b PREFACE. 



have a less imposing appearance, and our products may be 

 less in proportion to the quantity of land we have under cul- 

 tivation, and still our tillage be on the whole judicious. The 

 agricultural implements and farming operations of the Uni- 

 ted States are in most particulars very similar to those of 

 Great Britain. Circumstances and climate, however, require 

 variations, which the sagacity of the American cultivator 

 will lead him to adopt, often in contradiction to the opinions 

 of those who understand the science better than the practice 

 of husbandry. In Europe land is dear and labor cheap ; but 

 in the United States the reverse is the case. The Europe- 

 an cultivator is led by a regard to his own interest to endea- 

 vor to make the most of his la^id ; the American has the 

 same inducement to make the most of his labor. Perhaps, 

 however, this principle, in this country, is generally carried 

 to an unprofitable extreme, and our farmers would derive 

 more benefit from their labor as well as their land if they 

 selected such parts of their possessions as they can afford to 

 till thoroughly, and to manure abundantly. A man may 

 possess a large estate in lands, without being called on by 

 good husbandry to hack and scratch over the whole as evi- 

 dence of his title. He may cultivate well those parts which 

 are naturally most fertile, and suffer the rest to remain wood- 

 land, or having cleared a part, lay it down to permanent 

 pasture ; which will yield him an annual profit, without re- 

 quiring much labor. 



The climate and soil of the United States are well adapted 

 to the cultivation of Indian corn, a very valuable vegetable, 

 which cannot be grown to advantage in Great Britain. This 

 entirely and very advantageously supersedes the field culture 

 of the horse bean, {vicia fuba) one of the most common fal- 

 low crops in that island. Koot-husbandry ^ or the raising of 

 roots for the purpose of feeding cattle, is, however, of less 

 importance in the United States than in Great Britain. The 

 winters are so severe that turnips can rarely be eaten by 

 stock on the ground where they grow, and all sorts of roots 

 are with more difficulty preserved and dealt out to stock in 

 this country than in those which possess a more mild and 

 equable climate. Hay is more easily made in the United 

 States than in Great Britain, owing to the season for hay- 

 making being more dry, and the sun more powerful in the 

 former than in the latter country. There are many other 

 circumstances which favor the American farmer, and render 

 his situation more eligible than that of those who pursue the 



