MEETING OF DELEGATES Proceedings of a meeting of Delegates from the various County Agricultural Societies of the State, held on the Fair Grounds at Jacksonville, September 12th, 1860. Pursuant to an amendment to section 7, of the Constitution of the Illinois State Agricultural Society, adopted January 3, 1859, the delegates from the County Agricultural Societies, were called to order by Lewis Ellsworth, President of said State Agricultural Society. On motion, Edward Bebee of Jo Daviess county, and J. H. Pickrell of Macon county, were appointed Secretaries, pro tem. After an examination of the credentials of the delegates in attendance, the meeting proceeded to an election of the officers of the Illinois State Agricultural Society for the ensuing two years from the second Monday in January, 1861. The following gentlemen having received a majority of all the votes cast were declared duly elected: Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting be and they are hereby tendered to all the officers of the Illinois State Agricultural Society for their faithful and persevering efforts to discharge their respective duties. On motion of M. L. Dunlap, Esq., it was Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting are hereby tendered to our presiding officer, Lewis Ellsworth, Esq., for his faithful and energetic efforts in promoting the best interests of the State Agricultural Society. Ex-President H. C. Johns, chairman of special committee, appointed January 3, 1859, to revise the Constitution of the State Agricultural Society, presented the following as the result of the labors of said committee, which was read, approved and adopted as follows, to wit: CONSTITUTION. The name of this Society shall be "THE ILLINOIS STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY." Its objects shall be the promotion of Agriculture, Horticulture, Manufactures, Mechanic and Household Arts. SECTION 1. The Society shall consist of such citizens of the State as shall pay to its Treasurer one dollar annually, also of Honorary and Corresponding members. The Presidents of County Agricultural Societies in this State, or a delegate from each, shall, ex officio, be members of this Society. SEC. 2. The officers of the Society shall consist of a President-one Vice President, for and to reside in each Congressional District-a Recording Secretary, a Corresponding Secretary, a Treasurer, and an Executive Committee-to consist of a President, Vice Presidents and one Ex-President, whose term of office last expired-of whom a majority shall constitute a quorum. SEC. 3. The Recording Secretary shall keep the records of the Society. The Corresponding Secretary shall carry on the correspondence with other Societies and with individuals in the furtherance of the objects of the Society. SEC. 4. The Treasurer shall keep the funds of the Society, and disburse them on the written order of the President or the Executive Committee, countersigned by the Recording Secretary. He shall make a report of receipts and expenditures at the Biennial Meeting. SEC. 5. The Executive Committee shall take charge of and distribute and preserve all seeds, plants, books, models, &c., which may be transmitted to the Society, and shall have charge of all communications designed or calculated for publication, and, so far as they may deem expedient, shall collect, arrange and publish the same in such manner and form as they shall deem best calculated to promote the objects of this Society. They may also establish such by-laws, rules and regulations as they may deem necessary for the government of the Society, provided the same do not conflict with this Constitution. SEC. 6. There shall be a biennial meeting of delegates to be appointed by the county Agricultural Societies of this State; each county Society having a legal organization and holding Annual Fairs to be entitled to three delegates and no more. Said delegates shall meet upon the Fair Grounds of the Society, and at 6 o'clock P. M. of the third day of the Fair, proceed, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Executive Committee, to elect the officers of this Society; who, when so elected, shall enter upon the duties of their respective offices on the second Monday of January following their election. Said election shall be by ballot, unless two-thirds of the number of delegates present, shall otherwise elect. SEC. 7. This Society shall hold an Annual Fair at such time and place as shall be designated by the Executive Committee. SEC. 8. This Constitution may be amended by a vote of two-thirds of the delegates present attending any biennial meeting. Signed: EDWARD H. BEBEE, Secretaries. TRANSACTIONS. BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. To the Governor and General Assembly of the State of Illinois : In presenting this, their Fourth Biennial Report, the Executive Committee desire to congratulate you and the people of the State upon the large additions to the material wealth, the unparalleled increase in population, the growing interest in thorough practical education, and, indeed, upon the presence of all the indices usually marking the rapid SOCIAL PROGRESS of a rising people, which have become part of the history of our State for the past two years. Entrusted with the management of an organization intended by its founders