The formation of county medical societies was authorized in 1806, by an act of the Legislature, which conferred on them certain powers and imposed certain duties. Previously, all persons desiring to practice "physic and surgery," were required to present evidence of their competency to the Chancellor of the State, to a Judge of the Supreme or Common Pleas Court, or to a Master in Chancery, and on receiving a certificate entitling them to practice, to file it in the county clerk's office, under penalty of receiving no remuneration, or in case pay was received, being fined twenty-five dollars each time it was so received. The law authorizing county medical societies conferred on them authority to grant licenses and recognize diplomas from other States and countries, but such licenses and diplomas were required to be filed in the county clerk's office under like penalties.

    The Chenango County Medical Society was organized at the village of Oxford, "for the diffusion of friendship and medical science," August 5, 1806. That meeting was attended by Tracy Robinson, Jonathan Johnson, George Mowry, Isaac F. Thomas, Ebenezer Ross, and Cyrus French, who were the constituent members of the society. Tracy Robinson was chairman of the meeting, and George Mowry, secretary. Tracy Robinson was elected President of the society; Jonathan Johnson, Vice-President; George Mowry, Secretary; and Isaac F. Thomas, Treasurer. The meeting was adjourned to meet the first Monday in October following, at the house of Benjamin Edmunds in Norwich, at one o'clock P. M. At that meeting, which was held October 6, 1806, and attended by the same persons, Dr. Robinson was elected the first delegate to the State Medical Society; the remaining five members were constituted a Board of Censors. These officers were re-elected in 1807.¹

    July 1, 1807, the society met at the house of Joseph Brooks in Norwich, and appointed Isaac F. Thomas and George Mowry a committee to make choice of some device for a seal and procure the same for the use of the society. January 4, 1808, it was "voted that the emblem of a seal for the said society shall represent a lady leaning upon an anchor."" May 2, 1808, the American eagle was adopted as a temporary device

    At the annual meeting held October 5, 1807, it was voted that the members of the society charge for their services as follows: "traveling fees, one shilling and sixpence per mile; E. Dente, two shillings if charged; V. Sutis, one and sixpence; emetic or cathartic, one and sixpence; for every case in the obstetric art, if natural, three dollars, but if we are obliged to have recourse to instruments, six dollars, if we are detained over nine hours, one dollar for every additional six hours, and traveling fees if over four miles; for every dislocation or simple fracture, two dollars; for consultation, twelve shillings.² Interest on all accounts, after six months' standing. Every member for undercharging shall forfeit the sum of one dollar for each offense." At this meeting it was voted that crape be worn on the left arm by the members for fourteen days, as a testimony of respect to Dr. Cyrus French, late of Stonington, deceased. This is the first recorded death in the Society. Tracy Robinson also delivered a dissertation, which, at the next meeting, July 4, 1808, it was resolved to publish.

    At the latter date the first case of expulsion is recorded. William Warriner was expelled "for immoral conduct and contempt of this society." May 1, 1809, Isaac F. Thomas was expelled "for refusing to disclose certain nostrums relative to the practice of physic and surgery." Having "disclosed the nostrums," he was re-admitted July 3, 1809.

    As the law required societies to enforce its provisions in their respective counties, January 2, 1809, Dr. Henry Mitchell, who became a member July 1, 1807, was appointed advocate of the society, to take notice of all complaints of its members one against another. But the records do not show that many prosecutions were necessary.

    The by-laws of the society were adopted October 4, 1813. There is no record of the adoption of any prior to that time.³ They provided that the meetings should be held the first Monday in October, January, May and July, at such place as a majority by ballot should direct. The officers were to consist of a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and not more than five nor less than three censors. Each member was required to pay an annual tax, commencing with the annual meeting in October, 1807. The eighth section of the by-laws provided "that no member of this society shall hold nostrums or tenets of any kind that may be useful to the healing art; but shall, on the application of any member, freely communicate to the society whatever information he may be in possession of relative to the practice of physic and surgery, and upon his refusal to communicate such information he shall be expelled from the society." Section eleven required every member to "conform to a uniform mode of charging, under such penalty for non-compliance as a majority of the society shall think proper to inflict;" and section twelve provided "that the society shall stipulate the prices of services and medicine at each annual meeting, varying the prices from year to year as they may think expedient."

