THE GENESEE FAKMER. 235 



NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL CONVENTION AND SOCIETY. 



A National Agricultural Convention assembled in the Lecture Room of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution at the federal metropolis, on the 24th of June last, in compliaince 

 with a call for that purpose signed by the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, of Massa- 

 chusetts, and the Presidents of a majority of the State Agricultural Societies in the 

 Republic. The leading object of the Convention was to establish a National Agricul- 

 tural Society ; which object, we are happy to say, was fully accomplished, by calling 

 into existence " The United States Agricultural Society." 



Those who are seriously engaged in the great work of improving American tillage 

 and husbandry in all the States and Territories which compose the Union, have lon^ 

 felt the want of some efficient national organization that would bring the friends of 

 agriculture everywhere to act in concert for the attainment of a common purpose ; but 

 our country is so extensive, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and farmers have 

 so much to do and look after at all times, and especially in the busy month of June, it 

 was naturally feared that no object so public in its character as the formation of an 

 agricultural society, avowedly to embrace the whole United States, could draw out a 

 respectable delegation from a majority of them, to consult togetlier in convention. But 

 thanks to the agricultural press and the intelligence of the people, they are ready to 

 sustain any well-considered plan, no matter how comprehensive, for the collection, 

 increase, and diffusion of agricultural knowledge. The truth of this remark was demon- 

 strated in the appearance of 152 delegates in Washington, many of whom had come 

 several hundred miles at much personal inconvenience and expense, and for no other 

 purpose than to attend the agricultural convention, and discharge what they regarded 

 as a high public duty. Twenty-three States and Territories were represented. 



The Convention was organized by calling Judge Frederick Watts, President of the 

 State Agricultural Society of Pennsylvania, temporarily to the chair, and appointing R. 

 S. Merger, of Maryland, and Daniel Lee, of the District of Columbia, Secretaries. 



On motion, a committee of seven was appointed to nominate permanent officers of the 

 Conv^ention ; from which Mr. King, of Rhode Island, (Editor of the Journal of Agri- 

 culture,) submitted the following nominations : 



For President— VlAR^YLKLL P. WILDER, of Massachusetts. 



For Vice Presidents — Hexrt Wager, of New York; Feederick Watts, of Pennsylvania; Chas. 

 B. Calvert, of Maryland; Wm. F. Hunter, of Ohio; George W. Nesmitii, of New Hampshire; Joiix 

 H. Throckmorton, of Virginia ; H. K. Bu'igywn, of North Carolina ; T. J. Rusk, of Texas ; James 

 DuANE Doty, of Wisconsin. 



For Secretaries — William S. King, of Rhode Island ; B. P. Johnson, of New York ; J. A. WAIlDL■i^, 

 of Ohio ; J. D. B. De Bow, 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: — I will not interrupt the proceedings of this body by any extendad 

 lemarks by the chair; but I can not forbear to tender to you my lieartfelt gratitude for the honor 

 you have conferred upon me in selecting me to preside over your deliberations — an honor which is 

 connected 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 repre- 

 senting the agricultural interest of this great Republic — some gentlemen coming from different and 

 di^tant 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 pjromulgate : 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 foundation of all national and individual prosperity and wealth, the basis of com 



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