ORGANIZATION 79 



Annual meetings of a similar nature were held throughout the 

 decade; but the National Agricultural Congress appears to 

 have been too loosely organized to exert any considerable 

 influence, or to serve the purpose of the general farmers' 

 movement. 1 



Such were the agencies which the farmers developed or adapted 

 to their purposes in the movement for the elevation of the 

 agricultural class. The most effective of these were the order 

 of Patrons of Husbandry, the Illinois State Farmers' Associa- 

 tion, and the local open farmers' clubs. 



1 Rural Carolinian, i. 776 (September, 1870); Prairie Farmer, xlii. 260, xliii. 

 113, 172, 177, xliv. 35, xlv. 116, 163, xlvi. 276 (1871-75); Maryland Farmer, 

 ix. 120, xiii. 332, 389, xiv. 292, xv. 85, 152, 332 (1872-78); American Annual 

 Cyclopedia, 1873, P- 3?6; Periam, The Groundswell, chs. xvii, xxviii; National 

 Agricultural Congress, Proceedings, v (1876). 



