PREFACE. After much delay, entirely unavoidable on our part, we are at length enabled to issue the Sixth Volume of the Transactions of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. A glance at the Table of Contents will show, that although it does not differ in its general objects from the volumes heretofore published, it has, however, at the same time, a special object, to wit: the better information of our own people as well as the citizens of other States and of foreign countries upon the subject of our industrial capacity, condition and progress as a State. To this end great pains have been taken to collect the important facts embodied in the Report of the Executive Committee and to insure the greatest possible accuracy in their statement. If, therefore, injustice has been done in that Report to any portion of the State, or to any of its diverse industrial interests, it should be attributed solely to the lack of the means of correct information, which at this early date in the history and progress of the commonwealth, could hardly be expected to be, in all respects, full and complete. It is nevertheless believed that, while the exhibit therein made is eminently creditable to the State, whether considered as to its wealth of resources or its industrial enterprise, it is likewise, in all important regards, worthy of the public confidence, as a scientific, historic and practical record. The Map included in this volum ewas prepared by the author for the express purpose of illustrating the Report. It presents, at a glance, the results of extensive personal observation and investigation in nearly all portions of the State, the communicated results of the observations of reliable persons resident in many of the localities illustrated, and of numerous scientific gentlemen who have, at various periods, been directly or indirectly engaged in geological surveys of Wisconsin. Messrs. I. A. Lapham and T. J. Hale and Professors Jas. Hall, E. Daniels and J. D. Whitney, are especially entitled to our acknowledgments. In the location of the meteorological lines, we have relied chiefly upon the authority of the Army Meteorological Register, of the observations more recently taken by citizens of the State under the direction of the Smithsonian Institute, and of the valuable works of Dr. Forry and Lorin Blodgett on the Climate of the United States. The series of papers on the Industry of Counties are in harmony with the plan of the general Report and will be found to contain matter of much local interest and importance. It is a source of regret that all the counties are not therein represented; but inasmuch as vigorous effort was made, both by private correspondence and public notices, to secure such reports from every county in the State, the non-appearance in this volume. of the several counties not so reported is entirely chargeable to their own neglect. It fortunately happens, however, that the portions of the State which are represented, are so widely and well distributed that, taken together, they may be regarded as fairly representative of the whole State. The tabular abstract of the returns of County Agricultural Societies presents, in a condensed form, the more important facts connected with each. The scope of the entire work and its limitations as to space forbade the publication of a fuller abstract, in accordance with the usage in previous volumes. Under the head of Essays, Addresses, Communications, &c., the amount of matter is necessarily less than was at first intended. It is believed, however, that the papers of this class are especially valuable, and that they will commend themselves to all readers interested in the subjects of which they severally treat. Mr. Hale's "Additions to the Flora of Wisconsin," commenced in the fifth and designed to be continued in successive volumes of the Transactions, are possessed of a high scientific value and reflect much credit upon their enterprising and industrious, author. The Report of the Fruit Growers' Association, being an important collection of carefully formed opinions and the sifted results of years of practical experience, will undoubtedly receive that careful consideration to which it is so justly entitled. Should there prove to be a considerable number of unimportant typographical errors in this volume, we ask the reader, and especially the authors of the several papers in which they may be found, to bear in mind, that the irregularity of the work of printing, together with the serious illness of the Editor, while portions of the work were going through the press, have rendered impracticable that careful inspection of proof, in all cases, which it would otherwise have received. STATE AGRICULTURAL ROOMS, February, 1862. J. W. HOYT. |
