iv PREFACE. 



being frequently introduced into essays. I have thought it 

 useful, when words were occasionally met with a strange 

 signification, to omit them as an error in language ; nor has 

 it appeared conformable with my object to introduce the well- 

 known words of our language which have a place in the 

 common dictionaries. In this compilation I am necessarily 

 under infinite obligations to others, especially to Loudon, 

 Rham, Youatt, Stephens, Johnson, Deane, Young, Buel, Arm- 

 strong, Ellsworth, Colman, Low, Brande, Clater, &,c., &c., 

 and our journalists. My task has not been, however, with- 

 out labour ; for I could find no vocabulary such as that I 

 desired to produce already in existence, to serve me as a 

 model ; and if any merit should be awarded me for this un- 

 dertaking, it may be claimed on the ground that the Farm- 

 er's Dictionary is the first book of its kind. This will also, 

 I trust, avert much of the criticism to which I know the work 

 is obnoxious. So much for my design, and the manner in 

 which it has been accomplished. 



In addition to the vocabulary, my friends have suggested 

 the introduction of short and practical essays on the opera- 

 tions of farming; and these have been introduced the more 

 readily, from the facility with which they were procured from 

 the works of the Rev. W. L. Rham, one of the best practical 

 writers of Britain, and others, as Loudon and Low, of great 

 merit, and but little known in the United States. In this part 

 of the work, care has been taken to edit the essays so as to 

 make them of practical value in this country. To the jour- 

 nalists of the United States I am also deeply indebted for the 

 matter introduced, and for which I have uniformly given 

 them credit. 



To most of the crops raised in the United States, an Ap- 

 pendix has been made of the composition of the ashes, and 

 remarks offered on the special manures. This has been 

 done in consideration of the existincr desire for information 

 on the topic, and the impression that the most suitable ma- 

 nures for plants are discoverable by a study of their ashes. 

 The best theories of the chemical school of agriculture are 

 also introduced. In this part of the work, I am indebted to 

 the labours of Chaptal, Davy, Braconnot, Saussure, Berthier, 

 Berzelius, Sprengel, Hermbstaed, Payen, Johnston, Boussin- 

 gault, Dumas, Thaer, Liebig, Mulder, Fowncs, Fresenius, 

 \Vill, Hertwig, Kane, Shephard, and other chemists. 



D. P. Gardner. 



