Wisconsin State Agricultural Society

This Society was organized on the fifth day of March, A. D. 1851, at a meeting of some of the leading agriculturists of the State, held at the Capitol, in Madison. At that meeting a constitution was adopted and officers chosen, consisting of a President, three Vice-Presidents, (one to be located in each congressional district), a Recording Secretary, a Corresponding Secretary, and a Treasurer, who, together with five additional members, chosen from the Society at large, constitute an Executive Committee, which forms the executive and administrative power of the Society. By a standing resolution of the Executive Committee, the President, Secretaries and Treasurer constitute a Standing Committee, with power in the recess of the Executive Committee to transact such minor business as may be necessary. The Standing Committee meets monthly, on the first Wednesday in each month, at the rooms of the Society, in the Capitol, at Madison, for the transaction of business. . The Executive Committee meets quarterly, or at the call of the Corresponding Secretary, at which meetings the proceedings of the Standing Committee are reviewed, for confirmation or otherwise. The Society meets annually, on the third Wednesday of January in each year. It possesses ample and commodious rooms in the Capitol, which are elegantly fitted up, and placed in charge of the Corresponding Secretary. The first) volume of the Society's Transactions was issued in the spring of 1852, and was a large and elegant volume, well stored with valuable reading, and showing evident marks of advancement in agri-cultural science and scientific investigation. The second volume is now in press, and will shortly be issued. The great and unparalleled success which has attended the labors of this Society may be traced almost entirely to the intelligent enterprise and active energy of the officers who have hitherto had the direction and management of its affairs. To their judicious management, wise counsels, and zealous labors so uniformly and freely bestowed, our State is, and must ever be, greatly indebted for that advancement which is now so rapidly taking place in our agricultural and industrial interests. In this respect the Society has been most fortunate. The first Annual Cattle Show and Fair of the Society was held at Janesville, in the month of October, 1851, and was a most brilliant exposition of the condition of the rural arts in Wisconsin. The show of cattle, sheep, horses, and swine, was such as to astonish and delight all; while the domestic manufactures, and the products of the dairy exhibited, gave ample proof of the skill and industry of the exhibitors nor were the treasures of Ceres and Pomona wanting to give variety to the scene, but all alike admirably blending, each in due proportion, gave promise of the future high rank which Wisconsin must attain, amid the peaceful walks of husbandry. The Show at Milwaukee, in the fall of 1852, amply sustained the proud position of the Society, and demonstrated the certainty of its success. The Fair for the present year is to be held at the city of Watertown, on the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th days of October next. Ample arrangements have been made for the accommodation of the immense throngs that will be in attendance, and no pains will be spared to make this, the most brilliant and successful of all the exhibitions of the Society. The Officers, for the current year, are as follows: President, Elisha W. Edgerton, Summit. Vice Presidents, Bertine Pinkney, Rosendale; Jeremiah E. Dodge, Potosi; and Nathaniel B. Clapp, Kenosha. Recording and also Corresponding Secretary, Albert C. Ingham, Madison. Treasurer, Simeon Mills, Madison. Additional Members of the Executive Committee: Hiram Barber, Juneau; Henry M. Billings, Highland; Martin Field, Mukwonago; Sam. S. Daggett, Milwaukee; and Mark Miller, Janesville. All communications for the Society should be addressed to the Corresponding Secretary at Madison, Wisconsin.

Source: Wisconsin Gazetteer,  By John Warren Hunt. Madison: Beriah Brown, Printer, 1853

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