PREFACE 



FROM the introduction of Agriculture into the curriculum of 

 our schools there has grown a demand that the student be 

 brought into direct contact with the materials he deals with 

 in his courses ; and in the study of field crops there is a need for 

 a suitable outline to follow on each separate division of the work. 



The author of this manual of Field Crops worked out in his 

 own class room and with the advice and help of noted agri- 

 culturists, a series of practicums intended to acquaint the stu- 

 dent with some of the most important phases of our common 

 field crops. 



The course is not intended to equip the student for scientific 

 research work but for what we choose to call the work of practi- 

 tioner agriculturist, and a very large number of those who study 

 agriculture for four years, become members of this group. For 

 this reason the student of field crops should be given a thorough 

 knowledge of the fundamentals of plant growth and plant 

 structure, which will give him a basis for interpreting any prob- 

 lem presenting itself in his handling of field crops. 



In preparing this manual the author is indebted to the fol- 

 lowing books: Hunt's Cereals in America; Bailey's Cyclopedia 

 of American Agriculture; Wilson and Warburton's Field Crops; 

 Shamel's Corn Judging Manual; Coburn's Book on Alfalfa; 

 Hunt's Forage and Fibre Crops; Livingston's Field Crop Pro- 

 duction; Spillman's Farm Grasses of the United States; Lyon 

 and Montgomery's Examining and Grading of Grain. 



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