    At the semi-annual meeting held in Gates Hotel, Norwich, June 11, 1816, it was voted that each member present (seven in number,) advance four dollars towards purchasing a public library; and Drs. Mitchell, Johnson and Crumb were appointed a committee to select the books. The balance of the money in the treasury was devoted to the same object, but the amount is not stated. The four dollars were refunded May 14, 1822.

    October 6, 1816, it was voted to meet three times each year, on the second Tuesday in February, June and October. Dr. Mitchell was chosen librarian,⁴ and it was voted that each member advance two dollars towards making an addition to the library.

    May 8, 1821, Drs. Mitchell, Mason and Ross were appointed a committee with discretionary powers, "to prosecute all persons practicing physic and surgery within this county contrary to the laws of this State, provided they do not expend more than $15 of the funds of this society to accomplish this object." October 9th of this year it was resolved "that each practitioner of medicine in this county be taxed one dollar annually for the purpose of purchasing a medical library, apparatus, &c."

    May 14, 1822, Drs. Pierce, Mason, Harris, Ross and Mitchell were appointed a committee to digest a code of medical ethics and report at the next annual meeting. The code of medical ethics of the State Medical Society was adopted October 13, 1830. New by-laws were also adopted at the latter date. In 1849, the code of ethics, adopted by the American Medical Association in 1847, was incorporated into the articles of the society.

    May 13, 1828, it was resolved "that the revised statute relating to medicine and surgery meets the entire approbation of this society, and is considered to be every way calculated to elevate the character and standing of the profession.

    October 13, 1830, Drs. Farr, Boynton, White, Mitchell, Ross and McWhorter, were appointed to make a medical topographical survey of the county in conformity with a request of the State Medical Society. The committee were discharged from further duty at the semi-annual meeting in May, 1831. The records do not show the character of their report, nor, indeed, that they made any. October 8, 1839, Dr. Willard read before the society an able address on the subject of the Medical Botany of Chenango County.

    October 11, 1831, the president was instructed to take such legal steps in relation to practicing physicians not member of the society as the statutes required. At this meeting Dr. Levi Farr read a dissertation on the character, symptoms, treatment, and probable origin of small-pox as it presented itself in the county the previous season; and Dr. Royal Ross gave a verbal history of that disease as it appeared under his observation. May 9, 1837, Dr. William D. Purple submitted a series of resolutions, urging the necessity of legislative action to prevent the ravages of that disease. Drs. Willard, Purple and Cornell were appointed to consider and report thereon, and on the 10th of October following, presented an able report, which was ordered printed. The same committee were instructed to draft a memorial to the Legislature praying the passage of a law embracing the objects recommended. It was further resolved to lay the report of the committee before the State Medical Society.

    October 11, 1836, the society adopted the following resolutions presented by a committee previously appointed to consider the subject of the attendance of physicians on coroners' juries:---

    "Resolved, That this society acknowledges the right of the legally constituted authorities of the State to call on whomsoever they may deem necessary, by writ of subpoena or otherwise, to give evidence in cases coming within the criminal jurisprudence of the State.

    "Resolved, That this society knows no law, nor right, nor tradition, nor form of subpoena, nor any other writ which can compel the physician, or any other person, to seek for and ferret out the evidence he is afterwards to give before a coroner or court of justice.

    "Resolved, That we, the members of this society, do not consider ourselves either morally or legally bound to render extra services to the State, aside from our services as citizens, without adequate compensation."

    October 13, 1840, the Society resolved to sell or otherwise dispose of the library at its next meeting; October 12, 1841, the matter was indefinitely postponed. A final disposition of the matter was not reached until January 11, 1848, when the books composing it were divided among the members.

    The society took early and creditable action upon those questions which agitated the community about the time that Homeopathy began to force its just claims on public attention, and even anticipated legislative action thereon. The legislative action which soon followed---in 1844---was regarded by many with grave and honest apprehension, for it was thought that it would prove detrimental to the interests of the profession. It has, however, worked beneficially, in resting the prestige of the profession upon its real rather than its assumed merits.

    January 9, 1844, on motion of Dr. William D. Purple, it was

    "Resolved, as the sense of this Society that the law prohibiting or restraining the practice of physic and surgery by persons unlicensed be repealed, and that all who practice the same be responsible for mal-practice in the same manner as persons legally licensed."

    June 11, 1844, it was

    "Resolved, That the Chenango County Medical Society approve the late act of the Legislature of this State, by which unlicensed practitioners are allowed to collect their fees, and like the regularly educated physician are made liable to action for mal-practice, believing that public as well as a professional interest will be thereby promoted."

