REPORT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
71 
separated somewhat from his neighbors, should rather incline 
to isolation, to a sort of selfish independence and to a 
reliance upon his own experience and upon the experience of 
his ancestry in direct lineage, and thus shut out not only the 
inovation of other men’s ideas, but also the liberalizing influ¬ 
ence of neighborly association. 
This blindness of the past is giving way, however, before the 
light of demonstrable science, and Agriculture, so long left to 
grope in darkness, is fast becoming one of the most liberal and 
progressive of all the arts. The farmer has found that there 
is advantage is knowing the experiences and the discoveries of 
other men engaged in the same pursuit, and he is, therefore, 
not only willing, but is even becoming anxious to avail himself 
of those experiences, of the improvements in the Mechanic 
Arts, and of the numberless applications of science. It is this 
increasing liberality among agriculturists which has given ori¬ 
gin to so many societies, town, county, state, and national, 
within the past twenty years; and it is these societies, in turn, 
that have given such an impetus to the work of agricultural 
improvement, and within the brief period of a single genera¬ 
tion, placed this noblest of the arts upon a higher plane of 
dignity and honor. 
At present, every State in the Union—at least every North¬ 
ern State—has its agricultural societies in operation, and the 
work of organization is still going on, with so much of spirit 
and enterprise, that it will not be long until every county and 
town will have its association. 
In 1851 the number of County Societies in this State was 
9 — Columbia, Dane, Iowa, Kenosha, Racine, Rock, Sheboy¬ 
gan, Walworth and Waukesha being the counties in which they 
had been organized up to and including that date. Several of 
these declined, remained in abeyance for a number of years, 
and were again called into vigorous action. There are now 37 
societies in active operation, many of them provided with ex¬ 
hibition grounds and buildings, and, with scarcely an exception, 
all are doing a most important work for the industry of their 
respective counties. 
