"Premium 10.-Ten dollars for the best pair of fine woollen knit stockings, to Miss Patsey Shackleford, of Culpeper Court House, Virginia.

"Premium 11.-Ten dollars for the best pair of woollen woven stockings. None were offered.

"Premium 12.-Thirty dollars for the best pair of fine woollen blankets, to Mrs. Martha P. Graham, of Dumfries, Prince William county, Virginia.

"Premium 13.-Thirty dollars for the best pair of fine cotton blankets, to Mrs. Martha P. Graham, of Dumfries, Prince William county, Virginia. "Premium 14.-Fifteen dollars for the best pair of stout coarse blankets for laborers, to Mr. George M. Conradt, of Fredericktown, Maryland.

"Premium 15.-Fifteen dollars for the best parcel of flax or hempen sewingthread, to Mrs. Elizabeth Gunnell, of Minorca, Fairfax county, Virginia.

"Premium 16.-Forty dollars for the best woollen carpeting, in the piece, to Mrs. Elizabeth Maynadier, of Belvoir, Anne Arundel county, Maryland.

"Premium 17.-Fifteen dollars for the best hearth rug, to Mrs. Elizabeth Maynadier, of Belvoir, Anne Arundel county, Maryland.

"Premium 18.-Twenty dollars for the best specimen of durable dye, with the receipt, to Mrs. Martha P. Graham, of Dumfries, Prince William county, Virginia."

The third semi-annual exhibition was held on May 16, 1811, in Parrott's Grove, which was then the property of Thomas Beall, esq., in whose absence Mrs. Beall had placed it at the disposal of the society. The National Intelligencer of the next day says that "it was attended, as usual, by several hundred of the most respectable ladies and gentlemen in the District and neighboring counties of Virginia and Maryland, among whom were the President, heads of departments, and generally all the prominent officers of the gov ernment, the French minister, and our minister to France. The show of sheepmerino, mixed blood, and natives-was said to be as numerous and respectable as any ever seen in the country. The manufactures, exclusively domestic, attracted much admiration. The premiums were distributed as awarded by the judges. The pleasantness of the day, the nature of the ground, shaded with forest trees; the fragrance of the flowers, with the various entrances to the enclosure decorated, the presence of the music, and the good humor and gaiety which it contributed to diffuse, rendered the meeting unusually agreeable."

The fourth semi-annual exhibition was held in Georgetown on the 20th of November, and was fully reported in the National Intelligencer of the 21st and 26th. "The day was rainy, and therefore unfavorable to the exhibition, especially of cattle. Of above one hundred that had been brought into the town and neighborhood, not more than six or eight were exhibited, the state of the weather rendered it so inconvenient. The cattle exhibited attracted general notice, especially an extraordinary steer, raised by Mr. Steinberger, of Shenandoah county, Virginia. This animal is believed to be the largest ever raised in Virginia; it is supposed he will weigh 2,700 pounds on the hoof, and near 2,000 pounds net beef. The show of domestic manufactures could not but be pleasing to every person present. The specimens of woollen cloth, blankets, flannels, kerseymeres, carpets, fancy patterns, cotton cloths, &c., evinced the progress which our citizens are making in this branch of economy. Many of the articles were judged to be equal, some were thought superior, to imported fabrics of the same kind."

The fifth semi-annual exhibition of the Columbian Society was held in Mr. Beall's grove, on the 20th of May, 1812, and was well attended, although the embargo and other warlike measures occupied public attention. The report in the National Intelligencer of May 26 says that "the exhibition of domestic manufactures was highly gratifying in point of number of articles, variety, beauty, and quality. There was a greater number of sheep shown than at any

former meeting of the society, especially of the fine-wooled breeds. The judges of sheep were the Hon. Joseph Kent, of the House of Representatives, and the Hon. Thomas Worthington, of the Senate of the United States, and Clement Brooke and Jolin Threlkell." Among the premiums awarded were:

14. Twenty dollars for the best three-horsed plough to break up heavy land, to Wm. Thornton, of Montgomery county, Maryland.

