ACT OF INCORPORATION.

At a General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, holden at New Haven in said State, on the first Wednesday of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two:

SEC. 1. Resolved by this Assembly, That Charles H. Pond, Robbins Battell, William A. Mead, Henry A. Dyer, David S. Fowler, James T. Pratt, Thomas Cowles, Ephraim H. Hyde, 2d, Charles Robinson, William Stone, Henry P. Havens, Edwin Newbury and William Holman, together with such persons as may hereafter become associated with them, be, and they are hereby incorporated by the name and style of the "Connecticut State Agricultural Society."

SEC. 2. The object of the Society being the improvement of agriculture, horticulture and the household arts, they shall be, and are hereby, for those purposes, made capable in law, to have, purchase, receive, possess and enjoy, to them and their successors, land, rents, tenements, hereditaments, goods, chattels and effects, of what kind and quality soever, necessary to give effect to the purposes of this Society, and the same to sell, grant, demise, alien and dispose of, to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended in all courts in this state or elsewhere.

SEC. 3. The said Society shall have power to appoint such officers as they may deem expedient, and also to make, ordain, establish and put in execution such by-laws and regulations as shall be deemed necessary and convenient for

the well ordering and government of said society, and not contrary to this act and the laws of this state and of the United States, and to do and execute all and singular, the matters and things which to them may or shall appertain to do, subject to the rules and provisions herein above prescribed.

SEC. 4. This act may be altered, amended or repealed at the pleasure of the General Assembly.

CONSTITUTION

OF THE

Connecticut State Agricultural Society,

AS

AMENDED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING, JAN. 3, 1855.

SEC. 1. This association shall be called the "Connecticut State Agricultural Society," and its object is improvement in agriculture, horticulture and the arts.

SEC. 2. The Society shall consist of those citizens of the state who shall pay one dollar into the treasury annually. There may also be honorary and corresponding members. The payment of fifteen dollars or more, shall constitute the donor a member for life and shall exempt him from the annual contribution.

SEC. 3. The officers of this Society shall be a President, two Vice-Presidents, a Corresponding Secretary, a Recording Secretary, a Treasurer, and one Director from each county, to be chosen at the annual meeting of the Society. The above, together with the Presidents of the county societies, who shall be, ex officio, Vice-Presidents of this Society, and one director from each county to be chosen by the county society, shall constitute the Executive Committee of this Society, which committee shall elect three members of its own body to constitute the Finance Committee of the Society. The officers of the Society shall hold their office for the term of one year, or until others are appointed in their stead. The Executive Committee shall take charge of, and distribute or preserve all seeds, plants, books, models, etc., which may

be transmitted to the Society; shall have charge of all publications; shall have power to fill any vacancies which may occur in the offices during the year; shall have charge of the interests of the Society in the counties in which they shall respectively reside, and shall have the general control of all matters pertaining to the interests of the Society.

SEC. 4. The Recording and Corresponding Secretaries shall perform the duties usual to such offices. The funds of the Society shall be in the custody of the Treasurer, who shall pay them out and invest them under the direction of the Finance Committee. He shall give bond to the satisfaction of the Finance Committee, for the faithful performance of the duties of his office; said bond shall be renewed as often as the same person is elected to office. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to keep a particular account of the receipts and expenditures of the Society. He shall exhibit to the Executive Committee as often as required, the state of the treasury, and shall present to the Society at its annual meeting, a full statement of his accounts audited by the Finance Committee.

SEC. 5. There shall be an annual meeting of the Society at Hartford and New Haven, alternately, on the first Wednesday of January, at which all the officers of the Society shall be elected by ballot. Extra meetings may be convened by the Executive Committee, and at such meetings, twentyfive members shall constitute 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 Executive Committee.

SEC. 7. This Constitution may be amended by a vote of two-thirds of the members attending any annual meeting.

REPORT

OF

Sub-Committee of the Executive Committee.

THE want of an organization that should bring into united and harmonious action, the efforts made by progressive agriculturists, in various sections of the state, has long been felt, and the importance of such union thoroughly understood. At various times, efforts have been made in the county societies, to organize a State Agricultural Society. As early as 1842, the matter was agitated in the Middlesex County Society, and in 1851, correspondence with other county societies was commenced by the Society in Litchfield county, and by Middlesex county; an interest was awakened in the matter through this means, and attention excited, and the entire state was undoubtedly prepared to look with favor upon the institution of a general society.

At the legislative session of 1852, a resolution was offered by Thomas Cowles, of Farmington, directing the Joint Select Committee on Agriculture, to take into consideration the matter of a State Agricultural Society. A resolution was offered by Edwin Newbury, of Brooklyn, (which was referred to the same committee,) appropriating moneys from the treasury for the education of two young men from each county, at the School of Philosophy and Arts in New Haven, in the science of agriculture.

Attention was secured to the interest of agriculture through the prosecution of these resolutions, and an interest aroused that required only opportunity for its manifestation. This