INTRODUCTION. 25 



purposes, their directions and suggestions often misled. Ewu 

 when based upon sound practice, it was not a practice with 

 which most of us were familiar, and hence it was far less valua- 

 ble to us than if it had passed through the crucible of the 

 practical American brain. The only means of removing these 

 difficulties was the creation of an agricultural literature of 

 our own ; and this we shall accomplish by patient labor. We 

 have begun to think, to experiment, and to record results. By 

 the publication of agricultural periodicals and books, and by 

 means of our agricultural societies, national, state, and local, 

 the results of our labors are made known to all who (jare to 

 learn them, and our agricultural literature is assuming tlie 

 dignity and importance which it deserves as the instrument and 

 aid of the most important material interest of a great and 

 powerful nation, capable, from its extent and boundless re- 

 sources, of becoming the granary of the world. 



We do not mean to say that farming can ever cease to be 

 practical, or that such a state of things would be desirable, if 

 possible. But it is certainly becoming more a matter of study 

 and science. No amount of information can do away with the 

 necessity of hard work, but a knowledge of principles and the 

 application of scientific laws is of the utmost importance to the 

 farmer. When these are well understood, and when sound 

 reasoning and close calculation are substituted for that i.iixture 

 of tradition and guess-work, which once guided all farm 

 operations, we may expect to lighten labor and shorten its pro- 

 cesses while we continually increase its products. 



Agriculture cannot be made profitable simply by securing 

 good crops and abundant products ; but it is necessary to take 

 into consideration, also, the judicious employment of the capi- 

 tal invested, the expenses to be incurred, the wages to be paid, 

 the prices, and the varying state of the market. These matters 



