PREFACE vil 



farm work. Your weakness will become your greatest 

 strength if it cause you to step down in this class from 

 the teacher's desk and to be a comrade with your pupils, 

 a fellow-seeker after the truth that none of us can 

 know completely. Be a leader in raising questions which 

 you need not be ashamed to own that you cannot answer. 

 If you arouse the interest that will make your pupils desire 

 an answer, you arouse in them for the years to come the 

 spirit of inquiry by means of which, as men and women, 

 they will educate themselves. In teaching agriculture, 

 humility is the teacher's proper attitude, and to show it will 

 not forfeit the respect of either pupils or patrons. 



The thanks of the writer are due to the many friends 

 who have lent a helping hand in this work. Space does 

 not suffice for acknowledgements to all, but special thanks 

 are here tendered to my associates, Dr. W. E. Hinds, for 

 the sections on insects, and Professor R. S. Mackintosh, 

 for numerous photographs and for critical reading of the 

 chapters on horticulture ; to Miss F. E. Andrews, and 

 other lovers of flowers, for the sections on flower garden- 

 ing; to Dr. B. M. Duggar, of Cornell University, for 

 writing the chapter on plant diseases ; to Professor L. N. 

 Duncan for suggestions and photographs for Figs. 2, 136, 

 139-14^, and 215; to Miss C. M. Cook for drawings; to 

 the editor. Dr. L. H. Bailey, for many improvements ; and 

 fc>f illustrations, to the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, and to the Experiment Stations of Georgia, 

 Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota^ 



Missouri, New York, and Ohio. 



THE AUTHOR. 

 AUBURN, ALABAMA, 

 January, 1908. 



