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and be answered, defend and be defended, in all 
courts and in all actions, suits, matters and causes 
whatsoever, and to purchase, take, receive, hold 
and enjoy, any real or personal estate, in fee simple 
or otherwise, and the same to lease, sell, dispose 
of and convey, for the purpose of the better ena¬ 
bling them to carry into effect such measures as to, 
the said society shall seem best calculated to pro¬ 
mote agriculture, arts and manufactures within this' 
state : Promded^ That the clear annual value of 
such real and personal estate shall not exceed the 
surn of two thousand five hundred dollars : That 
the said society shall have a common seal, which 
may from time to time changed or altered at its 
pleasure. 
And be it further enacted^ That the said society 
shall, from time to time, forever hereafter, have 
power to make, constitute, ordain and establish 
such by-laws and regulations as the}^ shall judge 
proper for the election of their officers, for prescri¬ 
bing their respective functions, and the mode of 
discharging the same ; for the admission of new 
members into the said society ; for the govern¬ 
ment of the officers and members thereof; for as¬ 
certaining an equal annual rate of contributions 
towards the funds thereof ; for regulating the times 
and places of meeting for managing the affairs of 
the said society, and for suspending or expelling 
such members of the said society, as shall neglect 
or refuse to comply with the by-laws and regula- 
