INTRODUCTION. 



Agriculture is the art of cultivating the soil. It includes 

 aJl those processes which are requisite for the cultivation of 

 the various grasses, graihs and fruits. The rearing and 

 fattening of animals, and the preservation and use of their 

 productions, are generally connected with it. 



Agriculture may also be regarded as a science; in which 

 sense, it explains the reasons for these processes, or gives 

 rules derived from experience for the performance of each 

 operation of the art. As a science, it is of recent date, and 

 like all new sciences many of its principles are not yet 'fully 

 settled. As an art, it is the oldest, the mother of all other 

 arts, having been practised by the first parents and founders 

 of the race. 



Agriculture must be regarded as the most important art 

 whether we take into view the number of men it has always 

 employed, the quantity and value of its productions or the 

 character of the influence which it exerts upon society. 



The majority of men are farmers, and farmers constitute 

 the bone and sinew of the state. But if we take simply the 

 quantity and value of the agricultural productions, we shall 

 find that agriculture is the greatest pecuniary interest of 

 every country. 



In England and Wales, according toMcCulloch, the quan- 

 tity of wheat is not less than 12,350,000 quarters, worth 

 31,000,000/. sterling; of oats and beans, 13,500,000 quarters 

 worth 17,500,000/. sterlmg ; to which may be added the 

 value of the grass lands, worth 60,000,000/. sterling. 



According to the agricultural returns for 1839, the quan- 