and specially designed to become an efficient agency for the promotion of the best interests of "Agriculture, Horticulture, Manufactures, Mechanic and Household Arts," realizing, as they believe, fully, the importance of those interests, and alive to their own consequent responsibilities, the Executive Committee have faithfully endeavored to so direct and employ the means at their disposal as to accomplish the greatest amount of practical good. By a wholesome change in the constitution of this Society, made in September, 1860, it has now become the CENTRAL ORGAN for more than one hundred County Associations, representing nearly every county in the State, and all striving to attain the same results, by similar means. The relations established between this and the County Agricultural Societies are becoming more and more intimate and pleasant, while a hearty co-operation, under the fostering care of the Legislative and Executive departments of the State, is every day strengthening the hands and augmenting the capacity of all for good. But one spirit pervades, directs and controls these organizations. Every man, woman and child in this State, at least, is interested, more or less directly, in their success, while nine-tenths of all the voters and one-half of all the remaining population of the State habitually attend the Annual Exhibitions, and contribute, in various ways, to the objects sought to be attained. The Fairs of this Society, for 1859 and 1860, in all the essential elements of usefulness, were highly successful. The former, held at Freeport the week preceding the fair of the United States Agricultural Society at Chicago, was, nevertheless, well attended by the substantial citizens of this State and Wisconsin, and, in results, as we have reason to believe, was in every way a marked success. The latter, held at Jacksonville, being central to the great corn and stock producing region of the State, in some departments, particularly those of Cattle and Swine, excelled any previous exhibition of this Society. The attendance of visitors was also very large, and the interest manifested gave assurance that the legitimate purpose of such exhibitions was fully attained. A detailed statement of the premiums awarded and paid for the two years, last past, will be found in the proper place in this volume. In addition to the annual exhibitions on the Fair Grounds, and in some respects superior to them as a means of disseminating agricultural information and rendering it universally available, is the publication of the Transactions of this and kindred associations. The Transactions of County Agricultural Societies, brief, concise and embracing only matters of general interest, are well worth the cost of publication. The Essays of able, practical agriculturists and horticulturists, the proceedings and discussions of the State Horticultural Society, and the Scientific articles furnished by the Illinois State Natural History Society, form the principal part of this volume; and it is with pride and pleasure we call attention to them. Not one of those essays but contains facts and truths of interest to all, the possession of which will soon be esteemed indispensable to the intelligent citizen. The range of subjects is extensive, and the treatment of them, in every instance, plain, clear and adapted, as far as possible, to popular comprehension. The articles furnished for this volume by the State Natural History Society deserve especial mention. That Society is young. Those now presented are its first regular papers, and will place it, to say the least, in a very respectable position among Scientific associations of the United States. The publication of these papers in a work designed, as this is, especially for the farmer and mechanic, seems to us to be peculiarly appropriate. There are, we are sorry to say, some men who deem all Scientific knowledge useless to the tiller of the soil and to the artisan in his shop; and so, also, there are men who believe all education detrimental to the human race, and that certainly no advance should, under any circumstances, be made beyond reading, writing and arithmetic to the "rule of three;" but these men are fast disappear ing from this continent; and, though one may now and then be found, even in "high places," they promise soon to be laid away among other extinct species of fossils. Happily the citizens of Illinois may point, with a pardonable exultation, to the action of our General Assembly, at its recent session, approved by your Excellency, on the subject of Agricultural Education. The endowment of an Agricultural College, provided for in terms so liberal as those of your act upon that subject, will, we hope, inaugurate a new and bright era in our State, while the munificent appropriations to the Normal University, the donations to the various County Agricultural Societies, together with the strong recommendations of these and similar measures expressed in the annual messages of your Excellency and your worthy predecessor, are all so many proofs that those in power well understand the wishes and wants of the people, and work, with willing hands and clear minds, to aid in the fulfillment of the high mission of our glorious Prairie State. All which is respectfully submitted. JOHN P. REYNOLDS, Cor. Sec. Ill. State Ag. Society. |