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PREFACE. 
The Eighth Volume op the Transactions of the AVis- 
CONSIN State Agricultural Society, now offered to its 
members and to the public at large, is believed to be equal, 
if not superior, in value to any of the series. To the indus¬ 
trial reader, and to all who are deeply interested in the growth 
and prosperity of Wisconsin, it can hardly fail to prove ac¬ 
ceptable ; for every line of it is devoted to practical matter of 
much importance. 
The general resume of the condition and progress of the 
state in the various departments of industry to which it is 
devoted presents an encouraging picture, and at the same time 
indicates various important particulars in which improvement 
is needed. For the amount of space therein alloted to great 
internal improvements accomplished within the past year, or 
in progress, we make no apology. Their importance to the 
development of the state cannot be over-estimated, and this 
new placing of them before the people of Wisconsin and of 
the whole country must result in some public advantage. 
It was the first purpose of the secretary to make the volume 
embrace a considerable number of original and practical arti¬ 
cles by Wisconsin writers of acknowledged ability; but the 
timely appearance of the highly valuable series of the official 
reports of the United States Commissioners to the late Paris 
Universal Exposition, and of certain reports published by lead- 
