PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 



THESE sketches of the lectures which were given during the 

 recent Convention at Yale College, were first printed in the 

 columns of the New York Tribune. Occurring as it did when 

 there was an unusual pressure upon the columns of the paper, 

 the Convention would never have been reported at all if the 

 editors had not regarded with great favor this attempt to im 

 prove the condition of our Agricultural science. Anxious to 

 lend the powerful aid of the Tribune to further the object in 

 view, they allotted a sufficient space daily for a succinct outline 

 of the lectures throughout the entire course. So much valua 

 ble information was embraced in the several discourses, that 

 to the reporter it was a matter of great difficulty to select as 

 little as would fill the space at his disposal ; and the readers of 

 this pamphlet will not, therefore, wonder if he has not done 

 full justice to either the topics or the lectures. When the 

 course was almost completed frequent inquiries were made as 

 to whether any complete report of it would be published ; and 

 by many a desire was expressed that if nothing more detailed 

 and elaborate could be done, at least these Tribune sketches 

 should be collected in book form, for convenience of preserva 

 tion. It being established beyond doubt that no full publica 

 tion could, for various reasons, be made, the publishers of this 

 volume have made arrangements with Mr. Olcott to edit and 

 correct his notes. To render them as nearly perfect as their 

 brevity permits, they have been submitted for revision to the 

 lecturers themselves, and may, therefore, be considered as at 

 least fair summaries of the matter delivered by them from the 

 lecture-desk. 



