54 JANUARY. 



employed. Every work for the next clay is to be 

 arranged, whether for line or rainy weather, and 

 the farm-books to be made up for the transactions 

 of the past day. Besides these, he should have 

 another book, for miscellaneous observations, que- 

 ries, speculations, and calculations, for turning and 

 comparing different ways of effecting the same ob- 

 ject, for estimates of the different kinds of food 

 he may have it in his power to give to the same 

 cattle ; with all such inquiries, doubts, or proposi- 

 tions, worth attention, as he may have heard in 

 conversation. Loose pieces of paper are generally 

 lost after a time, so that when a man wants to 

 turn to them to examine a subject formerly esti- 

 mated or discussed, he loses more time in search- 

 ing for a memorandum, than would be sufficient 

 for making half a dozen new ones ; but if such 

 matters are entered in a book, he easily finds what 

 he wants, and his knowledge will be in a much 

 clearer progression, by recurring to former ideas 

 and experience. Formerly farmers never read 

 books of husbandry : many do read them now ; 

 and there are few that will not furnish very valuable 

 hints. These should be noted, that when an oc- 

 casion offers, use may be made of them. Such an 

 employment of a winter evening, is a very different 

 one from spending it at a public-house, in the same 

 company over and over again, which, after a time, 

 becomes a pump that yields no water. 



