INTRODUCTION. 15 



include the very best talent of the country. In the preparation of this 

 Cyclopedia the editor-in-chief has been assisted by the following brill- 

 iant corps of special contributors : L. N. Bonham, agricultural editor 

 of the Cincinnati Commercial; R. S. Thompson, author of "Science in 

 Farming;" R. W. Stewart, D. V. S., the popular veterinary surgeon; 

 Henry Talcott, president of the Ashtabula County (Ohio) Sorghum 

 Association ; John G. Oxer, the successful cattle breeder ; A. J. Cook, 

 professor in the Michigan State Agricultural College ; " Fanny Field," 

 the practical and successful poultry raiser and writer; John Gould, 

 agricultural editor of the Cleveland Herald ; Edwin W. Brown, practi- 

 cal cattle breeder and experienced herder ; Stephen Powers, author of 

 " Sheep Experience Papers;" John M. Stahl, the noted agricultural 

 writer and author of "Agricultural Aphorisms," etc. These names are 

 of themselves a sufficient guarantee of the value and originality of the 

 chapters which they have respectively contributed. It would seem that 

 they have omitted no subject of importance. Of the thousand inter- 

 ests which spring up on the farm, and which present themselves with 

 peculiar attractiveness to specialists, not one has been neglected. Take, 

 for instance, the poultry raiser. To him " The People's Farm and 

 Stock Cyclopedia" is what a dictionary is to an author. " Fanny Field" 

 is, perhaps, the best authority on the breeding and rearing of poultry in 

 America, and her practical success has, for years, attested her preemi- 

 nence in her special work. So, also, in the matter of raising bees, 

 Professor Cook has long been regarded as the pioneer philosopher of the 

 apiary. His views are held in the highest esteem by every bee culturist 

 in the country. Mr. L. N. Bonham and Dr. Stewart, to whose able 

 pens the public is already greatly indebted, have given in the chap- 

 ters on the breeding and treatment of the horse all that science and 

 experience have contributed to the care and improvement of that noble 

 animal. In the department of agricultural chemistry a science hith- 

 erto but little understood Mr. R. S. Thompson has given the results 

 of the latest research, and made plain to every intelligent reader much 

 which has been to him a mystery, but which he needs to understand to 

 enable him to farm intelligently and profitably. So, in every other 

 chapter of the work devoted to the special interests of the farm, the 

 Cyclopedia is infinitely superior to all rival publications. 



Still another feature of the following pages will be found to merit 

 the highest praise. This is the literary style of the work. The gen- 

 eral character of the Cyclopedia is such as to add dignity to the sub- 

 ject and improve the tastes of those who read it. In this respect the 

 work stands alone. Nearly all the books hitherto given to the public 