15. Ten dollars for the best two-horsed plough to break up light land, to James Brown, of Montgomery county, Maryland.

16. Ten dollars for the best weeding plough, to go with one horse, to Solomon Cassidy, of Alexandria, District of Columbia.

These ploughs were tested by "Isaac Pierce, Emmor Bailey, John Weeld, David Frame, and John Canly, esqrs., judges of the plough." The premium list adopted December 11, and published December 19, 1811, had stated that the ploughs would be expected to "unite in their construction, durability and simplicity, with steady and easy draught." This was doubtless the "first fieldtrial of implements" in America.

Of the sixth semi-annual exhibition, held at Georgetown, on the 18th of November, 1812, there is no mention in the newspapers, except the premium list, which was published in the National Intelligencer on the Thursday previous. The amount of the premiums offered was upwards of four hundred dollarsamong them one of "twenty dollars for the best written essay on the mode of gearing and working oxen, founded on experiments." Unfortunately, however, the war with England overshadowed everything else, and as the time had expired for which the society had been organized, it was dissolved. But its successful exertions in awakening a more general interest in the various departments of husbandry-not only in the immediate vicinity of its exhibition, but in the adjacent States-merit a grateful remembrance by the agriculturists of America. Had the war drum not summoned many of the principal members from their peaceful enclosures to the tented field, there is good reason to believe that its circle of usefulness might have continued to increase. It had already reached the outer counties of Maryland and Virginia, and it doubtless would have gone on enlarging its area of usefulness, until the cultivators of the entire Union had become interested in the Columbian Agricultural Society.

CULTIVATION OF THE VINE AND THE OLIVE.

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After what is known as the "last war with Great Britain," there was, several years, but little agricultural progress, although the number of State and county agricultural societies was every year increased. In 1817, Congress granted four townships of unoccupied land (92,160 acres) lying in that part of the Mississippi territory now comprised within the counties of Greene and Marengo, in the State of Alabama, to Charles Villar, agent of an association of emigrants from France, for the purpose and on the condition of settlement of at least one adult to each half section contained in the said four townships, and for the cultivation of the vine, the olive, and other vegetable productions, no settler being entitled to more than 640 acres; the grantee to pay the government of the United States the sum of $184,320 ($2 per acre) on or before the expiration of fourteen years. It was further stipulated that, within three years from the date of the contract, there should be made upon each tract allotted to the respective associates a settlement by themselves, individually, or by others on their account; that, on or before the expiration of seven years, there should be cultivated at least one acre of each quarter section, taken aggregately, in vines; and that there should be planted within that period, in said four townships, not less than five hundred olive trees, unless it should have been previously established that the olive could not be cultivated thereon.

The report of the Secretary of the Treasury in December, 1867, shows that

there were 7,414 acres cultivated within the above-named tract, principally in vines, cotton, corn, small grain, &c. The quantity of land devoted to the vines was 27 acres, which, according to an estimate, was not more than one-tenth part of what was originally planted. The vineyards occupied fields which had previously been cultivated with cotton, the vines standing ten feet apart in one direction and twenty feet apart in the other, each fastened to a stake. The number of olive trees standing on the grant was three hundred and eighty-eight, some of which were six years planted and others only three. There were also planted on the tract twenty-five thousand olive seeds. It has been stated that about five hundred French emigrants settled under this concession; yet, comparatively few made any considerable improvements, although extensive and profitable farms were in possession of Americans, who had purchased them from the grantees. The chief reasons assigned for the failure of the performance on the part of the emigrants were not only the natural obstacles incident to the settlement of a new country, but many of them came prematurely into their lands, without funds sufficient to improve their allotments, or even to provide for their immediate support. For several years the colony was remarkably unhealthy, scarcely a family escaping sickness, and numbers of the grantees died. Again, possessing, as they did, but little knowledge of agricultural economy, strangers to the language, the manners, and habits of our people, it is not surprising that they should be retarded in their progress, and be less prosperous than the citizens of the United States.

