Preface to the Fourth Edition. xxi. 



most recent American works on agriculture, and 

 especially Fletcher's work on " Soils" — (Constable 

 & Co., London, 1907) — I have found ample con- 

 firmation of the principles of the agricultural system 

 I have for so long pursued. It may be mentioned 

 that, by a curious coincidence, I have recently 

 received a letter written by a former Ceylon 

 Planter, now farming in Scotland, who has, like 

 myself, practised the same principles in coffee 

 planting and farming, leading in either case to a 

 liberal supply of humus, and the reduction to a 

 minimum of commercial fertilizers. Formerly he 

 had spent £5 an acre on artificial manures in Scot- 

 land, now, to use his own words, " not a penny." 



It is thought by some that the economy of pro- 

 duction in this country that would be caused by my 

 system of farming would not benefit the farmer as 

 it would lead to an increase of rents. It is no 

 doubt probable that it might do so, but it is obvious 

 that a farmer had far better have a higher rent with 

 a safe, sound, and profitable system — involving a 

 reduced dfemand for capital — than a system involv- 

 ing a larger demand for capital and increased risks. 

 Some have objected to my system that it is too 

 costly as regards seed mixtures. On the average it 

 is, as I have shown, not so, if the cost of these 

 mixtures is divided over the four grass years of the 

 rotation, but I am told that the farmer will not take 



