PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY. 



1799; died in New York City, May 2, 1878. 

 He graduated from Hamilton College in 1824, 

 studied theology in the Auburn Seminary, and, 

 upon the completion of hi* course, settled at 

 Kuehcstcr. In 1830 he removed to New York 

 and organized the Presbyterian Church in 

 Thames Street, which afterward removed to 

 Dey Street. In 1832 he was called to the First 

 Presbyterian Church in New Orleans. Re- 

 turning to New York in 1837, he became pas- 

 tor of the Broadway Tabernacle, and soon 

 afterward, President of the Union Theological 

 Seminary. Subsequently, after a few years, 

 pastorate in Philadelphia, he assumed the 

 charge of the Bleecker Street Presbyterian 

 Church, upon the death of Rev. Erskine Mason, 

 following the society to its present site in 

 Fourth Avenue, where he continued pastor un- 

 til 1863. He was afterward settled over the 

 Park Church in Newark, N. J., for a time, but 

 owing to failing health his later years were 

 spent in New York City, with his children. 

 Dr. Parker was the author of " Lectures on 

 Universalism," 1829; "Morals for a Young 

 Student," 1832; "Invitations to True IIa]>- 

 p'mesu," 1848; "Courtship and Marriage," 

 " Reasonings of a Pastor," " Notes on Twelve 

 Psalms," 1S49; " Sermons," 1852 ; "Pastor's 

 Initiatory Catechism." 1855; edited Sermons 

 of John W. Adams, D. D., with memoir, 1851, 

 and " Bnrder's Religions Ceremonies of all 

 Nations." 



PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY, a secret 

 organization, having for its primary and prin- 

 cipal object the promotion of the agricultural 

 interests of the country. It is of recent origin, 

 though the principles which underlie it are as 

 old as the first agricultural society ever or- 

 ganized. Its history is briefly this : After the 

 close of the late civil war, the agricultural in- 



-i <>t" the Southern States were in a con- 

 dition of great depression the changes which 

 had followed emancipation had left the ques- 

 tions of labor and just compensation for it un- 

 settled. The farmers had very little money 

 or cr.-dit ; and the colored farm-laborers, dis- 

 trustful of their old masters, and in many cases 

 disposed to enjoy their new-found freedom, 

 were an uncertain dependence, yet there was 

 really no other. In the Northwest and West 

 labor was not so much wanting as cheaper 

 means of transportation to market, and fair 



- to the producer for his products. Be- 



i the high charges of the railway com- 

 panies and the middle-men, his crops did, not 

 tiring to him the actual cost of their cultiva- 

 tion. Then, too, buying necessarily on credit, 

 be wa* forced to pay enormous and often ruin- 

 ou price* for his agricultural machines and 

 implements, and indeed for every thing he 

 punhned. Complaints long and loud from 

 each ...turn n-uchcd the Apriculttiral Dcpart- 



' at Washington, and in the summer and 

 utnmn of 1867 one man connected with that 

 department set himself the task of attempting 

 to dcvite tome means of relieving the farmers 



from these great evils. This man was Mr. 

 William Saunders, then, and for some years 

 later, superintendent of the ptrdcimnud prop- 

 agating houses of the Department of Agri- 

 culture. A friend of his, Mr. (>. 11. Kelley, at 

 that time a clerk in the Poet-Office Depart- 

 ment had been the previous year, on a speeial 

 mission through the Southern Suites, and had 

 seen their condition, and on his n. t urn to 

 his farm in Minnesota had observed also the 

 condition of the farmers of the Northwest, as 

 Mr. Saunders had previously done. To Mr. 

 Kelley belongs the hon/jr of first making the 

 inquiry whether it was not possible to help 

 these suffering farmers and planters by a 

 secret organization composed of agriculturists 

 alone, and having some resemblance to the 

 Masonic Order, Odd-Fellows, etc. This sug- 

 gestion, made in conversation with Mr. > 

 ders, fell into good ground. Mr. Saunders, a 

 Scotchman by birth, saw at once in this sug- 

 gestion the solution of the problem which 

 had so long occupied his thoughts ; and he 

 proceeded with slow and cautious steps to 

 develop it. The constitution and circulars 

 declarative of the purposes of the new order 

 were drawn up by Mr. Saunders alone, and 

 when he came to the ritual and secret work 

 of the order he associated with him Rev. A. B. 

 Grosh (one of the highest officers and most 

 successful expounders of Odd - Fellowship"), 

 Mr. J. R. Thompson, nnd Mr. Kelley. When 

 on the 4th of December, 1867, it was deter- 

 mined to organize the National Grange (ee 

 GRANGE in this volume), others who had 

 manifested an interest in the subject were 

 invited to join them, and several of these at a 

 later period attained to some renown in the 

 order. Soon after the organization of the 

 National Grange a Subordinate Grange was 

 established, to exemplify the winkings of its 

 ritual. We insert hero the constitution and 

 by-laws of the National Grunge, which, except 

 some amendments not yet passed upon by all 

 the State Granges, is substantially as it came 

 from the hands of Mr. Saunders: 



PREAMBLE. 



Human happiness is the nemo of earthly ambition. 

 Individual happiness depends upon general pros- 

 perity. 



The prosperity of a nation is in proportion to the 

 value of it* productions. 



The soil is the source whence wo derive all that 

 constitute* wealth; without it we would have no 

 agriculture, no manufactures, no commerce. Of all 

 the material gifts of the Creator, tlio various pro- 

 ductions of the regeUble world arc of the first im- 

 portance. The art of agriculture in the parent tnd 

 -or "fall nrts, and its products the foundation 

 of all wealth. 



The productions of tlic earth arc subject to the in- 

 fluence <if iiniurul laws, invariable iir <! Indisputable ; 

 tlie MMHint produced will consequently be in pro- 

 portion to the intelligence of the producer, and suc- 

 cess will depend upon his knowledge r>t 

 of these laws, and tho proper application of their 

 principles. 



Hence, knowledge is the foundation of happi- 

 ness. 



