PREFACE. 



^ one at this day doubts the importance of agricultuial 

 information. Knowledge in this department is not only 

 power, but it is wealth, iudividual and national. That 

 system of cultivation which produces two blades of grass 

 or two kernels of grain where only one grew^ before ; which 

 produces two quarts of milk or two pounds of meat in place 

 of one, must not only be a benefit to each iudividual pro- 

 ducer, but of immense advantage to the country' and the world. 

 Great improvements have been made in the past twenty years. 

 Underdraining, improved machinerj-, the better understanding 

 of the rotation of crops, and the application of manures, and the 

 improvements in the breeds of domestic animals, have all helped 

 to raise Agriculture, from mere drudgery, to an important 

 science. And improvement must still continue. Only a small 

 proportion of the great body of farmers have adopted the 

 advanced position in modern agriculture. The great mass of 

 farmers are still laboring under the disadvantages of a false and 

 ruinous system of agriculture, without knowing just how to 

 better their position. It is the duty of those who do know, to 

 bring their knowledge to the use of these their brethren in toil. 

 Much of the best talent of the country is devoted to this object. 

 Agricultural colleges are springing up on every hand. Men of 

 genius, of the best scholarship, of great scientific attainments, 

 are devoting their lives to the work of bringing forth the secrets 

 of the soil. Enterprising j'oung men of good abilities are putting 



their hands to the plow, and the plow to the furrow, resolved to 



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