MEMOIR OF HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER. 31 



Dearborn, Horace Mann, and many others of national reputation 

 were among bis hearers. This effort ultimately bore fruit in the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College. He was President of this So- 

 ciet}' for twenty years and on his retirement was constituted Honor- 

 ary President in acknowledgment of his services. In February, 

 1886, Henry O. Hildreth, for many years Secretary of the Norfolk 

 Agricultural Society, presented a complete set of the "Transac- 

 tions " of that Society to the library of the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society, in memory of Mr. Wilder's twenty years' presi- 

 dency. 



The next of Mr. Wilder's plans for the promotion of agricul- 

 riculture was the establishment of the Massachusetts Board of 

 Agriculture. A large meeting of delegates was held in response 

 to an invitation from him as President of the Norfolk Agricultural 

 Societ}' and from other agricultural societies in the State ; the Massa- 

 chusetts Central Board of Agriculture was organized ; he was 

 elected President, and retained that office until the Board of 

 Agriculture became a department of the State government. Up 

 to the time of his death he was the senior member of the Board. 



In 1852, under the auspices of the Massachusetts Board of 

 Agriculture, he prepared a circular calling a national convention 

 of agriculturists at Washington. A meeting was held in that city 

 on the 24th of June, 18.52, in which twenty-three States were rep- 

 resented b}' one hundred and fifty delegates. The United States 

 Agricultural Society was organized, and Mr. Wilder was cliosen 

 President. He held this office for six years, and on his resigna- 

 tion a silver tea service of the value of two hundred and fiftj'' 

 dollars was presented to him. At the next annual meeting the 

 large gold medal of honor, valued at one hundred and fifty dol- 

 lars, and bearing the inscription, " Awarded to the Hon. Marshall 

 P. Wilder, Founder, First President, and Constant Patron," was 

 unanimously' conferred upon him. This medal he bequeathed to 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Much was done by the 

 United States Agricultural Society through its meetings, publica- 

 tions, and exhibitions of horses and other live stock, implements, 

 and farm products to improve the agriculture of our country, until 

 the approach of the civil war put an end to its operations. 



In 1858, as a result of Mr. Wilder's efforts in behalf of agri- 

 cultural education, the Massachusetts School of Agriculture was 

 incorporated, and he was elected President. It was intended to 