    June 10, 1845, on motion of Dr. Willard, it was

    "Resolved, That this Society, since the Legislature of this State has seen fit to abolish virtually all law bestowing any peculiar immunities on physicians as a body, deem that it is not now bound to receive all practicing physicians on application, as the law seems to require; in other words that physicians are not members of this Society by virtue of their diplomas, and furthermore that this Society possesses, since the passage of the act of May 6, 1844, the power of expelling or otherwise dealing with its members, without reference to the judiciary of the county."

    June 8, 1847, the Society adopted the following preamble and resolution:--

    "WHEREAS, The medical laws of this State impose very stringent and onerous burthens on each member of the medical profession without extending to him any immunities not secured to all, except it be an exemption to indictment as a nuisance; and whereas, if nothing be given, nothing should be required at the hands of the profession; therefore,

    "Resolved, As the sense of this Society, that the committee appointed by the State Society for that purpose, be requested to use all proper exertion to abrogate all law on medical subjects, except the corporate powers of the State and county medical societies, leaving to such societies by their by-laws to fill up the details in relation to the profession as they shall deem proper."

    This vigorous action was followed, January 13, 1852, by the following:--

    "Resolved, That it is improper for any member of this Society to countenance quackery in any of the forms it is presented to the public, either by recommending or prescribing quack medicines, inventing secret nostrums, or counseling with quacks, whether in the shape of Homeopathy, Hydropathy, Thomsonian, or any that are not members of this or some other legally authorized medical society."

    But if the resolution had not excepted presumed members of that school to which the Society belongs, and which, since the advent of other schools of medicine, has been denominated allopathic, it would savor less of that unworthy animus with which, unfortunately, it is suspiciously chargeable.

    At its annual meeting, January 11, 1876, the society was for the first time honored by the presence of a female physician, in the person of Dr. Sarah R. Munroe, of Philadelphia, who, on motion of Dr. Beecher, was invited to participate in the proceedings. The society has not yet had a lady member, though it is probable that ere this goes to press Dr. Emma Louise Randall, of Norwich, the first lady physician in Chenango County, will have been admitted.

    The following gentlemen have served the society as president, generally after having served the previous year as vice-president, especially in the latter part of the society's history:---

    Following is a list of the members who have joined the Society since its organization, with the date of joining, as far as they can be ascertained from the records:---

    The therapeutics of the homeopathic school of medicine is founded on the theory of similia similibus curantur. The principle was discovered by Samuel Hahnemann, who was born in Leipsic, in the Province of Saxony, April 10, 1755. He was an accomplished and skillful practitioner of the old school of medicine, and having proved certain remedies upon himself and others, he abandoned a lucrative practice under government patronage, at Gommeon, near Madgeburg, on account of conscientious scruples against administering drugs according to the vague formulas then in use, and in 1796, first enunciated the principles of homeopathy, the practice of which he commenced in his native place. He was soon driven from thence by the bitter opposition he encountered, to Paris, where he met with success and secured converts, among whom was Doctor Hans B. Gram, of Copenhagen, an American by birth, who, having won the highest grade of merit in the Royal Academy of Surgery in that city, came to New York in 1825, and introduced the new practice into America, continuing it in that city till his death in 1840, three years previous to that of his preceptor, Hahnemann, who died in Paris in 1843. It spread rapidly, notwithstanding the prejudice and bitter opposition against it, and was first introduced into Chenango county in 1841, by George Washington Roberts, a dentist of Troy, who, on account of ill health had abandoned his profession, and removed to a small farm of fourteen acres near the village of Greene, where he had relatives living.

    While living in Troy he had become acquainted with the new system through Dr. C. F. Hoffendahl, who was then practicing homeopathy in Albany, and was called to attend Mr. Roberts' infant son Charles, who was suffering from morbus coxaries, a disease which had baffled the best allopathic skill in Troy and Albany, but which, under Mr. Hoffendahl's treatment, was decidedly benefited. He frequently visited Dr. Hoffendahl's office, asking advice and instruction, and when he removed to Chenango county he brought with him a set of books and homeopathic medicines for family use, to avoid the necessity of calling in the professional aid of the allopaths, against whom he had acquired a prejudice. While thus situated he was frequently appealed to by his neighbors to afford relief by administering his homeopathic remedies; and meeting with success in many simple cases these demands on him increased, so much so as to interfere with his agricultural pursuits. A field seeming thus to invite his efforts he sold his farm and removed to the village of Greene, where, being conscious of the insufficiency of his medical knowledge, he wrote Caspar Bruchhausen, a former student of Dr. Hoffendahl's, then pursuing his medical studies in New York city, inviting him to come to his assistance and avail himself of the opening for homeopathic practice, which he did in August, 1842, the two practicing in company with mutual benefit.

