PREFACE. V 



active, adding something each year to the stock of knowl- 

 edge in the community and to the rapidly accumulating 

 treasures of agricultural literature, while others, drawing 

 an equal amount from the Commonwealth and under 

 equal obligations are doing literally nothing in this direc- 

 tion. Their names will be sought for in vain on the fol- 

 lowing pages, either because their reports are made up of 

 bare awards, which in .their nature can be of only local 

 interest, or because they were returned to me too late to 

 use, or because they were returned in such an unpardon- 

 able condition that it was not possible to use them. I 

 need not particularize, but if these glaring faults on the 

 part of a few of the societies are not speedily remedied, a 

 sense of duty will compel me to name them hereafter, 

 and to point out, in detail, w^herein they fail to comply 

 with the spirit of the law. The prompt publication of 

 all the transactions, of the society and the distribution of 

 them over the county, is one of the most direct and sure 

 ways of doing good and awakening an interest in 

 improvement. 



This, I know, requires great and persevering labor o;i 

 the part of the secretary of the society, but if he is not 

 willing or able to perform it, he should at once give 

 place to some one who is, and not stand in the way of a 

 society's usefulness. 



The law requires that the returns should be made 

 complete on or before December tenth, of each year. The 

 object of the law was to make it possible to prepare and 

 print an abstract of the returns, and to have it ready for 

 distribution at an early date, and not merely to have the 

 bare details of the finances and other statistical matter, 

 which would not very materially facilitate the printing 

 and preparation of the Abstract. A full compliance with 



