IV 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
writings, both at home and abroad, it is but a modest claim 
that we make for him in saying, there is no higher authority 
on the subject of which he treats. 
The numerous reports on the industry of counties will be 
esteemed by all who desire more specific and detailed informa¬ 
tion concerning these subdivisions of the State. That they 
were secured only after the most persistent effort and much 
vexatious delay in no way detracts from their real value, nor 
does it diminish our obligation to the several distinguished 
gentlemen who were finally induced to undertake their prepa¬ 
ration. Their appearance in a somewhat condensed form and 
in' smaller tvpe than was deemed desirable was a necessity 
growing out of the limitations in space prescribed by the law 
providing for the annual printing and publication of the Soci¬ 
ety’s Transactions. 
The statistical appendices at the close of the volume pre¬ 
sent, in small compass, the result of several months of con¬ 
tinuous labor. Showing the relative progress of the agricul¬ 
tural and manufacturing industry of the several counties, they 
cannot fail to interest all intelligent citizens in whatever section 
of the State, and at the same time prove a useful source of in¬ 
formation to such persons in other States and foreign countries 
as mav desire to make their future homes within our borders. 
It was our purpose to include synopses of the annual re¬ 
ports of the State Horticultural Society and of the several 
district industrial associations of Wisconsin, but this was found 
impracticable. 
The satisfactory manner in which the State Pi inters have 
executed the mechanical part of the work will appear at a 
glance. If the necessary absence of the Secretary at various 
stages of the printing has left the way open for a considerable 
number' of typographical errors, which might otherwise have 
been excluded, it is hoped that none of them are of such im¬ 
portance as seriously to mar the general excellence of the 
volume. 
J. W. H. 
State Agricultural Kooms, 1871 . 
