INTRODUCTION TO NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION. 



Sir John Bennet Lawcs kindly consented to write a Chapter 

 for the new edition of this work. The Deacon, the Doctor, the 

 Squire, Charlie and myself all felt nattered and somewhat 

 bashful at iinding ourselves in such distinguished company. I 

 need not say that this new Chapter from the pen of the most 

 eminent English agricultural investigator is worthy of a very 

 careful study. I have read it again and again, and each 

 time with great and icnewed inteiest. I could wish there was 

 more of it. But to the intelligent and well-informed reader 

 this Chapter will be valued not merely for what it contains, but 

 for what it omits. A man who knew less would write more. 

 Sir John goes straight to the mark, and we have here his 

 mature views on one of the most important questions in 

 agricultural science and practice. 



Sir John describes a tract of poor land, and tells us that the 

 cheapest method of improving and enriching it is, to keep a 

 large breeding flock of sheep, and feed them American cotton- 

 seed cake. We are pleased to find that this is in accordance 

 with the general teaching of our " Talks," as given in this book 

 several years ago. 



When this work was first published, some of my friends 

 expressed surprise that I did not recommend the more e xtended 

 use of artificial manures. One thing is certain, since that time 

 the use of superphosphate has been greatly on the increase. 

 And it seems clear that its use must be profitable. Where I 

 live, in Western New York, it is sown quite generally on winter 

 wheat, and also on barley and oats in the spring. On corn and 

 potatoes, its use is not so common. Whether this is because 

 its application to these crops is not so easy, or because it does 

 not produce so marked an increase in the yield per acre, I am 

 unable to say. 



Our winter wheat is sown here the first, second, or (rarely) 

 the third week in September. We sow from ono and a half to 

 two and a quarter bushels per acre, It is almost invariably 

 sown with a drill. The drill has a fertilizer attachment that 

 distributes the superphosphate at the same time the wheat is 

 (VII) 



