40 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Sec. 3. The officers of this Society shall consist of a President, four 
Vice-Presidents, one to be located in each judicial circuit, a Record¬ 
ing Secretary, a Corresponding Secretary, a Treasurer, and Direc¬ 
tors, to consist of the officers above named, and five additional mem¬ 
bers, and five of the ex-Presidents whose term of office has last ex¬ 
pired, shall be ex-officio Directors; and also a General Committee,-— 
members of which shall be located in the several comities, and be 
equal to the representations in ihe State Senate. 
Sec. 4. The Recording and Corresponding Secretaries shall per¬ 
form the duties usual to such officers. 
The Treasurer shall keep the funds, and shall disburse them on or¬ 
der of the President, or a Vice-President, countersigned by the Re¬ 
cording Secretary, and shall make a report of the receipts and expen¬ 
ditures at every annual meeting. 
The Directors shall take charge of and distribute or preserve all 
seeds, plants, books, models, Ac., which may be transmitted to the 
Society; shall have charge of all publications; shall appoint the Ge¬ 
neral Committee; shall have power to fill any vacancies which may 
occur in the officers during ihe year, and shall have the general con¬ 
trol of all matters pertaining 1o the interest of the Society, not special¬ 
ly acted upon by the Society at large. 
The General Committee are charged with the interests of the Soci¬ 
ety in the counties in which ihey shall respectively reside, and will 
constitute a medium of communication between the Directors and the 
other members of the Sociely. 
Sec. 5. There shall be an annual meeting of the Society at such 
time and place as the Directors shall designate, at which all the offi¬ 
cers—save the General Committee—shall be elected by a plurality of 
votes, and by ballot. Extra meetings may be' convened by the Direc¬ 
tors, and at such meetings twenty-five members shall ire a quorum. 
Sec. 6. The Society shall hold an Annual Cattle Show and Fair, 
at such time and place as shall be designated by the Directors. 
Sec. 7 This Constitution may be amended by a vote of two-thirds 
of the members attending any Annual Meeting. 
A meeting of the Directors was held at Burlington, on 
the 25th day of September last, when the General Com¬ 
mittee were chosen, and also a committee to draft a Bill 
for the consideration of the Legislature, granting the So¬ 
ciety an incorporation and an annual appropriation of 
money from the State Treasury. In October the follow¬ 
ing Bill was introduced to the House of Representatives, 
referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and by them 
returned to the House, with a report in favor of its pas¬ 
sage; 
An Act creating a State Society for the Promotion of 
Agriculture, Horticulture, and the Arts. 
Whereas, certain citizens met at Middlebury, in this State, on the 
10th and 11th days of September, A. D. 1851, formed an Association, 
chose a President, four Vice-Presidents, a Rec. Secretary, a Cor. Sec¬ 
retary. Treasurer, and a Board of Directors, named their Association 
“ The Ve; mout State Agricultural Society,” and announced its. object 
to be u improvement in Agriculture, Horticulture, and the Arts — 
Now, therefore, It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of 
the State of Vermont;— 
Sec. 1. Said citizens so associated together, with such citizens ofthis 
Stale as shall hereafter signify", in writing, their wish to become mem¬ 
bers of said Society, and pay, on subscribing, such sum of money as 
the Constitution or Rules and Regulations thereof, may prescribe, are 
hereby constituted a body politic and corporate, to be known and dis¬ 
tinguished by the name of The Vermont State Agricultural Society , 
■whose objecl shall be improvement in Agriculture, Horticulture, and 
the Arts. Said Sociely may make and establish such By-laws, Rules 
and Regula'ions, not inconsistent with the Constitution or jaws of this 
State, or of the United Stales, as shall from time to time appear need¬ 
ful for its proper government,—and the By-laws hr Rules and Regu¬ 
lations adopted by said citizens, at iheir meeting in Middlebury, afore¬ 
said, shall be the By-laws, Rules and Regulations of said Society", 
until others are adopted by the members thereof; may have a com¬ 
mon seal, and the same alter at pleasure; may sue and be sued, plead 
and be impleaded, contract and be contracted with, and prosecule 
and defend to final judgment and execution, in any court of law or 
equity; may hold by gift, purchase, or otherwise, real and personal 
estate lo an amount hot exceeding ten ihousand dollars, for the pro¬ 
motion of the object of said Society, which estate shall be exclusive¬ 
ly" devoted to such object. 
Sec. 2. The officers of the Association mentioned in the Preamble 
to this Act, shall be the officers of the Vermont State Agricultural 
Sociely, and shall hold their places for one year, or until others shall 
be chosen at a regular annual meeting of the Society" called for that 
purpose, agreeebleto the Rules and Regulations thereof. Thereafter, 
the officers of said Society shall consist of a President, four Vice-Pre¬ 
sidents, a Recording Secretary, a Corresponding Secretary, a Trea¬ 
surer, and such number of Directors as may be determined by" a vote 
of the Society". Said officers shall be chosen annually", at such time 
and place, and in such manner, as the Society by its By-laws or Re¬ 
gulations shall designate; shall hold their places until their successors^ 
are elected, and have power to fill all vacancies lhat may occur 
among them during the year. 
