66 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



the organization of 2239 new granges, an average of eighty 

 per day throughout the month. This was the largest number 

 ever organized in one month, though January and March of the 

 same year were not far behind with 2119 and 2024 new granges, 

 respectively. From then on, however, the number declined 

 rapidly and during the last six months of the year the average 

 number of new granges formed was only about four hundred. 1 

 This check in the rate of increase was, in the main, merely a result 

 of the fact that all available territory was now pretty thoroughly 

 organized, but its suddenness would also lead to the conclusion 

 that the popularity of the order was already somewhat on the 

 wane in those parts of the country where it had aroused the 

 greatest enthusiasm. 



Two of the maps, numbers II and III, fall within the period 

 between the seventh and eighth annual sessions of the National 

 Grange, and portray the condition of the order on March i, 

 1874, and January i, 1875. The first of these shows a very 

 considerable advance in all parts of the country. Since October 

 1 8, 1873, first granges had been organized in Maine, Delaware, 

 Montana, and Idaho, bringing into the ranks all of the states 

 except Rhode Island, which did not find room for a grange 

 within her borders until the next decade, and Nevada, in which, 

 however, seven granges were organized before the end of the 

 year. The map for January i, 1875, marks the culmination of 

 the order of Patrons of Husbandry, with 21,697 granges in the 



1 The following table shows the number of new granges organized monthly 



from January, 1873, to September, 1876, inclusive. It is based on data in Kelley, 

 Patrons of Husbandry, 422, and National Grange, Proceedings, ix. 189 (November, 

 1875), x. 178(1876). 



1873 1874 1875 1876 



January 158 2119 306 109 



February 338 2239 286 108 



March 666 2024 361 117 



April 571 1487 309 88 



May 696 937 242 58 



June 623 7S2 170 45 



July 611 419 125 32 



August 829 396 125 21 



September 917 412 89 12 



October 1050 410 92 



November 974 363 103 



December 1235 383 100 



