TEXT-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 693 



Nash's Progressive Farmer, 1857, is another chemical presentation 

 of the subject, being even more closely confined to this view point than 

 most of its contemporaries. Chemistry and fertilizing the land are 

 considered to be the fundamental units. 



A translation (from the German) of AUjort D. Thacr's Principles of 

 Agriculture, by William Shaw and Cuthbert AV'. Johnson, was pub- 

 lished in New York in 18-iB, 1S4S, and 1858. It was not designed as 

 a text-book for schools, although it was one of the volumes of the 

 Michigan District School Library. It was an important work in its 

 day, of 552 large pages. Thaer (1752-1828) was one of the first and 

 greatest of agricultural teachers, experimenters, and writers. 



Camj)beirs ]\Ianual of Scientific and Practical Agriculture, 1859, is 

 a full exposition of the chemistry idea. The second half of the book 

 is devoted to detailed instructions for growing the various crops, 

 written from the farm-practice viewpoint. Animal industry receives 

 liberal space. 



It appeals to the writer that the books of Norton, Waring, and 

 Emerson and Flint are the three great historic American text-books, 

 and of these, that of Emerson and Flint seems to come nearest to 

 the agricultural point of view. The book sets out with the chemical 

 theme — the composition of matter, but it quickly runs into a rational 

 elucidation of farming b}' means of scientific truths. It attempts to 

 give the underlying reasons for rotation of crops, maintaining fertility 

 of the land, the cultivation of particular classes of plants, the man- 

 agement of stock, and similar true agricultural problems. It stands 

 between the old-time applied chemistry and the new-time farm prac- 

 tice. The second edition of the book, with no change of plan, appeared 

 in 1885. 



The agricultural colleges began to come to the fore in the sixties. 

 Agricultural education was given an immense impetus. Of the text- 

 books of this early period two stand out with great distinction — the 

 ever-admira))le works of Professor Johnson, of Yale, on How Crops 

 Grow and How Crops Feed. The former first appeared in ISHS, and 

 a new edition in IS'.Kj; the latter, which is still in its original edition, 

 appeared in 1870. These are not text-books of agriculture, but agri- 

 cultural chemistries, and the}^ are therefore not included in the fol- 

 lowing bibliography, l)ut they gave sucli an impetus to the study of 

 the subject that no sketch of American agricultural education can 

 be complete* without a mention of them. They practically held the 

 field alone until the appearanc^e of Storer's Agricultui'c in Some of its 

 Relations with Chemistrv, in 1887. Manv l)ooks on airricultural chem- 

 istry have aj)peare(l in this country, as well as some on agricultural 

 l)otany. Mention sh(nild also be made of the excellent Elements of 

 Agricultural (ieolog}-, for the Schools of Kansas, by Prof. William 

 K. Kedzie, 1877. 



