XXIV PREFACE. 



shall be made up of the best fruits which I can gather. Though I am not able 

 to present them in vases of gold and silver, or of diamond glass, or Sevres or 

 porcelain china ; yet if the peaches and the strawberries should be seen blushing 

 under a few of the leaves of their own foliage, or if a simple bouquet of the 

 flowers of the sweetbrier and violet, or a handful of the half-unfolded buds of the 

 moss-rose, the queen of flowers, should be sought to relieve the monotony of the 

 table, I hope that my taste will not be condemned, but will be regarded only as 

 in conformity to the rule sanctioned by a high antiquity, that of mingling &quot; the 

 agreeable with the useful.&quot; 



There are other grounds upon which I claim the indulgence of my readers. 

 We have often heard of the vexation of an artist, who is compelled to paint 

 a picture to order ; and, willing or unwilling, well or ill, under the most brilliant 

 spell of poetical excitement, or in an hour of the most sleepy or prosy dulness, 

 he must work at it, and have it completed, and varnished, and framed, and sent 

 home to be criticized, by a certain time. To a degree, similar objections lie to 

 all forced intellectual labor ; and in many such cases, a powerfully excited 

 desire to do well, and not to disappoint the wishes and expectations of kind 

 friends, presents, in itself, no small hinderance to success, and, strange as it may 

 seem, is sometimes the cause of failure. It must be obvious to any one what 

 disadvantages I labor under in being obliged to give my reports before I have 

 completed my tour. In this case, I yield of necessity to an impatience of curi 

 osity on the part of my friends, which I would neither condemn nor blame, but 

 which certainly presents a strong claim upon their candor. 



1 am painfully aware of the greatness of the undertaking, and the sacrifices 

 which, at my time of life, it demands of me, and the difficulties in the case of 

 meeting even my own wishes. But the object being exclusively a public object, 

 and one in respect to the utility of which, however imperfectly accomplished, 

 there can be no dissent, I look confidently for the aid and encouragement, so 

 essential to my success, of the intelligent, disinterested, and public-spirited, 

 among the friends of agricultural improvement. Such aid in any form will be 

 gratefully appreciated. 



In whatever light I regard the subject of the improvement of agriculture, my 

 sense of its importance is continually strengthened. In its social, political, and 

 moral bearings in its connection with the subsistence of mankind, with their 

 general comfort, and with the progress of civilization no subject, purely sec 

 ular, more demands the attention of the political economist, the statesman, and 

 the philanthropist. If the familiar experience of half a century in all the labors 

 and details of practical husbandry, a considerable acquaintance with the agri 

 culture of the United States, and an enthusiastic attachment to rural life and 

 rural pursuits, give me any power to be useful in the advancement of this great 

 cause, that power shall be exerted. I do not know to what object the short 

 remainder of my life can be more rationally devoted. 



HENRY COLMAN. 



2 SPRING GARDENS, CHARING CROSS, 



London, 1844. 



