vi PREFACE. 



tion, I shall esteem myself fortunate ; and although 

 I do not anticipate that I may further employ my 

 pen upon these subjects, I shall be glad to have put 

 a spoke in the wheel of a healthful pursuit, which, 

 properly conducted, is profitable as pleasant, and has 

 as many phases as the revolving year itself. 



I undertake only to pilot the sucking agriculturist 

 down channel : the occupation itself is so attractive, 

 that by that time he will ordinarily have learnt 

 enough to manage the remainder of the voyage. 



Farming, at present, is assuredly at a premium. 

 It is no longer left to the nest-egg of the village 

 public-house — iringui tentus omaso — but is in mani- 

 fest favour, from the Royal Lady whose " walk in the 

 Home Park " is understood to mean an inspection of 

 the Shorthorns, a trip for fresh eggs, and some 

 petting of the Alderneys, down to the Yorkshire 

 manufacturer of gigantic gains, and the agreeable 

 authoress of that charming book, Our Farm of Four 

 Acres. The spruce city banker has his compact 

 estate, which he reaches daily on his hundred-guinea 

 trotting cob ; and in this district at least most pro- 

 vident labourers have their few fields and cows to 

 help to rear the children. 



Now-a-days, too, it has its problems, and properly 

 viewed is to be reckoned as a leading science. What 

 store the intelligent ruler at the Tuileries sets by 

 agriculture as an advancing and distinguished indus- 

 trial branch of occupation — the very core of a nation's 

 well-being — his generous appreciation of the English 