Sec. 3 It shall be the duty of the Recording Secretary" of said So¬ 
ciety, lo keep full and fair records of all proceedings of the same in 
a boolc provided for that purpose, and such book may be used as evi¬ 
dence in any Court in this Slate. 
Sec. 4. Whenever the Vermont State Agricultural Sociely shall 
rais* any sum of money not less than Si000, and place the same in 
the uands of its Treasurer, to be awarded and paid out in premiums 
as hereinafter mentioned, the said Treasurer shall make an affidavit 
of the same, specifying the amount of money so raised and deposited 
with him, which affidavit shall be filed with the Treasurer of this 
State, who is thereupon directed to pay to the Treasurer of said So¬ 
ciety, out of the Treasury of the State, the sum of $1000, to be 
awarded and expended in premiums as hereinafter mentioned; and 
annually thereafter, a like sum of money, for alike purpose, is direct¬ 
ed lo be paid out of the Treasury of the State, to the Treasurer of 
said Society: Provided, howevet, lhat in each year, before said sum 
of $1000 shall be paid out of the State Treasury, it shall appear, by 
the affidavit of the Treasurer of said Society, lhat a sum of money 
not less than $1000 has been raised by said Society, and is in his hands 
for the purpose'aforesaid. 
Sec 5. At least $2,000 shall be annually awarded and paid out in 
Premiums by the Vermont State Agricultural Society, in such sums 
as said Sociely, by its Rules and Regulations, may, from lime to time, 
direct; and it shall be the spirit and intent of such Rules and Regu¬ 
lations to encourage the people of this Stale in the breeding and rear¬ 
ing of the best and most profitable agricultural animals,—in ihe prac¬ 
tice of ihe most correct methods of Agriculture and Horticulture; to 
stimulate lliem to enterprise, experiment, discovery and improvement 
in these primitive and important pursuits'; so far as maybe, to diffuse 
light aitd knowledge upon these subjects; and to promote ihe success 
of those arts worthily engaging the application of the people of Vei; 
mont. 
Sec. (5. The Treasurer of said State Sociely shall withhold all pre¬ 
miums awarded on field crops, fat animals, orchard or general farm 
management. Maple sugar, the products of the dairy, and, generally, 
upon all the methods of Agriculture and Horticulture in regard to 
which it is desirable to diffuse specific information, until the person 
or persons lo Whom the same shall have been awarded shall deliver 
to said Treasurer, in writing, an accurate description of the process 
of preparing the soil, including the nature and quantity of the manure 
applied, and a full delailed statement of the manner of cultivating the 
land and raising the crop, feeding the animal, or manufacturing the 
article,—as the case may be,—also, of the expense, increase, ant! 
profits of tire same: with the view to supply the exact and necessary 
data from which .said Sociely may collect and disseminale useful in¬ 
formation upon ihese subjects. 
Sec. 7. It shall be ihe duty of the Treasurer of said Society to de¬ 
duct from the premiums awarded to any person the sum required to 
be subscribed annually for membership therein; and said sum, so re¬ 
served, shall constitute such person a member of the Society for the 
year then next following. 
Sec. 8. The Treasurer of said Society shall, in the month of Octo¬ 
ber annually, furnish six copies of the Annual Reports of the Society 
lo the Secretary of Slate, to be by him placed in the Library of this 
State. 
Sec. 9. This Act is subject to alteration, amendment, or repeal, by 
any future Legislature. 
Sec. 10. This Act shall take effect from its passage. 
I am sorry to'be obliged to say that the foregoing bill 
received little consideration from the Legislature, and 
was dismissed with the greatest despatch—not being 
deemed worthy of even a fair argument. It is really 
humiliating to humanity that almost always when legist 
la*tive bodies are invited to do something to advance agri¬ 
culture, they not only refuse, hut often treat such ap¬ 
plication with contempt. There se ms to be an inability 
to understand that whatever improves the agriculture of 
a State, directly or indirectly favors all other interests. 
An advancing flourishing agriculture is sure to invite in 
other trades and callings; and thus the school house, the 
church, good roads, in short, all the institutions and pri¬ 
vileges of good society are readily provided, the neces¬ 
sary burdens of government are easily borne, and the 
flower of the population, instead of emigrating to other 
districts, causing the gradual depopulation and decay of 
towms, is tempted and induced to stay at home. Not¬ 
withstanding that an improving cultivation secures these 
other results, it is difficult to convince legislatures of the 
propriety of. appropriating money for the promotion of 
good farming, though they will vote it to almost all other 
objects. Practically, so far as agriculture is concerned, 
the sentiment seems to he that the world must he rolled 
backwards; that nothing new, no discoveries or improve¬ 
ments are needed; that we must look to past ages for 
our rules of cultivation; that all of value, all the firmer 
can possibly need to know, all that is safe for him to 
practice, was found out ages ago. What a compliment 
the holders of such sentiments pay themselves, and their 
age generally! A sufficient rebuke to such ideas maybe 
found in the memorable wmrdsof Lord Bacon, w r ho. more 
than two hundred years ago said; “The opinion which 
men entertain of antiquity, is a very idle thing, and al¬ 
most incongruous to the word ; for the old age and length 
of days of the world, should in reality he accounted an¬ 
tiquity, and ought to he attributed to our own times not 
to the youth of the world, which it enjoyed among the 
ancients; for that age, though w r ith respect to us it he 
