COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATIONS 287 



Society was created in 1854,, endowed with an appro- 

 priation and authorized to hold state fairs in a 

 series which has been unbroken to the present day. 

 The early work of this society had this unique fea- 

 ture. Committees were sent to every point where 

 agricultural effort was being put forth and official re- 

 port was made of the undertakings and results of all 

 persons with plants and animals so that all might 

 profit by their experience in the pursuit of farming 

 under conditions that were new and strange to all. 

 The whole State was a popular experiment station. 

 The education of the pioneers by this method was 

 rapid and its influence in the promotion of the early 

 agriculture was remarkable. 



While organizations for holding exhibitions of 

 achievements and for discussion of ways by which 

 they were attained were multiplying, there was now 

 and then an out-cropping of the idea that farmers 

 should effectively organize for promotion of their 

 industry and a fair consideration of it among other 

 vocations. The first organized effort to secure a 

 fair share of product value for producers was by the 

 wool-growers, who formed an association on Sep- 

 tember 24, 1860, "to provide a remedy against efforts 

 to establish a monopoly in the wool markets of the 

 State/' which wool buyers had in good working 

 order at that date and on which the growers combina- 

 tion had a marked deterrent effect. 



In January 1867 the secretary of the State Board 

 of Agriculture addressed a "memorial to the people 

 of California" in which it was said: 



