HESE 999 QUESTIOJ^S 



represent only a small portion of the Queries 

 which have been sent to the firm of the 

 author, and which have presented them- 

 selves to practical minds, dwelling upon -the 

 subjects of field work connected with agri- 

 culture and horticulture, more particularly in the special branch 

 of Vegetable Gardening. 



Among farmers and gardeners not enough thought is given 

 to the why and wherefore, or cause and efi"ect, for, as a rule, they 

 go on year after year without profiting by the personal opportu- 

 nities afforded them of observation, or by the results of experi- 

 ments at scientific stations. Every year a new series of cultiva- 

 tors, both of farm and garden, spring into existence, few of them 

 profiting by, few indeed knowing anything about, the experiences 

 of their predecessors. 



With rare exceptions the young farmer and gardener does 

 not take up his work from the scientific side, but strictly from 

 the laborer's side ; and he begins at the bottom, meeting the same 

 difficulties as did his father and too often not acquiring informa- 

 tion beyond what his father possessed. 



This should not be ; agriculture should be taught in all our 

 public schools of country districts, as it has been taught for years 

 in Germany and Austria. It should be elevated as an art ; in 

 its higher estate it already is an art. No pursuit possesses a 

 greater scope for development ; the field is almost unoccupied by 

 leaders, scientific and practical. 



Since this Book has gone to press, many more Queries 

 have been presented, and they, with others, will be compre- 

 hended in a second Volume, now being prepared, to be issued a 

 year hence, which will comprise over 1000 additional Queries. 



The Author asks readers to send him at once, and any time 

 hereafter, additional questions that he may answer them, the 

 responses subsequently to be embodied in the second volume. 



