IV PREFACE. 



satisfying pleasures, which cannot be derived from mercantile 

 or professional pursuits. 



In view of such considerations, the author has been deeply 

 impressed with the desirableness of furnishing the young far- 

 mer with a scientific knowledge of his profession. This is 

 especially desirable, in order to give dignity and attractive- 

 ness to the employment. A thorough knowledge of the 

 fundamental principles upon which the art is based, seems 

 almost essential to successful practice. This necessity is 

 yearly becoming more and more imperative. 



The States, generally, have made ample provision for the 

 education of their sons, in almost every branch of knowledge, 

 with the exception of that, upon which the profession of the 

 majority is based. The art on which all depend, and which 

 the great body of the people practice, is left without any 

 professional instruction, either public or private. 



To supply, in some degree, this glaring deficiency in our 

 popular system of education, and to call the attention of those 

 who are interested in the prosperity of our free institutions, 

 to the importance of having the sons of republicans well in- 

 structed in this most noble art, have been the principal in- 

 ducements, for giving this work to the public in its present 

 form. For we are fully persuaded, that Agriculture will 

 never be held in that high estimation which it deserves to be ; 

 that it will never attain to that perfection of which it is sus- 

 ceptible ; until it is made a regular branch of study by those 

 who practice it as a profession ; until it is incorporated into 

 our systems of education. 



But although this work is designed for students in Agricul- 

 ture ; it is not intended to be studied exclusively by those, 

 who are attending at some public institution. It is designed 

 for the farmer, at whatever stage of his education he may 

 have arrived ; for we believe that it is as true of farmers, as 

 of any other class of men, that they are "never too old to 



