VUl PREFACE. 



incurring expense to the State. Several other gentlemen have also given me 

 very essential aid in analysis, and without expense to the State. About five 

 hundred days work in the laboratory have thus been rendered gratuitously. 

 During the whole time this assistance was rendered, my own presence was 

 necessary as a matter of course. 



The preceding statement, it is hoped, will be satisfactory to those who 

 inquire how the four years spent in the survey have been occupied. One 

 remark further seems to be called for : At the commencement of this sur- 

 vey, I engaged to complete it in one year. I then hoped, that with the aid 

 of individuals interested in the success of the undertaking, so much might 

 be accomplished as would afford general results of very considerable value. 

 My task, however, as it now appears, was not truly defined in that engage- 

 ment ; and finding myself afterwards sustained by men whose opinions 

 could not but be respected, and even by instructions which were obligatory 

 upon me, much more was determined upon when the field was partially 

 surveyed ; for if the agricultural interest is not one of paramount importance, 

 I have mistaken the nature of the duties in which I have been engaged. 

 Besides, the whole matter was stated to a committee of the Legislature in 

 1845, to whom all the engagements which had previously been entered into 

 with the State were submitted, and were by them examined and investigated, 

 and it was by their unanimous recommendation that the survey has been in 

 progress for the last two years. 



The second volume of the present work is in course of preparation, and 

 will contain, among other things, an account of the composition of the ashes 

 of the different cultivated vegetables ; a description of the several varieties 

 of the cereals which seem to be best adapted to our climate, and a list of the 

 principal fruits which reach perfection in the different districts. 



The division of the work into two volumes, thoiigh by no means intended 

 when it first went to press, has been decided ixpon in consequence of an 

 increased amount of matter, which has accumulated during its progress, and 

 which, if bound in one volume, would make it too thick for convenience : 

 inasmuch, too, as no additional expense to the State will arise from the 

 measure, but, on the contrary, something will be gained ; the expense of 

 binding a volume being less than the price for which it is sold to counties 

 and individuals. 



