Gex£ral Paefack. Hi 



depends on nobody but himself and on his own proper 

 means; and, if he be not at his ease, and even rich, it 

 must be his own fault. 



4. To make men clearly see what they may do in 

 any situation of life, one of the best modes, if not the 

 very best, is to gi^e them, in detail, an account of what 

 one has done oneself in that same situation, and how 

 and when and where one has done it. This, as far as 

 relates to farming and house-keeping in the country, is 

 the mode that I shall pursue. I shall give an account 

 of what I have done ; and, while this will convince any 

 good farmer, or any man of tolerable means, that he 

 may, if he will, do the same, it will give him an idea of 

 the climate, soil, crops, &c. a thousand times more neat 

 and correct, than could he conveyed to his mind by any 

 general description, unaccompanied with actual experi- 

 mental accounts. 



5. As the expressing of this intention may, perhaps, 

 suggest to the reader to ask, how it is that much can be 

 known on the subject of Farming by a man, who, for 

 thirty-six out o^ fifty-two years of his life has been a 

 Soldier or a Political Writer, and who, of course, has 

 spent so large a part of his time in garrisons and in great 

 cities, I will beg leave to satisfy this natural curiosity 

 beforehand. 



6. Early habits and affections seldom quit us while 

 we have vigour of mind left. I was brought up under 

 a father, whose talk was chiefly about his garden and 

 his fields, with regard to which he was famed for his 

 skill and his exemplary neatness. From my very in- 

 fancy, from the age of six years, when I climbed up 



