PREFACE.

An abstract of the returns from the Agricultural Societies of Maine for 1864, with the accompanying papers, is presented to the farmers of the State, with the hope that it will contribute, in some degree, to the advancement of the knowledge and practice of agri

culture among us.

In the doings of the County Societies is to be found much that will be of more than local interest; while the valuable and practical papers composing the remainder of the volume, selected from sources not generally accessible to the farmers of the State, are commended to their special attention as containing the best thoughts of some of the ablest agricultural writers of the day.