PA.RT I 



CHAP TEE I. 



THE REASONS WHY A WORK OF THIS KIND SHOULD 

 BE READ. 



Tho author of this MANUAL has endeavored to 

 supply a want deeply felt by himself in his first 

 experience as a farmer ; and, as far as his knowledge 

 now extends, this want still exists with many others. 

 All those who are about to enter upon the ennobling 

 pursuit of agriculture, and even those who have 

 had long experience as farmers, will find, we are 

 persuaded, embodied in the work, facts, experiments, 

 and illustrations, well worthy of their^most earnest 

 consideration. 



In the present condition of the Southern States, 

 with labor fluctuating and uncertain, the high price 

 of provisions, and the thousand and one difficulties 

 which meet the farmer at every turn, renders it 

 absolutely necessary that he should call into requi- 

 sition all the aid which science, the arts, and the 

 experience of others, can yield him. 



The author is aware that it is common for the 

 so-called "practical farmer" to sneer at and deride 

 the "book farmer;" with what justice one or two 

 examples will illustrate. Take, for instance, Dr. M. 

 W. Philips, of Hinds county, Mississippi. We find, 

 for thirty successive crops, made before the war, 

 that he averaged eight bales of cotton to the hand. 



