374 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



breed men to make honor and prosperity to the 

 commonwealth in all the walks of life. 



Besides these the town societies in the State can 

 be exerting scarcely less influence than those of 

 the counties. They are numerous, well attended 

 by practical farmers and earnest men. Their pro- 

 ceedings are often published in the village news- 

 papers, and are thus carried to the fireside of all. 

 With such constant and earnest application of both 

 mental and physical power, well may it be be- 

 lieved that soon shall even the waste places and 

 the "desert blossom as the rose." 



During the year 1851, a Massachusetts Board of 

 Agriculture was formed, of delegates from the 

 old first society of the State, and from the county 

 societies. The meetings of the Board have al- 

 ways been attended by men eminent either for 

 their learning in geology, chemistry and physiolo- 

 gy, or for great experience in the operations of 

 the farm in all its departments. Early in its dis- 

 cussions, the expediency of establishing a United 

 States Agricultural Society was suggested, and 

 some of the benefits which might be expected to 

 flow from such an association were considered. 

 On the 14th of January, 1852, the Massachusetts 

 Board requested its President, the Hon. Marshall 

 P. Wilder, to enter into correspondence with the 

 presidents of State and other agricultural associa- 

 tions in relation to the expediency of calling a Na- 

 tional Convention. The result of this corres- 

 pondence was the gathering of the convention at 

 Washington, whose doings Ave are about recording 

 below. 



As we intend sending a copy of these proceed- 

 ings to each of the delegates who attended that 

 convention, we have thought proper to preface 

 them with a brief sketch of what Massachusetts 

 has done in the noble cause, to show them that, 

 in honoring one of her sons with the first Presi- 

 dency of the United States Society, she sees in them 

 a just appreciation of her efforts "to improve the 

 soil and the mind." It can scarcely be supposed 

 that any man in the country gives the great sub- 

 jects of agriculture, horticulture and floriculture, 

 more thought, more time, or more substantial aid 

 than he upon whom the convention bestowed the 

 honor of acting as its first President. He will 

 bring wisdom, large experience, and moderation to 

 its counsels, and exert a powerful influence in pre- 

 serving the representatives of this galaxy of States 

 in brotherhood and harmony. 



The convention met at Washington, in the 

 building of the Smithsonian Institute, at 10 o'clock 

 in the morning, on the 24th day of June, 1852. 



Judge Watts, of Penn., was called to preside over 

 a temporary organization, a roll of the States was 

 called, to ascertain the number and names of del- 

 egates representing the various agricultural socie- 

 ties of each State, when it was found that there 

 were present — 



From New Hampshire, eight delegates; from Vermont, 

 three; from Massachusetts, twenty-six; from Rh de Island, 

 three; from Connecticut, four; from New York, twenty; from 

 New Jersey, two; from Pennsylvania, five; from Delaware, 

 six; from Maryland, twenty-three; from Virginia, ten; from 

 North Carolina, one; from Louisiana, two; from Ohio, twelve; 

 from Tennessee, three; from Indiana, one; irom Illinois, two; 

 from Arkansas, one; from Michigan, four; from Texas, one; 

 from Wisconsin, two; from the District of Columbia, eleven; 

 making the total number of delegates present 151, represent- 

 ing twenty-three States and Territories. 



The committee appointed to nominate perma- 

 nent officers for the convention submitted the fol- 

 lowing nominations : — 



For President — Marshall P. "Wilder, of Mass. 



For Vice Presidents — Henry Wager, of N. Y. ; 

 Frederick Watts, of Pa. ; Charles B. Calvert, of Md. ; 

 Wm. F. Hunter, of Ohio; George W. Nesmith, of N. 

 H. ; John H. Throckmorton, of Va. ; H. K. Burgwyn, 

 of N. C. ; T. J. Rusk, of Texas; James Duane Doty, 

 of Wis. 



For Secretaries— William S. King, of R. I.; B. P. 

 Johnson, N. Y. ; J. A. Warder, of Ohio; J. D. B. 

 DeBow, of Louisiana. 



The report having been unanimously accepted — 

 Mr. Wilder, amidst much applause, took the 

 chair, and addressed the Convention as follows : 



Gentlemen of the Convention : — 1 will not inter- 

 rupt the proceedings of this body by any extended 

 remarks from the chair; but I cannot forbear to ten- 

 der to you my heartfelt gratitude for the honor 

 you have conferred upon me in selecting me to pre- 

 side over your deliberations — an honor which is con- 

 nected with a pursuit which has ever laid near my 

 heart. 



Permit me also to express my great gratification 

 that there are present so many members representing 

 the agricultural interest of this great Republic — some 

 gentlemen coming from different and distant parts of 

 the Union, at great personal sacrifice; but, whether 

 from the North or the South, the East or the West, I 

 extend to each of you the hand of fellowship, and 

 I greet you as brothers in a common cause. 



Gentlemen, we come here with no sinister motives; 

 we have no political arguments to advance; we have 

 no sectional or party purposes to promulgate, but we 

 are here for more important purposes. We are here 

 to advance an art coeval with the existence of the 

 human race — an art which employs eighteen millions 

 of our population, and four-fifths of all the capital in 

 our fair land — an art which lies at the very founda- 

 tion of national and individual prosperity and wealth, 

 the basis of commerce, of manufactures, and of in- 

 dustrial pursuits. We are an agricultural people; 

 our habits, our dispositions are rural. I rejoice that 

 it is so, and I pray that it may ever continue to be 

 so. Our country embraces every variety of soil, and 

 is capable of producing most of the products of the 

 torrid and temperate zones; and with a suitable ap- 

 plication of science to this art, and a wise division of 

 labor, with proper governmental aid, there is no rea- 

 son why American agriculture may not sustain com- 

 petition with that of any other nation of the civilized 

 globe. 



The progress of agriculture, as you all know, gen- 

 tlemen, lias been slow in the United States, but a new 

 era has now commenced. The old worn-out systems 

 of cultivation which have been followed by father and 

 son, and from generation to generation, are now to be 

 swept awny, and science is to take its place in aid of 

 honest industry. I rejoice, gentlemen, that we live 

 at this day; I rejoice that the seed planted by the 

 immortal Washington, and which has been watered 

 by thousands of other eminent agriculturists, is now 

 taking root, and that we live in our clay to realize 

 some of the proud results of their hopes. 



