398 MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



In publishing the Transactions of the Massachusetts Board 

 of Agriculture, it may not be uninteresting to give a sketch of 

 the origin of the Board, with some account of the doings of 

 the Convention, which immediately preceded it. 



At a meeting of the Trustees of the Norfolk Agricultural 

 Society, January 28, 1851, it was voted, " that the president 

 and secretaries be a committee to mature and adopt a plan for 

 a convention of delegates from the various agricultural socier 

 ties of the Commonwealth, to be holden at some convenient 

 time and place, the object of which shall be to concert meas- 

 ures for their mutual advantage, and for the promotion of the 

 cause of agricultural education." 



In the discharge of their duty, the president, Marshall P. 

 Wilder, and the secretaries, Edgar K. Whitaker and Ed- 

 ward L. Keyes, as this committee, addressed communications 

 to the presidents of the several agricultural societies in the 

 State, who cordially approved of the plan of the convention 

 and united in calling it. The convention was accordingly 

 announced to be holden at the State House, in Boston, on 

 Thursday, March 20lh, 1851, and in order to increase the in- 

 terest and usefulness of the occasion, the officers and trustees 

 of the abovenamed societies, and such delegations as might 

 represent them, were invited to attend. 



Associated Agricultural Convention. 



On the day named, the convention assembled, at 10 o'clock, 

 in the Green Room, and was organized by the choice of the 

 following officers, the vice presidents being the presidents of 

 the several societies represented by them : 



