SECRETARY'S REPORT. 215 



improvement is much needed. Every practical and systematic 

 farmer should keep a journal of his farm, with an account of all the 

 operations upon it, a careful record of his experiments, however 

 limited ; facts and items in connection with rural economy ; re- 

 ports of failures as well as successes with certain crops ; notes of 

 the weather in winter and summer, with dates showing the flower- 

 ing and leaving out of the more common trees and shrubs, and also 

 of the appearance and disappearance of birds, insects, &c.; cost of 

 farm labor, with all other matters connected with his business. If 

 these records or journals were more carefully kept, they would not 

 only form a complete guide for the farmer in carrying on his estate, 

 but they would be found of value in furnishing important materials 

 for our agricultural journals, or even for such a work as the present. 



I have now gone over, in brief, the plan proposed at the com- 

 mencement of this Survey. Whatever faults of style may be found 

 upon its pages, I wish passed over. If any errors have occurred in 

 connection with any statement of facts regarding the growth, man- 

 agement and yield of certain crops, &c., I wish them corrected. 



South Norridgewock, Dec. 18, 1860. 



