THE FIRST EDITION. VU 



tion of arable land, owing to the attention of the 

 farmer having been principally directed to the 

 management of grass land, to the profits of the 

 dairy, and to the breeding of stock, has hitherto 

 been but a secondary object. At the same time, 

 it has been my wish, to make this Treatise useful 

 also to the farmers of Scotland ; and for that pur- 

 pose, I have incorporated a variety of hints, which 

 attention to English Husbandry, and the commu- 

 nications of many respectable correspondents in 

 the southern part of the united kingdom, have 

 enabled me to suggest. 



I cannot submit this work to the consideration 

 of the Public, without congratulating my country, 

 on the anxious desire to obtain agricultural know- 

 ledge, which now so universally prevails in every 

 part of the united kingdom. Indeed, when I con- 

 sider that zeal for improvement, and that thirst 

 for useful information, by which the British Isles 

 are, at this time so peculiarly distinguished, I 

 cannot entertain a doubt, that Agriculture will 

 soon reach a degree of excellence in this country, 

 which it has never hitherto attained in anv other: 



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and that the merit of discovering the most effec- 

 tual means, " of providing food for man? the first 



