EARLY FARMER ORGANIZATIONS 15 



have written on the subject that the Grange 

 represented the first attempt by Ontario 

 farmers to found an organization for social and 

 educational purposes, and for the general ad- 

 vancement of agriculture. This generally ac- 

 cepted view is not wholly founded on fact. 

 The first movement of this kind was inaug- 

 urated a century and a quarter ago and re- 

 sulted in the formation of the first agricultural 

 societies which grew very rapidly in number. 

 When first organized, agricultural societies 

 covered a much wider field than they do .today. 

 Fall fairs were merely a fraction of their ac- 

 tivities. They held fairly regular meetings 

 at which papers were read and discussed on 

 topics including improved farm practice and 

 general matters relating to agriculture. But 

 as time went on the fall fair became the 

 main feature of the societies and about the 

 year 1850 Farmers' Clubs began to appear to 

 take up the field which the Agricultural 

 Societies were abandoning. 



Up to this period however, the need of an 

 organization to voice the views of the farmers on 

 public questions had not become nearly so 

 pressing as it did later on. Until the third 

 quarter of the last century, agriculture was by 

 far the chief interest in the Province, and farmers 

 had due representation both in the Legislature 