The chief causes which led to failures in the culture of the olive and the vine were ascribed to the necessity each grantee was under of first obtaining the means of subsistence; the difficulty and length of time required in clearing and prepar ing the land nearly seven years elapsing before this was accomplished; yet very early importations of cuttings were made, a large quantity of which arrived out of season, and when we consider the lateness of the period in Europe at which they had to be taken, and the early time at which they must be planted in Alabama, it is obvious that any considerable delay in the arrival of vessels must have caused them to perish on the way. All of the cuttings which arrived alive were carefully planted, though large numbers of them died, owing, as was believed, to the newness of the soil. Again, the kinds of vine imported did not appear in all cases adapted to our climate, and doubtless the modes of culture of Europe and this country were radically different. Finally, the olive trees that were planted perished with every winter's frost, but put up fresh roots in the spring, which also perished with that of the succeeding season.

AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS.

During the administration of John Quincy Adams, instructions were sent to the consuls of the United States to forward rare plants and seeds to the Department of State for distribution. A government botanic garden at Washington was also established, the nucleus of the present botanic and propagating gardens, which have been of such practical utility in the propagation and distribution of rare plants, vines, and trees. Agricultural periodicals and newspapers were gradually established, the State and county agricultural exhibitions were annually held, and there were decided improvements made in agricultural implements and tools.

But agriculture was regarded as a subordinate, if not a degrading, employment. Farmers' boys were made to toil with worn-out tools until they generally escaped to sea or to the city, while the professions were looked upon as the only steppingstones to honor and a high social position. It is a curious fact, however, that the most eminent of those who deserted the old homestead to enter upon "the golden chase of life," ever yearned for the bosom of mother carth and finally returned to it. Jackson at the Hermitage, Calhoun at Fort Hill, Clay at Ashland, and Webster at Marshfield, each paid a practical homage to agriculture,

and consecrated those spots as heart-shrines to be remembered with Mount Vernon and La Grange. Majestic as was the form of the "expounder of the Constitution" when he stood up in defence of the Union upon the floor of the United States Senate chamber, how much more interesting would be his portrait when, raised on his death-bed, he took a last fond look at his herd of cattle, which he had requested might be driven slowly before his window, one by one.

In 1826, Congress ordered the publication of a well-digested manual, prepared by Richard Rush, Secretary of the Treasury, containing the best practical information that could be collected on the growth and manufacture of silk. In 1828, an edition of a "Treatise on the Rearing of Silk-worms," by. Count Von Haggi, of Munich, was printed as a congressional document, and several valuable reports on silk-culture were made and published, until the bursting of the "Morus Multicaulis bubble" checked this branch of agricultural industry.

OPERATIONS OF THE PATENT OFFICE.

In 1837-38, the necessity for importations of breadstuffs to the amount of several millions of dollars awakened the politicians and the people to the necessity of agricultural improvements. It was evident, when public attention had been called to the subject, that the Anglo-Saxon system of rapacity in the management of farms was continually tending to exhaustion of the soil. The falling off in the average yield per acre, which commenced upon the borders of the Atlantic, spreading from New England down to Florida, was creeping insidiously toward the west. It had been unmistakably shown in New England and in New York, and if we had madly pursued the depletive tillage of those days, the fertile prairies of the west would, ere this, have ranked with the poor soils of the earlier settled east, from which the people have been rushing towards the setting sun like armies of locusts, destroying as they passed along. Agriculturists were straining every nerve in the production of labor-saving tools. Something had to be done, and done quickly, to improve the agriculture of the republic, and it was then that the late Judge Buel, of New York, advocated the establishment of agricultural colleges.

