No. 133.] 83 



He was again elected to the Assembly in 1840, and also in 1841 ; 

 was elected president of the St. Nicholas Society of Nassau Island 

 in 1848, and was respected and honored by all its members. The 

 General made no pretensions to literature, and seldom wrote any- 

 thing for the public eye ; he nevertheless wielded an eificient pen 

 when his feelings were aroused, or his sense of justice and propri- 

 ety were violated by official malpractices or the wrong doings of 

 individuals. About the years 1831, '2 and '3, Several essayg 

 from his pen, under the signature Joshua, made their appearance 

 in some of the city papers, treating of the existing topics of the 

 day, which were extensively read and applauded by sensible 

 men. 



General Johnson became a member of the American Institute 

 in 1836, and was unanimously elected .an honorary member in 

 1849. He served as chairman of the Board of Agriculture in that 

 institution for several years, in which capacity he rendered essen- 

 tial service. When a member of the Assembly, in 1841, he was 

 very active as chairman of the committee on agriculture, in com- 

 pleting and urging to its final passage the act for the encourage- 

 ment of agriculture in the State of New- York, from the operations 

 of which that department of labor has, and we hope will continue 

 to derive lasting benefits. 



Early in the spring of 1837, arrangements were made by the 

 Institute for holding their first public exhibition of plowing and 

 testing plows ; designed to ascertain the merits of the respective 

 plows then before the public, and to excite the emulation of plow- 

 men, by suitable rewards to those who should exhibit the greatest 

 skill. In this the General took an active part, and tendered the use 

 of a field on his farm for the purpose, which was accepted. The 

 plowing took place on the 28th day of April, 1837, in presence of 

 a large concourse of people who had assembled to witness it, very 

 much to the satisfaction of all concerned. The company then 

 repaired to the village hotel at Williamsburgh, when the awards 

 were declared. On our way there. Gen. Johnson assured the 

 writer of this notice, that the first iron plow ever used in the State 

 of New- York was first put into the soil on the field where we had 

 just been plowing. A large number of the persons assembled 