    In the spring of 1843, Messrs. Roberts and Bruchhausen separated, the latter establishing himself in Oxford, and five years later in Norwich, where, though well advanced in years, he still ministers to a limited village patronage, such as his age and infirmity enable him to serve. Mr. Roberts found it advisable to fortify himself against the opposition he encountered by an improved medical education, and for that purpose he attended lectures and obtained a diploma from a medical college in Vermont, which, however, was subsequently prevailed on to annul it.¹⁸ He continued an acceptable practice till his death, February 10, 1870.

    The new system of therapeutics continued to spread; the disciples of Hahnemann and the literature of the school to increase; and the new remedies to multiply. In 1825, when Dr. Gram introduced homeopathy into New York, he stood alone in this country. In 1830, there were only six homeopathic physicians in this country, and these, with perhaps one or two exceptions, were located in New York. In 1841, when Dr. Roberts introduced it into this county, there were not more than thirty to thirty-five practitioners in the country. But now the State numbers them by thousands, and the country, by tens of thousands. Within the last twenty years the system has made rapid progress. Its literature has been largely increased by the addition of new works on pathology, therapeutics, and a new materia medica; eight or ten colleges, one State asylum¹⁹ and numerous hospitals have been established under its auspices;²⁰ and the intensely bitter opposition which heralded its inception and marked its early growth, has measurably diminished, although a strong professional prejudice against it still exists.

    Previous to 1857, homeopathic societies existed as informal associations only, having no legal status. April 13, 1857, the Legislature authorized the formation of homeopathic county medical societies, with equal privileges and immunities enjoyed by similar allopathic associations. In 1862, the Legislature passed an act to incorporate the Homeopathic Medical Society of the State of New York. Under that act a re-organization was effected whereby county societies then existing became auxiliary to the State society, and the following year it was formally inaugurated.

    The Homeopathic Medical Society of the County of Chenango was organized under the act of 1857, at a meeting convened for the purpose at the office of Dr. Charles A. Church in the village of Norwich, on Wednesday, September 27, 1871, and attended by the following physicians: J. T. Wallace, of New Berlin; I. C. Owen, of Sherburne; R. E. Miller, of Oxford; C. C. Miller, of Greene; C. Bruchhausen and Charles A. Church, of Norwich; and George B. Palmer, of East Hamilton; who were the constituent members. J. T. Wallace was made temporary chairman, and Charles A. Church, secretary. The following officers were then chosen:---J. T. Wallace, President; R. E. Miller, Vice-President; Charles A. Church, Secretary and Treasurer; and I. C. Owen, R. E. Miller and C. A. Church, Censors. Drs. Church, Owen and C. C. Miller were appointed to report a constitution and by-laws, which were presented, amended and adopted January 9, 1872, at which time Charles A. Church was elected a delegate to the State Society. On the recommendation of the Censors a diploma was granted to C. Bruchhausen; and the delegate to the State Society was instructed to present his name to that body for recommendation to the Regents of the University for the honorary degree of M. D., which he received August 2, 1872. At the latter meeting the President appointed the following committees: on surgery and surgical diseases, Dr. Church; on materia medica, Dr. Bruchhausen; on diseases peculiar to women and children, R. E. Miller; on clinical medicine, Dr. Owen; and on prevailing epidemics, C. C. Miller.

    Section 10 of the by-laws provides that "any surplus funds which the society may have above its necessary expenses, may be used at the discretion of the members in the purchase of rare and valuable books, apparatus and instruments for the use of members of the society."

