176 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



from the point of view of chemical and physiological science may 

 finish the series." 



How successful Prof. Johnson was in his endeavors, as above 

 set forth, is shown by the reception which his books have met, 

 both in this country and in Europe ; having been republished in 

 England under the joint editorship of Profs. Church and Dyer of 

 the Agricultural College at Cirencester, and in Germany, a trans- 

 lation, instigated by Baron Liebig, has been published. 



It is safe to say that these volumes may be accepted as an authori- 

 tative exposition of the scientific agriculture of the present day, in 

 those branches of which they treat. It is equally safe to say, that 

 they are books not well adapted for light reading. They deserve 

 to be carefully studied, as. well as read, and will be of little use 

 unless they are. Two duodecimo volumes, of rather less than 400 

 pages each, containing all the facts gathered during a series of 

 years by scores of laborious investigators, together with the inter- 

 pretation of these facts, or, in other phrase, their testimony regard- 

 ing agricultural practice, could not fail to be full to the brim of 

 concentrated mental food. Their contents, amplified with swelling 

 words, extended with a customary amount of blunders, and diluted 

 with twaddle to the consistence of the thin broths supplied to the 

 press by some agricultural writers, would furnish materials enough 

 for a library of great magnitude. As the case stands, either can 

 be had* for two dollars, or both for four, and a world of house 

 room saved, with a corresponding economy of time. 



It is well to have some such books. The digestive powers of 

 intelligent farmers are not so weak that they need, either physically 

 or mentally, to be fed solely upon slops, or even on milk ; and the 

 farmer who has taken a slice of solid intellectual food such as these 

 furnish, has a cud for profitable rumination while his hands are 

 busy with daily routine work. In one respect these volumes are 

 open to less favorable criticism. Those who buy them will do so 

 for the sake of availing themselves of the author's share in the 

 work, and not because of less attractions contributed by the pub- 

 lisher; the paper, binding and general mechanical execution being 

 suggestive of a poverty in marked contrast with the solid wealth 

 within. 



To serve the double purpose of more fully introducing Prof. 

 Johnson to the farmers of Maine, and to furnish valuable informa- 



*SoId by booksellers generally, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the publishers, 

 Orange Judd A Co., 245 Broadway, New York. 



