PREFACE. THE materials comprised in the present volume have been classified as far as the subjects would permit. This arrangement differs from that in former reports, but with the index and table of contents, it will make the volume more convenient for reference. The greater portion of the contents may be regarded as valuable, and under the heads of "Orchard Products" and "Table Articles," the matter is unusually full and interesting, but taken altogether, the volume does not answer my expectations. This deficiency is due to the incompleteness of the county reports. It seems to be beyond the power of the Board, under the present system, to obtain full or reliable returns from those organizations. Their officers are not sufficiently compensated for the time and labor required in the preparation of proper reports, and not until they are properly remunerated, can we reasonably expect reports of a satisfactory character. Great efforts were made during the year to obtain full returns from the societies, showing the condition and prospects of the leading industrial interests in the different sections of the State, and to effect that object printed forms and lists of questions were sent to each society with instructions to report as fully as possible on the subjects therein specified. In response thereto, reports, more or less full, were received from nearly all the societies existing in the State; the returns from a few of them being satisfactory, but the great majority being incomplete, and in some instances comparatively useless. It is to be hoped that such deficiencies may be supplied in future, and that the annual reports of the Board will hereafter contain accurate returns of the condition of the agricultural, mechanical, and stock interests in the different counties of the State. It is believed therefore that the deficiencies in the report will be excused in view of the crudeness of the materials and the difficulties attending its preparation, and it is submitted with the hope that it will be found equal, if not superior in some respects, to its predecesIGNATIUS BROWN, sors. JAN. 14, 1858. Secretary of the Board. NOTE. This report would have been issued from the press in October, 1858, but for the intervention of the called session of the General Assembly, followed immediately by the regular session. The preparations for, and the subsequent execution of the printing ordered at those sessions, stopped the work on this report, and have delayed its issue until the present time. STATE PRINTER. TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi |