The Grange is dead." 

 But the assertion was not true. The popular 

 impression must be revised. The Grange has 

 accomplished more for agriculture than has any 

 other farm organization. Not only is it at the 

 present time active, but it has more real influence 

 than it has ever had before; and it is more 

 nearly a national farmers' organization than 

 any other in existence today. 



The Grange is also the oldest of the general 

 organizations for farmers. Though the notion 

 of organizing the farmers was undoubtedly 

 broached early in the history of the country, the 

 germ idea that actually grew into the Grange is 

 about forty years old, and should be credited 

 to Mr. O. H. Kelley, a Boston young man 

 who settled on a Minnesota farm in 1849. 

 He wrote considerably for the agricultural press ; 

 and this experience helped to bring him to the 

 conclusion that the great need of agriculture 

 was the education of the agriculturist. He soon 

 came to feel that existing agencies for this pur- 

 pose — farm papers and fairs — were insufficient. 

 In 1866, as agent for the Department of Agri- 

 culture, Mr. Kelley made a tour of the South, 

 with the view of gaining a knowledge of the 

 agricultural and mineral resources of that sec- 



