PREFACE. 



The world lives on the products of agriculture, and 

 consequently some knowledge of this subject should be 

 of importance to every one independent of his vocation 

 in life. It is the object of this book, therefore, to pre- 

 sent the fundamentals of this important subject, so as 

 to answer questions and conditions which prevail in 

 everybody's life. 



Every subject in this book is written by an expert in 

 his line. This idea was carried out in order to furnish 

 the student with the best information that could be ob- 

 tained. The editor thought it would be better to have 

 authorities treat of the various topics rather than write 

 the book alone, as there are very few men who are 

 competent enough to warrant their writing the best 

 text-book on agriculture. 



A list of bulletins and reference books is appended 

 at the end of each chapter. The teacher should send 

 for the bulletins (which can be had free of charge) 

 some time before the particular subject is assigned, in 

 order that fuller information may be offered to the 

 students than is included in the text. 



The teacher should endeavor to present the subjects 

 in season, and not necessarily in the order they are 

 given, so that field trips may be taken to impress the 

 topic or topics on the student's mind and to excite in- 

 terest. In propounding questions to the class original- 

 ity should predominate. At the end of most sections 

 a few questions are asked to give the teacher an idea 

 of what is required. Field experiments should be con- 

 ducted, and the text should be followed only to furnish 

 the student with the principles or working knowledge. 



In a work of this kind it is impossible to treat of 



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