PREFACE. V 



the power of accumulating fortunes, such as manufacturers and com- 

 mercial men frequently acquire. 



As much of the value of a work of this kind will depend on the 

 knowledge it conveys of the modern improvements in implements and 

 buildings, particular attention has been paid to these subjects. Three- 

 fourths of the implements and edifices of which engravings are given 

 in Dr. Dickson's Practical Agriculture, and the Complete Farmer,. 

 may be considered as obsolete, or greatly altered by subsequent im- 

 provements. Many of these improvements have not found their way 

 into any books, and for them we have had recourse to the originals, 

 and to the most eminent Agricultirral mechanics and manufacturers 

 of implements : Our thanks in this respect are particularly due 

 to the proprietors of Weir's Agricultural Repository, Oxford- Street, 

 London, for permitting us to take sketches from their extensive collec- 

 tion, and more particularly of those implements and machines which 

 the late Mr. Weir invented or greatly improved. Our best thanks are 

 also due to Mr. Morton, Leith-walk, Edinburgh, who is equally eminent 

 as an Agricultural mechanist in Scotland. There is no implement or 

 machine mentioned in this work which will not be found on sale, or may 

 not be made to order in the establishments alluded to, in the best 

 manner, and at an equitable charge. 



For important assistance in the Veterinary part of this work, our best 

 thanks are due to an eminent professor. Through the kind assistance of 

 this gentleman we have been enabled to bring together a body of 

 popular information on the anatomy, physiology, pathology, breed- 

 ing, rearing, and general treatment of the horse, the ox, the sheep, and 

 other domestic animals, even to dogs and poultry, as we can safely 

 assert is not to be found in anj^ other Agricultural publication. 



It remains only to mention as a key to this work, that such technical 

 terms as are used in a more definite sense than usual, are explained at 

 the end of this preface ; such as are not common in general language, 

 in the index ; and the abridged titles of books, or of proper names, are 

 there also given at length. The systematic nomenclature of plants 

 adopted, is that of our Encyclopcedia of Plants and Hortus Britannicus, 

 now in great part through the press, with some exceptions which are 

 noted where they occur. In the specific names of animals, we have 

 followed Turton's edition of the Systema Naturae of Linnaeus : such 

 chemical, mineralogical, and geological terms as occur, are those used 

 by Sir H. Davy in his Agricultural Chemistry, and by Professor 

 Brande in his Geology: and the weights and measures are always 

 after the standard of England, unless otherwise expressed. More 

 accuracy and consistency, it is hoped, has been attained in these par- 

 ticulars, than is usual in even the best Agricultural works ; the dry rot 

 is not here described as " a plant with leaves like the misletoe," as in 



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