410 HISTORY OP THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



the country. His efforts were directed mainly to the 

 Western States, and were very successful. During the 

 first month after leaving Washington, he organized six 

 Granges in Minnesota. From this the order spread 

 rapidly. The farmers were a little shy of the Order at 

 first, and the fact that it was a secret society rather 

 inclined them to distrust it ; but when it was fairly 

 presented to them, and its objects stated and explained, 

 it became apparent to them at once that it was a neces- 

 sity, and its success was assured from the moment that 

 this conviction entered the minds of the agricultural 

 community. The most remarkable growth was mani- 

 fested in the State of Iowa, in which as many as eighty 

 Granges per week were organized at one period of the 

 present year. Says a letter from Iowa : 



" The Grange is stronger in Iowa than in any other 

 State. The number of subordinate Granges is about 

 1800, and the number of members or t patrons' nearly 

 100,000. The Order was planted here soon after its 

 formation in Washington, nearly four years ago, but for 

 various reasons was not widely extended until within 

 the past twelve months. During the Spring of this 

 year it grew with astonishing rapidity, increasing until 

 the beginning of the harvest at the rate of from sixty 

 to eighty Granges a week. Its great strength is in the 

 country. When the Order was first introduced it was 

 proposed to plant it first in the towns, with the expec- 

 tation that it would naturally spread from them into 

 the country. But this was found to be impossible, for 

 the town Granges seemed to have very little cohesive 

 power. There was not life enough in them to preserve 

 their own existence, to say nothing of their inability 

 to propagate their kind. It was not until the mission- 



