NECESSITY OP CONSULTING BOOKS, 21 



peat the experiment, l)uthe will be very careful to in- 

 quire whether he has faithfully followed the instruc- 

 tions of the author. Whether his soil was the same as 

 that in which the first experiment was made, and wheth- 

 er he has taken the same pains to produce the proposed 

 result. 



We believe that thirty years since, it would have been, 

 believed impossible to raise the great crops of corn and 

 roots which: within a few 3 ei^.rs, individuals in all parts 

 of our country have ::aoCeeded in raising-. Hov/ has 

 this been effected but by circulating accounts of individ- 

 ual success ? 



It is well known that there is scarcely any part of 

 the country in which there may not be found persons 

 engaged in agricultural pursuits, anxious of improve- 

 ment, and capable of every rational inquiry. At the 

 same time it musl bs admitted,. that there are too many 

 still labouring under the most obstina-te prejudice against 

 what they call hook-farmings conceiving that they know 

 as much of farming as is necessary, an opmion pregnant 

 with much self-sufficiency,, and exposing those who en- 

 tertain it to the greatest possible disadvantage. 



Oui farmers have not advanced in. any degree in pro- 

 portioii, either to their natural intellig^ence, or the pro- 

 gress of the arts in other countries. They pay but lit- 

 tle attention to the rotation of crops ; their orcheirds are 

 as neglected aff their woodlands ; and after you get at 

 a distance'from considerable towns , horticulture is scarce- 

 ly known. New-England proba'oly can furnish bread 

 stuff for the whole of the United Siates, and is depend- 

 ent on the southern states for flour I 



Every farmer, who has natural understanding, ought 

 to be a well informed man, in reading and thinking, in 

 theory and practrce. But some flirmerr? tr^ll us that they 

 never knew any good result from what they called 



3* 



