PREFACE. 



These papers, begun in the interest of improved hus 

 bandry, without much method, and without any anticipa 

 tion of their subsequent popularity, have been continued 

 through twelve volumes of the American Agriculturist, in 

 deference to the wishes of the senior editor and his numer 

 ous readers, rather than to the judgment of the writer. 

 For the same reason they are gathered in the more con 

 venient form of this little volume, in the hope that they 

 may be still further useful. They are a humble attempt 

 to represent the average wisdom of the Connecticut farmer, 

 and the steady progress which this class is making in rural 

 improvement and in the comforts and moralities of social 

 life. The incidents herein recorded are fictitious in form 

 rather than in fact, for they are the results of personal 

 experience and observation, and are meant to represent 

 the true diift of farm life in the land of Steady Habits. 

 The teachings are believed to be in harmony with the best 

 authorities in Agriculture and Horticulture, and with the 

 earnest desire that they may cheer the workers upon the 

 farm everywhere, and incite them to the best methods of 

 husbandry and the noblest aims in living, they are sub 

 mitted to the public. 



O 