    That the society maintains a highly creditable professional standing is evinced by the following extracts from its archives, which have been enriched from time to time by contributions from the able pen of Dr. Bruchhausen and others:---June 18, 1872, Dr. Cook, of Butternuts, was elected an honorary member, and related a case apposite to the subject under discussion---ulcers of the leg---where the ulcer extended entirely around that member, attended by an extensive loss of tissue. The ulcer was healed and the lost tissue restored by grafting the cuticle of the arm into the ulcer. July 25, 1876, Dr. Bruchhausen communicated a paper on electricity as a means, (a new discovery,) in dubious cases, of distinguishing real from apparent death, the mode to apply it and to decide it; a subject sufficiently important to command attention and elicit comment, which was not wanting. January 16, 1877, the latter gentleman read a historical review of small-pox, inoculation and vaccination, in which, among other things, he ventured the opinion that varicella, varioloid and variola were essentially the same disease, varying only in degree of virulence; and on the 19th of June of that year, he read a paper on diphtheria, presenting in brief its history and therapeutics, and advanced the opinion that the disease is contagious.

    The following named gentlemen have served the Society in the capacity of President: J. T. Wallace, 1871-2; R. E. Miller, 1873 and 1878; I. C. Owen, 1874 and 1879; C. C. Miller, 1875; C. Bruchhausen, who was elected January 18, 1876, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the removal of Dr. Miller to Detroit; and Isaac Miller, 1877.

    Following is a list of the members who have joined the Society, with the date of joining:---

    The Bar of Chenango County was early distinguished for the ability, influence and success of its members; but not until quite recently were any steps taken to unify and conserve by an organized effort the mutual interests of its members.

    The Chenango County Bar Association was organized and adopted a Constitution and By-Laws, May 20,1878. Article second of the Constitution states the object for which the Association is established to be: "to maintain the honor and dignity of the profession of the law, to cultivate social intercourse among its members, and to increase its usefulness in promoting the due administration of justice." Section one of article three makes "any member of the profession in good standing, residing in the County of Chenango," eligible to membership in the Association. Article fourth makes the officers of the Association consist of a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and an Executive Committee, composed of five members, of which the President is an ex-officio member; and article sixth provides that an annual meeting shall be held on the third Tuesday of December in each year, and a semi-annual meeting on the third Tuesday of June in each year.

    The first officers were elected May 20, 1878, and were:---Hon. E. H. Prindle, of Norwich, President; James W. Glover, of Oxford, Vice-President; William R. Mygatt, of Oxford, Secretary; E. J. Arnold, of Greene, Treasurer; and Isaac S. Newton, Hon. Wm. F. Jenks, A. F. Gladding, of Norwich, and O. F. Matterson, of New Berlin, Executive Committee. D. L. Atkyns, of Sherburne, Robert A. Stanton and George W. Ray, of Norwich, William H. Hyde of Oxford, and Marshall F. Porter, of Greene, were constituted a committee on admissions.

    The succeeding and present officers are:---James W. Glover, President; Hon. W. F. Jenks, Vice-President; William R. Mygatt, Secretary; A. F. Gladding, Treasurer; E. J. Arnold, Wm. H. Hyde, I. S. Newton, R. A. Stanton, and D. L. Atkyns, Executive Committee; and C. W. Brown, E. H. Prindle, G. M. Tillson, C. A. Fuller and D. H. Knapp, Committee on Admissions.

    June 18, 1878, D. L. Atkyns, George M. Tillson and O. H. Curtis, were appointed a committee to direct the attention of the court to the necessity of a revision of its rules of practice. This action had a beneficial effect. The association has before it a future, which this early action augurs will be a useful one.

    The following named persons have become members of this organization:---

    James W. Glover, William H. Hyde, Samuel S. Stafford, Charles W. Brown, Solomon Bundy, Oscar H. Curtis, William R. Mygatt, E. H. Prindle, W. F. Jenks, John W. Church, Isaac S. Newton, W. N. Mason, D. L. Atkyns, E. J. Arnold, David H. Knapp, Henry M. Tefft, M. F. Ufford, Charles A. Fuller, Stephen Holden, George M. Tillson, Robert A. Stanton, George W. Ray, O. F. Matterson, M. F. Porter, C. L. Tefft, Albert F. Gladding, Charles H. Stanton, George A. Haven, Elliott Danforth, E. C. Dart, H. Harrington.

