The Culture of Farm Crops, 



PART FIRST. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE ART OF AGRICULTURE. IMPORTANCE OF A 

 KNOWLEDGE OF ITS PRINCIPLES. 



No farmer can be successful in the pursuit of his indus- 

 try without a knowledge of the principles upon which the 

 practice of it is founded. Every work of the farm has more 

 or less of mystery attached to it. No other art, among all 

 the industries of the human race is so intricate or has so 

 many varying conditions and circumstances environing and 

 affecting it. The soil, the season, the character of the plants 

 grown, the time and manner of their cultivation; the air, 

 water and mineral matters which furnish them with food; 

 and many other things related to these; are all involved in 

 an inextricable maze and mystery to the farmer who knows 

 nothing of them or their relations to and reactions upon 

 each other. But these mysteries are unfolded in the most 

 beautiful and interesting manner, and the laws which re- 

 late to the growth of plants are seen to form a system 

 which gradually developes as the farmer progresses in this 

 study into form and method from w T hich rules may be laid 

 down for his guidance; or from which he may form his own 

 rules and practice as any emergency may arise. 



When principles are known and understood, one may 

 form his own practice. Otherwise he is the slave and the 

 victim to the innumerable accidents which befall him in 

 the various operations of the farm, which are controlled in 



