[HE period of twenty or more years past has been an 

 epoch of centennials. Nor is it yet ended. Several 

 of an interesting character are now approaching. 

 One is at hand, the one hundredth anniversary of the 

 Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture. It dif- 

 fers from those preceding in .being of State rather than na- 

 tional prestige, but is still of high rank and dignity. The 

 society was incorporated by an act of the Legislature 

 passed March 7, 1792. Its long career of beneficial activity, 

 the distinguished names borne upon its roll of member- 

 ship, and its priority of date among societies of like char- 

 acter in this section of the country make it eminent 

 among the State's chartered institutions and give it fame 

 beyond the borders, a fame not exclusively its own as it 

 pertains also to the Commonwealth. That this characteriz- 

 ation is warranted it will be the aim of the following pages 

 to show in a review of some of the main facts of the Soci- 

 ety's history. Such an anniversary is necessarily retrospec- 

 tive in its suggestions. A summing up of past experi- 

 ences will be a fitting commemoration of the old and be- 

 ginning of the new century. For the society has both the 

 resources and the disposition to pursue its mission and to 

 avail itself of whatever opportunities the coming years 

 shall bring for the advancement of the first and most 

 indispensable of the useful arts. 



The origin of the Society is in the following petition : 



Commonwealth of Massachusetts : To the honorable 

 the Senate and the honorable House of Representatives, 

 in General Court assembled, this second day of March, 

 1792: 



The undersigned beg leave to represent that agriculture 



