PREFACE. 



My prominent object, in presenting this volume to the pub- 

 lic, is to aid in the improvement of American Husbandry. 

 Even he that has received but the one talent, is bound to 

 put it to interest for the benefit of his country. Influenced 

 by this consideration, and the almost total deficiency of 

 books upon American husbandry, for school and rural libra- 

 ries, I have been induced to send abroad this volume, in the 

 hope, that it will contribute, in some degree, to improve and 

 elevate this primary branch of national industry. Should it 

 be favorably received, I propose to prepare another volume, 

 treating particularly of the management of Tillage Crops, 

 the Garden, the Orchard, &c. 



Bred to a mechanical business, I took up Agriculture, 

 more than twenty years ago, from choice, as the future busi- 

 ness of my life. Without the pretensions or conceits which 

 we are all apt to acquire in the long practice of a business, 

 I began farming with a consciousness that I had every thing 

 to learn, and that the eyes of my neighbors would be quick 

 to detect faults in my practice. I at once, therefore, sought 

 to acquire a knowledge of the principles of my new busi- 

 ness, and of the practice of the most enlightened and suc- 

 cessful farmers. These I found in books and agricultural 

 periodicals ; and by these I have been greatly benefited. 

 Although it does not become me to herald my success, I 

 will venture to say, to encourage others, and particularly 

 the young, in the work of self-instruction and improvement, 

 that my lands, which are light and sandy, and which cost, 

 in an uncultivated state, thirty dollars an acre, are now 

 worth two hundred dollars an acre, for farming purposes ; 

 or, in other words, that the net profit of their culture 

 exceeds the interest of two hundred dollars per acre. 



