IV ADVERTISEMENT. 



9 



Chymistry, and I have derived from it important princi- 

 ples. Others will do better than we have done." But 

 no one came forward to verify this prediction, and, in 

 1829, Chaptal published a second edition, increased by 

 several new chapters and a copious Index. To this, the 

 author's last edition, the present translation is con- 

 formed.* 



Although the work was more especially intended for 

 France, the larger portion of it is applicable to all coun- 

 tries ; and those chapters, which at first view seem to 

 have only a local interest, abound in hints which may 

 anywhere be turned to account. 



And not only is the husbandman taught how to pro- 

 duce, but the housekeeper also how to preserve, and 

 enjoy in perfection, the various products of agricultural 

 labor. 



The opinions of Chaptal on pohtical science were 

 in harmony with the institutions of the United States. 

 He was an advocate for breaking up the large domains of 

 France into small farms, which should gradually be pur- 

 chased by those who succeeded in cultivating them. 

 He sought to raise the peasantry of his country from their 

 ignorance and degradation to the condition of ^* indepen- 

 dent farmers," in the American sense of the term ; to 

 make them feel the intrinsic dignity of their employment 

 while practising the most important of all arts, that which 

 lies at the very foundation of civil society. To this end 

 he wrote the present work, which sheds all the light of 

 modern science upon the humblest details of rural labor ; 

 and, while it increases the productive skill of those who 

 are engaged in practical husbandry, at the same time 

 " advances them in the dignity of thinking beings." 



 Chaptal died on the 29th of July, 1833, in his 76th year. 



