INTRODUCTION. 



THIS is a bundle of sticks slightly trimmed to 

 lie more conveniently in the faggot gathered 

 from various hedgerows, where many of them have 

 long remained undisturbed. In plainer phrase, 

 this book contains a selection from papers on 

 agricultural subjects written at varying intervals 

 during the past five and twenty years and pub- 

 lished in the transactions of the associations to 

 whose members they were primarily addressed. 

 Some carry the marks of their date and already 

 have a flavour of antiquity, but the subjects with 

 which they deal are perennial, and even the late- 

 Victorian aspect oi them is not quite out of date. 

 It is hoped, at any rate, that they still possess 

 some interest for those who are concerned for 

 the well-being of Agriculture a category which 

 happily includes many more than those who 

 actually live by the land. 



Glancing back over the period covered by the 

 contents of this book the earliest paper was 

 written in 1888 the superficial impression is one 

 of changing times. The last quarter of the nine- 

 teenth century comprised years of tribulation for 

 owners and occupiers of land. Farmers who in 



