10 



the newspapers for an Agricultural Convention, to be held in Albany 

 on the second Monday in February, 1836. Emanating from the 

 State Society, and its prominent members in attendance, a formidable 

 array of numbers appeared on the occasion of its meeting ; and to 

 such extent, that in place of the contracted apartments which had 

 hitherto accommodated with entire convenience the Society, while in 

 session, the use of the Assembly chamber was requested for their ac- 

 accommodation, and with the usual courtesy of the house, granted for 

 the occasion. Instead, too, of the half concealed sneer on the part of 

 honorable and aspiring members of the Legislature, at first ; not 

 only they, comprising by a large majority, other trades and profes- 

 sions than that of agriculture, attended ; but that indispensable and 

 time-honored fraternity termed " the lobby," then, as now, an impor- 

 tant adjunct to the law making power, with a most disinterested zeal 

 for agricultural improvement, readily joined, as members of the Con- 

 vention, and became, for the time, most spirited and patriotic farmers; 

 and so far as their speeches and votes in convention were concerned, 

 demonstrated beyond a cavil, the necessity of the fostering aid of the 

 State to the neglected and dormant condition of its agriculture. 



But the spirit of curiosity, which attracted many who had enrolled 

 their names as members of that Convention, and who could not ima- 

 gine what legitimate object there could be in an assemblage of this 

 sort, rapidly changed to a spirit of inquiry ; and during a short ses- 

 sion of two days, sufficient matter was developed for a year's reflec- 

 tion on a subject which had now become, to many of them, one of 

 the highest consideration ; and it is but an act of simple justice, as 

 well as of true gratification to remark, that many of the present most 

 substantial supporters of the Society, and promoters of its objects, 

 then skeptical to its merits, imbibed their zeal from that Convention, 

 and those which succeeded it. A like convention was held during 

 several successive winters at Albany, and the subject of public aid 