Congress came to the rescue, and, at the suggestion of Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth, Commissioner of Patents, appropriated, in 1839, $1,000 for the "collection of agricultural statistics, investigations for promoting agriculture and rural economy, and the procurement of cuttings and seeds for gratuitous distribution among the farmers." This paltry appropriation was not made in 1840 or in 1841, but was renewed in 1842. In 1843 it was increased to $2,000, which sum was again voted in 1844, and in 1845 the appropriation was $3,000. In 1846 there was no appropriation made, but in 1847 Congress voted $3,000. Since then the agricultural appropriation has been made regularly, and gradually increased until it is more worthy of the nation. The first agricultural report, made by the Patent Office in 1839, contained fifty-four pages, and it was gradually increased in size. Large as were the editions of the agricultural reports, it is already very difficult to procure those of some years.

The Patent Office, through its agricultural division, did much for the advancement of agriculture, and demonstrated the necessity for a Department of Agriculture. Large quantities of valuable seeds and plants were scattered broadcast among the people, with directions as to the best modes of cultivation, while a great mass of facts and theories was accumulated at a common centre, for comparison and subsequent publication. It must be admitted that experiments have been made and seeds distributed which have proved of little profit, yet, in a country possessed of so great a variety of soil and climate, it was wise to essay the propagation of every plant affording any hope of usefulness, especially as each success would more than compensate for all the cost and trouble attending many instances of failure.

THE UNITED STATES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

In 1841 a convention of gentlemen, anxious "to elevate the character and standing of the cultivation of the American soil," was held at Washington to organize a national agricultural society, with the fund which had been bcqueathed by Hugh Smithson for its support. The establishment of the Smithsonian Institution prevented the realization of the hopes of those who had desired to make this endowment practically useful, and the national society remained dormant until 1852, when another convention was called to meet at Washington by twelve State agricultural associations. At this convention, held on the 14th of June, 1852, there were present one hundred and fifty-two delegates, representing twenty-three States and Territories, and the United States Agricultural Society was organized. The objects of the society, as declared by the preamble to its constitution, are to "improve the agriculture of the country, by attracting attention, eliciting the views, and confirming the efforts of that great class composing the agricultural community, and to secure the advantages of a better organization and more extended usefulness among all State, county, and other agricultural societies." The society was incorporated by an act of Congress, approved April 19, 1860.

The annual meetings of the United States Agricultural Society, held at Washington city, were, until the commencement of the war, a realization of the National Board of Agriculture, recommended by the farmer of Mount Vernon. Gentlemen from almost every State in the Union (many of them delegates from agricultural associations) were annually assembled to discuss such topics as presented, calculated to advance the cause of agricultural improvement; interesting and valuable lectures were delivered by practical and scientific farmers; reports were submitted by committees specially appointed to examine new inventions and theories, and by delegates who had been accredited to the agriculturists of other lands; and there was "a general interchange of opinion." The great practical truth and characteristic of the present gencration," said the farmer of Marshfield, "is that public improvements are brought about by voluntary association and combination. The principle of associationthe practice of bringing men together for the same general object, pursuing the same general end, and uniting their intellectual and physical efforts to that purpose is a great improvement in our age. And the reason is obvious. Ĥere men meet together that they may converse with one another-that they may compare with each other their experience, and thus keep up a constant communication. In this practical point of view, these agricultural associations are of great importance. Conversation, intercourse with other minds, is the general source of knowledge. Books do something. But it is conversation-it is the meeting of men face to face, and talking over what they have in common interest-it is this intercourse that makes men sharp, intelligent, ready to communicate to others, and ready to receive instruction from them."

National exhibitions and field trials were held by the United States Agricultural Society at Spingfield, Massachusetts; Springfield, Ohio; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Syracuse, New York; Louisville, Kentucky; Richmond, Virginia; Chicago, Illinois; and Cincinnati, Ohio. These national exhibitions were self-sustaining, the receipts meeting the disbursements of upwards of one hundred thousand dollars for premiums and expenses; and they not only increased the efficiency of State, county, and local associations, but called together larger assemblages of the people than convened upon other occasions, embracing not only our most intelligent yeomanry, but gentlemen of every art and profession, from every portion of the wide-spread Union, evincing that the national pulse beat in unison with agriculture, and that the public voice was responsive to the call. At the banquets with which these national jubilees were concluded eminent gentlemen met upon the broad plat