282 



ALLEN'S AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



ety 137 set, nnd 124 lived; another, 204 

 and 190; 173, 165; 103, 102; this, to be 

 sure, is better than the average, though no 

 better than that would have been under 

 favorable circumstances, but we out-westers 

 have to use such stocks as we can get. 

 Root grafting in this way can be done at 

 any time after cold weather sets in, though 

 I do not like to commence before January, 

 and should prefer waiting still longer or till 

 February, if convenient, as it is rather dirfi- 



cult to keep them from starting too earlv, if 

 done so long before spring. Should there 

 be any roofs or scions prepared that are 

 not used the same day, they can be kept 

 perfectly well in water over night, or even 

 two or three days, if necessary. The regu- 

 lar days work grafting, as above, is 500, 

 and it is not a hard task, after a little prac- 

 tice, where the tools and materials are 

 good. Very respectfully yours, &c. 



Dtlavan, Wis., Nov. 16, 1846. F. K. PhCENIX. 



REVIE'W. 



A Brief Compend of American Agriculture. 

 By R. L. Allen. New-York, Saxton & Miles. 

 Buflalo, T. &, M. Butler. 12ino. pp. 437— $1. 



It is really a great satisfaction to get hold 

 of an American treatise on Agriculture, 

 that has a plain, practical, common sense 

 character of its own. So many mere patch- 

 ers and compilers are there, who, without 

 any practical knowledge of their own, use 

 their scissors shamelessly upon the produc- 

 tions of English authors, thus readily mak- 

 ing b(?oks without taxing their own poor 

 brains, books too, that are really of no value 

 in this climate and country — books that on- 

 ly serve to puzzle and bewilder the farming 

 novice — tha.t, we repeat, it is with unusual 

 satisfaction we have opened this new, com- 

 pact duodecimo volume. 



Mr. R. L. Allen, of Buffiilo, the author 

 of this work, is already known to the agri- 

 cultural public as a thorough practical farm- 

 er and stock breeder. That he well knows 

 what he is about on a farm, these pages 

 abundantly show. No mere book-maker 

 could have written such a book ; and we 

 may add, also, that no mere practical farm- 

 er could have written it. A " good practi- 

 cal work " can only be written by a man 

 <vho has both thought and acted well. 



What distinguishes this volume, is its 

 conciseness, its clearness, and its perspicu- 

 ous treatment of the subject in hand. The 

 reason why most agricultural works are pro- 

 lix and heavj% is because their authors had 

 not made the subject thoroughly their own. 

 No man can write clearly and plainly about 

 what he possesses only indistinct and con- 

 fused notions himself. And no man can 

 have clear and distinct ideas, regarding any 

 practical subject like agriculture, however 

 conversant he may be with Stephens^ Book 

 of the Farm, Loudon^s Encyclopedia or Von 

 Thaer's Principles, unless he is able to di- 

 gest all the more valuable theories contain- 

 ed in these works in his every day practice. 

 Otherwise it is only like Calvin Edson, the 

 walking skeleton, dining on roast beef and 

 plum pudding. 



What American farmers want, as we con- 

 ceive, at the present moment, are plain and 

 sensible reasons for our best agricultural 

 practice as it is, and equally common-sense 

 hints and directions for its improvement. 

 Books written upon such a plan, by compe- 

 tent men, will go a thousand times farther 

 toward making good husbandmen, and im- 

 proving those already skilful, than a repub- 

 lication of all the elaborate English. French 



