IV PREFACE. 



of crops rather than to the reports of committees. Owing to the 

 unusual length of the Secretary's Report, it has been necessary to 

 condense the returns of societies to a greater extent than has some- 

 times been the case. It is proper, however, to say that, taken as a 

 whole, the work of most of the societies, so far as appears in their 

 returns, shows a marked improvement upon previous years. It is 

 to be hoped that the desire for progress, now so widely diffused, 

 will lead to new efforts to raise the standard higher every year, and 

 thus comply with the spirit as well as with the letter of the law, by 

 returning a just equivalent for tlie bounty so generously bestowed. 



CHARLES L. FLINT. 



Boston", January 25, 1871. 



