Hence the invention of property in land, and progressively of purchased cultivators, 

 or slaves; of liired cultivators, or labourers; of commercial agriculturists, or farmers; 

 and of the various laws and customs in regard to the proprietorsliip and occupation of 

 landed property-. 



The practice of agriculture, however rude in early times or in countries still com- 

 paratively uncivilised, assumes a very different character among the most advanced 

 nations. Not to mention the peculiarities of implements, machines, and domestic ani- 

 mals, and tlie different kinds of culture and management requisite for the different 

 countries and climates of the world, the local variations requisite even in Britain are so 

 considerable, that an agriculturist whose experience and observation had been confined to 

 one district, may be comparatively unfit to exercise his profession in another. Tlie sheep 

 farming of the North Highlands, the dairy farming of Gloucestershire, the hop culture of 

 Kent, the woodlands of Buckinghamshire, and the hay management of Middlesex, have 

 given rise to commercial agriculturists of very distinct varieties from the common com 

 farmer. The previous preparation of land for culture, by enclosure, drainage, embanking, 

 road-making, &c., demands considerable science ; and has given rise to artist agricul- 

 turists, known as land-surveyors and land-engineers. The relative changes as to rent and 

 occupancy which take place between land-owners and farmers, and the valuation and 

 transfer of landed property among monied men, have produced land-valuators and land- 

 agents ; from the direction of extensive estates, and tlie management of small, concerns 

 and farms, have originated the serving agriculturists, known as land-stewards and bailiffs ; 

 and the operators are shepherds, herdsmen, ploughmen, carters, spadesmen, and hands of 

 all work. 



The practice of agriculture, from having been chiefly confined to men of humble 

 station, who pursued it as a matter of business or profit, has of late years been engaged 

 in by men of rank, and other opulent or amateur practitioners, as matter of taste and 

 recreation. The contrast between the simple and healthy pursuits of the country, and 

 such as require intense application, and confine men chiefly to towns and cities, gives 

 them a peculiar chann to the industrious and active citizen, while the idle and the opu- 

 lent find relief in it from the weariness of inaction or a frivolous waste of time. Some 

 magnificent displays of the art have thus been made by great landed proprietors on their 

 demesne or home farms ; and very neat and tasteful specimens of culture, by retired 

 citizens and other possessors of villas, farms, and fermes orn^es. These circumstances may 

 be said to have raised the pursuit of agriculture to a comparatively dignified state, with 

 reference to that in which it was formerly held ; while the political advantages which are 

 enjoyed by all classes in a free and commercial country, have improved the circum- 

 stances of agriculturists of every grade, and tended to raise them in the scale of society. 



The recent discoveries in chemistrj' and physiology, have led to the most important 

 improvements in the cultiu-e of plants, and the breeding and rearing of animals ; agri- 

 culture is, in consequence, no longer an art of labour, but of science ; hence the 

 advantage of scientific knowledge to agriculturists, and the susceptibility, in the art, of 

 progressive advancement. " Agriculture," Marshall observes, " is a subject, which, 

 viewed in all its branches and to their fullest extent, is not only the most important and 

 the most diflBcult in rural economies, but in the circle of human arts and sciences." 



For the purpose of agricultural improvement, societies have been established in every 

 country of Europe, and in almost every county of Britain. Most of these, as well as se- 

 veral eminent individuals, have stimulated cultivators and breeders to exertion, by the offer 

 of premiums, and other honorary rewards. Professorships of rural economy have also been 

 instituted in some colleges ; and other independent georgical institutions have been 

 established for public instruction, especially on the Continent : to which we may add, 

 the publication of numerous books on the subject of agriculture and territorial im- 

 provement. 



Such are the origin, the extent, the importance, and the interest of the subject of 

 agriculture ; from which it cannot be surprising that a varied and voluminous mass 

 of knowledge has been accumulated on the subject, and is consequently more or less 

 necessary to every one who would practise the art with success himself, or understand 

 when it is well practised for him by others. To combine as far as practicable the whole 

 of this knowledge, and arrange it in a systematic form, adapted both for study and 

 reference, are the objects of the present work. The sources from which we have selected, 

 are the modem British authors of decided reputation and merit ; sometimes we have 

 recurred to ancient and to Continental authors, and occasionally, though rarely, to our 

 own observation and experience : observation chiefly in Britain, but partly also on 

 the Continent; and experience in Scotland, under the patemal roof, during our early 

 years, during some years' occupancy of two extensive farms in England, and, in the 

 engineering and surveying departments, during our practice for upwards of twenty years 

 as a landscape-gardener. 



