iv PREFACE. 



stercorary, from the ditch, and from following the plow, with tow- 

 frock, and overalls, and India-rubber boots on, all bespattered 

 with mud, with callous hands and stiff fingers, to show young 

 farmers how to work. 



Most writers on agricultural subjects have appeared to take it 

 for granted, that every one already understands the practical 

 operations in the various branches of business connected with 

 the farm (see " Introduction") ; therefore we have no elementary 

 works in our agricultural libraries, and when young men com 

 mence practically in any branch of farming operations, they are 

 at a great loss how to perform, in a workmanlike manner, many 

 of the most common operations of the farm without an expe 

 rienced foreman. 



It has been my aim to lay down most reliable directions in all 

 my details ; and the young farmer can carry this volume into his 

 workshop or into the field, and learn from its pages how to per 

 form every job in a workmanlike, easy, and most expeditious 

 manner. 



I have endeavored to make use of simple and intelligible lan 

 guage, which none can fail to understand ; and have numbered 

 the paragraphs, so that when reference is made to a subject the 

 reader may be able to turn at once to the paragraph, which will 

 explain more particularly what he may desire to know. 



My manner of writing it has been to pen my own ideas, and 

 then on any subject which might not seem very clear, to confer 

 with such experienced and skillful farmers as Hon. David Crocker 

 and Deacon Isaac Bower, who are known to be thorough-going 

 farmers and producers of neat cattle, and to whose inspection I 

 submitted my MS. for criticism. 



In regard to tools, and especially edged tools, I have conferred 



