6 PREFACE. 



practices. This work will be confined in a general 

 way to the states of Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, 

 Illinois, Nebraska and the Dakotas. Even this is a 

 large field, and one which I enter upon with many 

 misgivings. No information is better than that 

 which is erroneous. It shall be my constant en- 

 deavor not to mislead, but to tell that which is the 

 most -necessary, in the plainest and fewest words. I 

 know that in some matters I shall be compelled to 

 differ from other authors, but when I do so, shall 

 endeavor to give their views as well as my own. 



After twenty-eight consecutive years of hard 

 work, study and observation, even a very ordinary 

 person should have acquired much information. I 

 do not claim to be other than ordinary, but, if a 

 sincere love of the work, and close observation, 

 together with a reduction of theory to experimental 

 knowledge in numberless cases should fit me to be 

 an instructor of those not so situated, or condi- 

 tioned, then I have the right to claim that privilege 

 and refer you to the following pages without further 

 comment. C. W. GURNEY. 



CONCORD, NEB., Nov. 28, 1893. 



