INTRODUCTION. 17 



what has been already done, how are we to 

 know where to begin to improve ? 



We might spend a lifetime in perfecting 

 some invention that had been proved to be a 

 failure a century before. We should all have 

 to commence at the beginning, and life is too 

 short to be wasted in that manner. The suc- 

 cessive steps by which many of the arts and 

 manufactures have advanced to their present 

 perfection are fully recorded. We can profit by 

 the mistakes, as well as the discoveries, of our 

 ancestors, and these mistakes need not be again 

 repeated. We are enabled to sift what is 

 valuable from the worthless, appropriate it to 

 our use and improve on it. 



These are a few of the advantages of books 

 on industrial pursuits. As far as agriculture is 

 concerned, we think the intelligent farmer will 

 admit that his business has less advantages in 

 this respect than many others, and consequently 

 is far behind the other industries of civilization. 



There are many terse sayings and proverbs 

 connected with farming, that have probably been 

 handed down from father to son for hundreds of 

 years. These generally contain a good deal of 

 strong, sound common sense. One at this mo- 

 ment presents itself to our own mind. " The 

 man who makes two blades of grass grow where 

 one grew before is a benefactor to his country." 



