VI PREFACE. 



.were indispeusible. It is needless to say, that a treatise on science 

 cannot be entirely divested of all difficulties, and couched in language 

 which is at once simple and expressive. 



It was deemed better to give the rudiments of each sciencej in a 

 separate systematic treatise, than to intersperse them through the whole 

 book without order or method. A reader will profit more to have the 

 principles given in this way, that he may apply them himself, than he 

 will to have a perfect system of agriculture made up of them all, with- 

 out systematic arrangement. 



Another advantage of such a book is that the general reader may ob- 

 tain the first principles of Chemistry, Geology, Botany or Meteorology, 

 without reading a large amount of agricultural science, which, to him, 

 may be of little use. 



The author is aware that an amount of matter is embodied in thi.s 

 book sufficient to make, when extended and amplified, several such 

 volumes: but nearly all books contain much by way of explanation 

 and speculation, that could well be omitted. Some things may be found 

 in the book which do not appear to have any direct connection with 

 practical agriculture; but a little observation shows that the science* 

 discussed all have such a connection and relation, that to omit any prin- 

 ciple would destroy the harmony of the whole system. 



The best authorities have been consulted, so that whatever may be 

 open to criticism must be judged by their testimony. It is desirable 

 that the agricultural community, for whose more special use the book 

 is designed, may be disposed to favor the enterprise: with all its faults, 

 therefore, it is respectfully committed to them and the public; with 

 no claims except to their forbearance, and no means of propitiating 

 their favor, beyond its own merits. 



M. M. RODGERS 



Rochester. August. 1848. 



