ADVERTISEMENT. XI 



tained in the present volume over those published in the preceding. If the 

 publication of these returns, in the manner contemplated by the act of 1845, is 

 to exert, as it is believed it will, a beneficial influence in this respect, a single 

 year is hardly a sufficient time for its development. Something has been done, 

 but much remains to be accomplished, in the preparation of exact statements, 

 and well matured reports, on almost every subject for which premiums are 

 offered by our Agricultural Societies. 



It has been suggested, that, in the reports concerning stock and manufactures, 

 it is difficult to select passages worthy of public notice, study and application ; 

 as the applicability and force of the remarks of the committees on these sub- 

 jects can only be understood by those who have seen the animal or article 

 referred to, and can convey but little information to a stranger. But that little 

 information, like the discovery of a single truth, will often lead to important 

 results. The reports, too, of committees, are not necessarily confined to the 

 merits of the particular animals or articles embraced in them, and to the award 

 of premiums. There are facts and experiments within the knowledge of al- 

 most every member of an agricultural committee, which may be, and often 

 are, made to impart additional interest and value to the result of their labors, 

 as exhibited in their report. It is by pains-taking here, by each member of a 

 committee submitting his views in conversation or in writing, to the chairman, 

 before the report is to be acted upon, that he will be able to draft one which 

 will contain a large amount of useful hints and practical information. Reports 

 prepared only on the day of the fair, amidst the hurry of other pressing duties, 

 inust, of necessity, be comparatively meagre and deficient in these respects. 



Indeed, it would seem, such is the interest now taken in every branch of 

 husbandry, that greater demands were to be made of our Agricultural Socie- 

 ties for information, which their committees may well be supposed to possess 

 on the various subjects submitted to their consideration. Recently, at one of 

 the agricultural meetings usually held in the State House during the session of 

 the Legislature, a resolution was offered to petition the Legislature to appoint 

 a commission to examine the different varieties of fruits, make a choice selec- 

 tion, and point out the best modes of culture. The committee appointed to 

 consider the subject, (Hon. George Denny, chairman,) in their report say : ' Of 

 the importance and benefit, to the citizens of the Commonwealth, of the infor- 

 mation proposed to be obtained, there can be no difference of opinion. There 

 are ten incorporated Agricultural Societies in the State, who receive annually 

 something from the treasury of the Commonwealth, through which might 

 (and perhaps should) be received valuable information of the kind contem- 

 plated by the resolution ; which information could be obtained without much 

 expense to the societies, and placed before the people at the expense of the 

 Commonwealth, under that excellent law requiring returns from those societies 

 receiving the bounty of the State, and an abstract to be published by the Sec- 

 retary of the State.' Here is evidence of the work that is expected of our 

 Agricultural Societies in but one department of agriculture. 



