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PREFACE 



The following selections are chosen with a view to making 

 available to the student of agricultural economics a mass of excel- 

 lent material which has been published in widely different places 

 and which, because it is so scattered, is likely to be inconvenient 

 of access. Considerable space has been given to historical ma- 

 terial, because a historical background seems necessary to any 

 thorough understanding of present tendencies. 



This volume is not intended to take the place of any of the 

 manuals that are now available on the general subject of rural 

 economy, or agricultural economics, nor is it intended to take 

 the place of any of the treatises which are already available on 

 any special subjects, such as rural credit, cooperation, soil manage- 

 ment, etc. It is designed rather as a handbook to accompany 

 some of these manuals and to amplify the student's information 

 in the general field of rural economics. 



My thanks are due to the numerous authors who have so 

 generously given their consent to this republication of their ma- 

 terial and to the publishers who have likewise permitted this use 

 to be made of material, much of which has been copyrighted. 



The editor hereby acknowledges his obligations to all these 

 gentlemen and can only hope that the usefulness of the volume 

 will in some measure justify the generosity which they have shown. 



T. N. CARVER 



