iv. PREFACE. 



PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. 



On returning from a Commission to the United States and the West 

 Indies, the author was asked to prepare a second edition early in 1880 ; 

 but he had not opportunity for doing so till now. Since the time men- 

 tioned the work has been practically out of print, and has become scarce 

 and dear. It is now re-arranged, so as to be suitable for teaching pur- 

 poses, while still continuing to be the guide for practical work, as designed 

 in the first instance. 



Several new chapters are added, bringing us up to what is going on at 

 the present time in Dairying, Ensilage-making, Poultry Farming, &c., and 

 special chapters concerning our Soils, Native Grasses, &c., of which much 

 less was known when the first edition was published. 



The thanks of the author are tendered very heartily to the officers of 

 the Education Department, and to their chief (the Hon. J. H. Carruthers, 

 M.P.) for recommending the work as suitable for students in the advanced 

 classes for agricultural instruction in the National Schools. As now 

 arranged, it really contains a series of lessons for an entire course of teaching 

 upon the lines followed with so much success in the Sydney Technical 

 College. The practical part of the work, and those divisions which have 

 so long been followed as affording seasonable useful information concerning 

 the working of Soils and Crops, have been carefully revised and added to 

 with the hope that they may prove even more useful than formerly. 



Balmain, N. S. Wales, February, 1890. 



PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION. 



The second edition having gone out of print, I have been called on for 

 a third, and have tried to bring the experiences up to date. Chapters are 

 added upon the Mechanics of Agriculture, Attractions of Plant Life. 

 Rotations for Cropping, and Irrigation. The chapters on Land Selection, 

 Dairying, Pigs, Poultry Farming, the Home Garden for Vegetables, Fruits, 

 and Flowers, Dairying, Insect Pests and how to check them, and Home 

 Helps have been re-written, extended, and brought up to the experience of 

 the present time. I have again to thank the chief of the Public Instruc- 

 tion Department, the Honourable Jacob Garrard, and his officers, for 

 including the work amongst those considered useful for teaching purposes 

 in Public Schools. It is in very general use in advanced schools through- 

 out Australia for object lessons on Australian agricultural subjects, and is 

 the class-book for Elementary Agriculture in the Technical College and 

 country classes. I can but trust that this third edition may prove as 

 acceptable and useful to agriculturists generally as its predecessors. 



The publishers, Messrs. Batson ft Co. , Ltd. , deserve all credit for the 

 expense and trouble they have devoted towards illustrating the work. 



Balmain, N. S. Wales, January, 1895. 



