

«o 



FOREWORD 



The year 1937 marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 

 founding of the United States Department of Agriculture and the 

 passage of the Land Grant College Act, both approved by President 

 Lincoln in 1862. It thus becomes the occasion for retrospective and 

 prospective views of American agriculture. 



A collection of the observations on agriculture by Washington, 

 Jefferson, and Lincoln, three leaders eminent in American history, 

 is, therefore, of especial interest at this time. The selections 

 here included present the views of these leaders on the place of 

 agriculture in the life of the Nation, their farming experiences, and 

 the contemporaneous agricultural conditions. 



Everett E. Edwards is responsible for the selections and the 

 introductory notes. A committee consisting of Roy F. Hendrickson, 

 Mary G. Lacy, Caroline B. Sherman, and 0. C Stine assisted in the 

 publication. 



995 ! u. 



