ENGLISH AGKICULTUKE. H3 



of corn in the field, and the proper time for carting it home. 

 We may also be lei to consider the question of hay-making, 

 and the principles which ought to guide the farmer in this 

 important task. The securing of root crops is another topic 

 involving many questions of scientific as well as of directly 

 agricultural interest. 



Preparation for market or for home consumption. This 

 may be considered as too completely a matter of practice 

 to form a part of instruction in the principles of agriculture. 

 It, however, gives an opportunity for explaining some points 

 of importance, such as the various instruments required for 

 thrashing, winnowing, screening, and grinding corn, and the 

 use of chaff-cutters, root-pulpers, and cooking apparatus, in 

 the preparation of home-grown produce for stock feeding. 



Insect attacks. A description of the many attacks to which 

 our crops are subject is a topic which is both important and 

 interesting. No sort of instruction could well be suggested 

 combining so well practical utility with the educational 

 advantage of precision of description, and the encouragement 

 of observation. The insects are numerous, and their appear- 

 ance, life history, habits, and the methods for destroying them 

 all offer excellent material for instruction. 



Diseases. No more interesting or varied subject than that 

 of the diseases of our cultivated plants could well be selected 

 for study. Mr. Worthington G. Smith's book, entitled 

 Diseases of Field and Garden Crops (Macmillan & Co.), is an 

 excellent text-book on the subject. 



Composition and Properties. This takes us directly into 

 the domains of physiology and chemistry. The relative value 

 of clover and meadow hay, and of wheat, barley, and oat 

 straw ; the relative value of turnips, swedes, yellow turnips, 

 arid mangold and of barley-meal, and bean-meal .as foods for 

 different kinds of live stock at different seasons of the year, 

 opens up a varied subject of great interest. The variations 



