HISTORICAL SKETCH OF NATIONAL AGRI- 

 CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS. 



By W. C. FLAGG. 



The earliest attempts at forming an Agricult- 

 ural Organization, really national in its scope, I 

 think, was the result of the efforts of Solon 

 Robinson, afterwards, well known as the agri- 

 cultural editor of the New York Tribune. The 

 meeting was held at Washington, in Sept. 1841' 

 and accounts of that and subsequent meetings, 

 may be found in the old Albany Cultivator, now 

 the Country Gentleman, in the Union Agricult- 

 urist, now THE PRAIRIE FARMER, and probably 

 in other papers. It met again in December, and 

 then in the following year at Washington, and 

 then seems to have become extinct. This or- 

 ganization was known as the Agricultural So- 

 ciety of The United States. James M. Garnett, 

 of Virginia, was its President. John S. Skinm-r, 

 ii s Corresponding Secretary, John F. Callan, its 

 Recording Secretary, and Edward Dyer, its 

 Treasurer at the December election, and the 

 same with the substitution of Elisha Whittlesey 

 for John S. Skinner, were chosen the following 

 May. 



The United States Agricultural Society was 

 organized in June 1852, by 152 delegates from 23 

 states and territories. This society continued 

 in existence until the war. It held several large 

 fairs and field trials, and through meetings and 

 publications, did much to promote the art of ag- 

 riculture. Marshall P. Wilder, Ben. F. French, 

 Ben. Perley Poore, and others, appear among its 

 prominent members. 



The National Agricultural Congress- 

 The National Agricultural Congress, an ac- 

 count of whose fifth annual meeting is here- 

 with given, may be traced to the year 1870, when 

 " at the suggestion and under the auspices of 

 the Cotton States Agricultural and Mechanical 

 Association, the Agusta Board of Trade, and 



the Municipal Government of Augusta," dele- 

 gates from 11 states and the District of Colum- 

 bia, convened at Augusta, Georgia, and organ- 

 ized "The Agricultural Congress," whose ob- 

 jects were declared to be " the advancement of 

 Agriculture, and the Arts of Husbandry." Hon. 

 H. V. Johnson, of Georgia, was chosen Presi- 

 dent. Gen. A. R. Wright, Corresponding Secre- 

 tary, L. Comington, Secretary, and J. J. Cohen, 

 Treasurer, all of Georgia, with a vice president 

 for each of the eleven states represented, and 

 numerous standing committees on cotton, 

 wheat, corn, labor and immigration, entomolo- 

 gy, &c., &c. No formal addresses or business, 

 beyond organization, appear to have been 

 transacted, and the congress adjourned to com- 

 plete its organization &c., at Selma, Alabama, 

 in December 1871. 



Meanwhile, under the auspices of the " Ten- 

 nessee Agricultural and Mechanic Association," 

 a similar gathering " composed of delegates 

 from 11 states, representing more that 40 differ- 

 ent Agricultural Societies and Associations." 

 was held at Nashville, Oct. 3d-5th, 1871. This 

 body organized the " National Agricultural As- 

 sociation." The preamble recites as reasons for 

 organizing : " To extend the usefulness of the 

 various associations and societies, organized for 

 the purpose of promoting the interests of agri- 

 culture in the United States, and in order to 

 create unity and harmony, as well as concert of 

 action, in reference to those measures calculat- 

 ed to increase the efficiency of this, the most im- 

 portant of our national pursuits; and especially 

 secure the proper consideration of questions, 

 pertaining to the industrial and commercial in- 

 terest?, of this large and productive class of our 

 people." F. Julius Le Moyne, of Pennsylvania, 

 was chosen President, with a Vice-President 



