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TO THE SECOND EDITION, PUBLISHED IN 1797 



It is much to be regretted, that the most complicated of all 

 the arts, in which the brightest genius may find suffi< ient r<iom 

 to exert and display itself, should be slighted and neglected, by 

 a people not generally wanting in ambition. And it is equally 

 Strange and unaccountable, that the most useful and necessary 

 of all employments should have been considered, even by the 

 enlightened people of New-England, as below the attention 

 of any persons, excepting those who are in the lowest walks 

 of life ; or, that persons of a liberal or polite education should 

 think it intolerably degrading to them, to attend to practical 

 agriculture for their support. 



Perhaps, one occasion of the low esteem in which husban- 

 dry has been held, in this country, may have been the poor 

 success which has most commonly attended the labours of those 

 who have embraced the profession. Not only have most of 

 them failed of rapidly increasing their estates by it, but too 

 many have had the mortitication of making but an indilFerent 

 figure in life, even when they have used the strictest economy, 

 and worn out their constitutions by hard and incessant labour. 

 The misfortune has been, that a great proportion of their toil 

 has been lost by its misapplication. To prevent this evil in 

 future is a leading design of the present publication. And 

 since many among us begin to be convinced of the urgent ne- 

 cessity of having the attention of the publick turned to agricui- 

 ture, it is hoped that the following attempt to promote the know- 

 ledge of its mysteries, and a spirited attention to theoperalions 

 of it, will meet with the greater approbation and success. And 

 as a very respectable Society in the Commonwealth of P»Iassa- 

 chusetts have undertaken to propagate the knowledge of hui^- 

 bandry, the day may be at hand, when the employment of the 

 farmer shall no more be treated with contempt ; when the rich, 

 the polite, and the ambitious, shall glory in paying a close at- 

 tention to their farms ; when respectable persons shall confess 

 it is one of the noblest employments to assist nature in her 

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