1 8 THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



continued under the direction of the Commissioner of 

 Patents until 1862. 



Even after Congress had definitely committed itself, in 

 this small way, to a policy of utilizing public funds for the 

 aid and encouragement of agriculture, there was no immedi- 

 ate and popular demand for an extension of this activity. 

 However, there were not lacking progressive farmers and 

 business men who looked to the future and saw the need of 

 a better and more scientific system of farming than that 

 generally practiced in this country. Several years prior to 

 the period about which we are now speaking, such men, 

 many of whom were what might be called, ' gentlemen 

 farmers.' whose leisure gave them opportunity for thought 

 and reflection, and whose social positions gave their efforts 

 added weight, were instrumental in promoting and organiz- 

 ing local and state agricultural societies and associations. 

 Such were the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agricul- 

 ture, organized in 1785 and incorporated in 1809; the 

 Charleston (S. C.) Society for the Promotion of Agricul- 

 ture ; the Pennsylvania Society of Agriculture, organized in 

 iSoS; and the Berkshire Agricultural Society in western 

 Massachusetts, organized in 1810, chiefly through the efforts 

 of Elkanah Watson.-^ It was the last of these, as we have 

 seen, w^hich succeeded in focusing the attention of Congress 

 in 1817, at least momentarily, upon the need of some kind 

 of national agricultural institution. 



These societies grew rapidly both in number and member- 

 ship. In 1852. it was estimated that there were approxi- 

 mately three hundred such organizations scattered over all 

 the settled portions of the country.-- By 1861, the number 

 had reached almost a thousand.'^^ The first of these to 

 reach more than state-wide importance was the Columbian 

 Agricultural Society with headquarters at Washington. 

 While its existence was very brief (1809-1815), it enlisted 



21 Bailey, Cyclopedia of American Agriculture, vol. iv, p. 291 ff. 

 2' Journal of the U. S. Agricultural Society, vol. i, p. 3. 

 =^ The Quarterly Journal of Agriculture (Washington), vol. viii, 

 p. 26. 



