FOR PEOMOTING AGRICULTURE. 7 



order, ?amuel Adams being at the head of the list. The 

 final clause of the act is as follows : 



That the place of holding the first meeting of the said 

 society {-hall be in the town of Boston ; and that Samuel 

 Adams, Esq., be, and he hereby is authorised and em- 

 powered to fix the time for holding the said meeting, and 

 to notify the same to the members of the said society, by 

 causing the same to be published in one of the Boston 

 newspapers, fourteen days before the time fixed for hold- 

 ing the said meeting. 



Mr. Adams, mindful it maj be surmised, of the desirability 

 of beginning on a propitious day, named April 19, follow- 

 ing. The meeting was held accordingly in the Council 

 Chamber of the State House, the same in which, as de- 

 clared by John Adams, u the child, Independence, was 

 born, '' and the same where Samuel Adams had demanded 

 of Governor Gage " the removal of both regiments, " in 

 air and attitude as the artist has represented him in Bos- 

 ton's familiar statue. The only business done at this meet- 

 ing of April 19 was to take the first step in organization, 

 by electing John Avery, Jr. secretary of the society pro 

 tern. The organization was completed at an adjourned 

 meeting of June 14, 1792. 



The dates given are important as marking the beginning 

 of whatever has since been done in Massachusetts by soci- 

 eties or cfficial boards for the promotion of agriculture. 

 Here on March 2, March 7, April 19 and June 14 the prim- 

 ary impulse was given, which, within the next 27 years, 

 was manifest in the formation of eight other agricultural 

 societies in the State. Previously to 1852 seven more were 

 organized and in that year the Board of Agriculture of the 

 State was established.* 



These organizations and those of the various town clubs 

 and societies were but copies of the original instance, the 



*Tfce dates are as follows: Middlesex Society, 17<H; Stnrbridge society, 

 1799; Kennebeo, 1800; Berkshire, 1811; Essex, 1818; Worcester, 1818; 

 Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden Society, 1818; Plymouth, 1819; Bristol, 

 1823; Barnstable, 1844; Hampden co\mty society, 1844; Housatonic, 1848; 

 Norfolk, 184!); Hampshire and Franklin society, 1850; Worcester West 

 v. ISol. All bnt one or two of tbese were or.u;ani/od as Corporations. 