    While the attention of the early settlers was fully engrossed with the harsh conditions of pioneer life, but little though could be expected to be given to the abstruse questions involved in their mutual interests, and which now so profitably engage the earnest efforts of agriculturists. The stern contests with rude nature, maintained for a full generation, left little time for anything else. The dense forests had to be removed, roads constructed, streams bridged, mills erected, and the land adapted to the improved implements of agriculture now in use, and which superseded the old bull-plow, with its wooden mold-board and wrought-iron and steel-pointed share, and the homemade drag, formed from the forked limb of a tree, and supplied with wooden teeth. The cattle pastured in the woods in summer and often browsed in winter upon the buds and branches of forest trees; while the swine ran wild in the woods, and subsisted upon the roots and nuts bound therein, becoming as wild and venturesome almost as the savage denizens of the forests. These and their rude accompaniments were not suggestive of agricultural exhibitions, yet these were the conditions from which was evolved scientific agriculture; and as soon as agriculture emerged from them, efforts for the mutual improvement of those engaged in it began to take definite shape. The State Legislature early recognized the need and importance of improved methods of agriculture, and on the 7th of April, 1819, passed an act to attain that end, by the creation of a Board of Agriculture and the appropriation of $10,000.00 annually, for two years, to be distributed in the several counties for the promotion of agriculture and family domestic manufactures, on condition that a similar sum be subscribed by the county societies formed under the act. But this had little direct benefit; for it proved no exception to the rule which generally applies to acts of special legislation, which tend to destroy the objects sought to be benefited, by fostering a spirit of dependency rather than stimulating to healthy and effective exertion. It was important, however, as a recognition of the efforts then taking shape in the formation of local organizations, having for their object the same end. These were multiplied, but, owing to the crudities involved in their imperfect conception, were mostly short-lived. They were not without benefit, however, as they gave direction to the public mind in the effort to supply a felt want, and the elements which contributed to their failure indicated with greater certainty measures which gave better promise of success and durability. Agricultural societies have been successful in proportion to the extent to which the agriculturists have been educated to a just conception of their possible advantages and to their honest and efficient management.

    The Chenango County Agricultural Society was organized in 1846, and the first Fair under its auspices was held at Norwich in October of that year. The Fairs for the next two years were also held at Norwich, and the succeeding ones at Oxford and Sherburne respectively. In the summer of 1851, the Society resolved to have a permanent place for holding their Fairs, and for this purpose leased for a term of years a lot of five acres in the village of Norwich, upon which they erected a floral hall, and around which a track, about one-third of a mile in extent, was laid. From this time until 1864, inclusive, the Fairs were held on these grounds. In 1865, the managers changed the site to another part of the village, and secured a lot of fourteen acres, upon which is an excellent trotting course a half-mile in extent.

    The old floral hall was taken down and reconstructed and enlarged, making it one hundred and six feet in length. The first Fair upon the new grounds was held in the fall of 1865, and was a decided success. After paying all the expenses connected with the removal of floral hall and the erection of new pens, the balance in the treasury of the Society amounted to $550. The Society was reorganized May 10, 1870.

    The county society has been supplemented by various town organizations, among them the Afton Agricultural Society, organized February 2, 1857; the Agricultural Association of Oxford and other Towns, organized September 15, 1860; the Bainbridge Agricultural Society, organized January 3, 1857; the Coventry Agricultural Society, organized March 23, 1857; the Otselic, Pitcher, Pharsalia and Lincklaen Agricultural Society, organized June 27, 1857; which, together with the county society, are auxiliary to the State society.

    The State Society was organized in February, 1832, and reorganized in 1841, in which year measures were adopted for raising funds and holding an annual fair, which had not hitherto been held regularly. For several years it received no support from the State; but May 5, 1841, the Legislature appropriated $8,000 for the encouragement of agriculture, of which sum $700 was to go to the State society, and the remainder to the county societies, to be divided in the ratio of representation then existing. Since then annual State fairs have been regularly held, and a large and exceedingly valuable volume of the transactions of the society annually published. These have been extensively published and widely circulated throughout the State, and containing as they do valuable papers on agricultural subjects, have exerted a salutary influence on the farming community.

    The great utility of these societies when properly managed cannot be questioned. They stimulate to healthy activity, create a worthy ambition, promote a generous rivalry in the effort to attain the highest degree of excellence in the culture of the varied productions of the farm, garden and orchard, and in the care and breeding of stock, and afford abundant opportunities for the study and comparison not only of these, but of the many improved machines and implements designed to expedite and relieve the drudgery of farm labor. They also bring into more intimate social relations the rural population; and not only afford a comparison of the productions of the farm and household and the implements used in their production, but also facilitate a comparison of methods, in which respect they are in the highest and best sense educational. They are susceptible and subject to many abuses, but these may be eradicated by time and the elimination of selfish interests.