BOOKS FOR FARMERS. 173 



Books for Farmers. — Not unfrequently inquiries are made 

 regarding the best books on agriculture for public or private libra- 

 ries, Farmers' Clubs, &c. It is usually no easy task to select 

 those which, in character, numbers and price will best answer the 

 varied requirements which are thus sought to be supplied. 



But there are some which can be recommended without hesita- 

 tion. Among these is a work on Practical Dairy Husbandry, by 

 X. A. Willard, A. M., of Herkimer County, New York. It treats 

 very fully of Dairy Farms and Farming, Dairy Stock and its Feed- 

 ing and Treatment, Management and Manufacture of Milk into 

 Butter and Cheese by the most improved methods of the present 

 day, giving also the history and mode of organizing Butter and 

 Cheese Factories, together with much else of interest on related 

 matters. Mr. Willard gave an address at the session of the 

 Board at Farmington in January 18*71, which was published in the 

 report of last year. Those who heard him on that occasion, or 

 who have read the address can readily judge of his fitness for such 

 a task. Suffice it to say that having had practical experience in his 

 own dairy for upwards of twenty years and having enjoyed rare 

 opportunities for studying and observing all which pertains to 

 to the Dairy, no man is better qualified for the authorship of such 

 a treatise than Mr. Willard. Octavo, 546 pages. Published by 

 D. D. T. Moore, New York. Price, $3. 



To those who believe that a right understanding of fundamental 

 principles is the surest guide to successful practice, and therefore 

 desire to study the scientific truths which bear upon agriculture, 

 are most heartily commended two works by Prof. S. W. Johnson, 

 of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College ; the one entitled 

 "How Crops Grow," being a treatise on the chemical composition, 

 structure and life of the plant ; and the other, "How Crops Feed," 

 a treatise on the Atmosphere and the Soil as related to the Nutrition 

 of agricultural plants ; designed to be a companion to, and the 

 complement of the other. 



The results of the more recent investigations of German and 

 French botanists, chemists and agriculturists have been, for the 



