PREFACE. 



THE object contemplated in the publication of the YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE 

 is to aid the progress and development of that science upon which the prosperity of 

 our country so eminently depends. In its preparation, the editor has carefully ex- 

 amined every important agricultural or scientific publication which has appeared in 

 the United States during the years 1854-55, together with very many of the jour- 

 nals and publications of Great Britain, France, and Germany. He has not, how- 

 ever, confined himself to the mere examination of agricultural journals and reports, 

 but has taken advantage of every opportunity and resource which could furnish 

 any thing of interest or value. 



The subjects embraced within the limits of a work, the object of which is to 

 record the progress of agriculture in all its departments for a single year, are neces- 

 sarily varied and extensive; since no branch of science or applied industry is de- 

 pendent to a greater degree for its advancement upon assistance imparted from 

 beyond its legitimate boundaries, than agriculture. Hence the operations of the 

 mechanic, the chemist, the -naturalist, the engineer, and statician, are all allied 

 more or less intimately with those of the farmer. It is not claimed that we have 

 collected all that is new, or that all we have published is the result of the operations 

 of a single year, but we do claim to have noticed all the recent improvements 

 pertaining to agriculture which have seemed to us of sufficient importance, or of 

 which we have been able, after diligent effort, to obtain reliable and intelligible 

 accounts. Every invention pertaining to agriculture patented in the United States 

 during the year ending July, 1855, has been enumerated. All have not, however, 

 been described, for the reason that no distinct descriptions of them have been 

 published, and repeated applications addressed to the inventors themselves have 

 failed of responses. Some of the topics treated of may also seem old and familiar, 

 but a careful examination in such cases will show that they have found place in 

 the record in virtue of presenting old facts in a new light or application, or because 

 they contain, in addition to what was before familiar, new facts and suggestions. 

 Novelty in arrangement and condensation may often render an old subject as inte- 

 resting as a statement of novelties in fact. It has also been the aim of the editor 

 to transfer to the pages of the Year-Book such reliable and standard articles on 

 different agricultural topics as have appeared, from time to time, during the past 

 year, in the leading journals of Europe or the United States. By pursuing this 

 course, the Year-Book will be rendered eminently valuable, not only for the present 

 but for the future, and a complete series of the volumes for successive years will 

 thus form a most perfect and unique encyclopedia of every department of agri- 

 cultural science. 



The Year-Book of Agriculture will hereafter be issued early in September of 

 each year, and no labor or expense on the part of both the editor and publishers 



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