PREFACE 



As the population of our country increases, it is 

 fast becoming evident that two things must be done: 

 poorer soil must be cultivated, and what is already 

 under cultivation must be made to produce more. In 

 either case more thoughtful methods in agriculture are 

 absolutely essential. The farmer of to-morrow, who 

 is to-day the farmer's boy, must know how to farm 

 better than his father does. In order to do this, he 

 must acquire a more or less complete knowledge of 

 the sciences on which agriculture is based. 



The farmer of the future must be able to read farm 

 papers understandingly, or better still, he should be 

 trained for his life \vork in some agricultural school 

 as doctors, lawyers and teachers are now trained. It 

 is the purpose of this book to give to the farmer's 

 child, who studies it, a start in such necessary knowl- 

 edge. The language used is plain and simple, and 

 may be readily understood by any bright boy or girl 

 of twelve years of age. All scientific terms are defined 

 in a simple way whenever it has been necessary to 

 introduce them. 



Each chapter is followed by a set of practical farm 

 problems to be used as exercises for the arithmetic 

 class. These problems have a definite relation to the 



