8 PBEFACE. 



facts, opinions, and results, as clearly and concisely as 

 possible. 



In the discussion of some of the leading topics, the 

 author would gladly have devoted more space, in pro- 

 portion to their importance, but it was found that such 

 a course would render the work more voluminous and 

 expensive, thereby possibly excluding it from the larg- 

 est circle of readers. 



The critical reader is here notified that he will find, 

 in the course of these pages, some repetition of the lead- 

 ing thought^ which it is the object of this book to de- 

 velop and impress. When a topic, already once treated, 

 has reappeared in a different connection, especially if 

 involving a principle of some consequence, the writer 

 has not hesitated to improve the opportunity of re- 

 affirming such principle, and again urging it on the 

 attention of the cultivator. The same ideas have thus 

 been, in several instances, partially reproduced. If 

 they shall appear to the agricultural reader as impor- 

 tant as they have seemed to the writer, no further 

 apology will be needed. The reader who looks for im- 

 perfections will easily find them; but faults which, 

 like this, have their origin in the force of the writer's 

 convictions, however they may displease the critic, 

 will not, it is thought, offend the practical farmer. 



