THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS BY CHAPTERS.
| PAGE | ||
| I. | Will Farming Pay? | [13] |
| II. | Good and Bad Husbandry | [18] |
| III. | Where to Farm | [23] |
| IV. | Preparing to Farm | [29] |
| V. | Buying a Farm | [34] |
| VI. | Laying off a Farm; Pasturing | [39] |
| VII. | Trees; Woodlands; Forests | [44] |
| VIII. | Growing Timber; Tree-Planting | [49] |
| IX. | Planting and Growing Trees | [56] |
| X. | Draining; My Own | [62] |
| XI. | Draining Generally | [69] |
| XII. | Irrigation; Means and Ends | [74] |
| XIII. | Possibilities of Irrigation | [79] |
| XIV. | Plowing, Deep or Shallow | [85] |
| XV. | Plowing, Good and Bad | [91] |
| XVI. | Thorough Tillage | [96] |
| XVII. | Commercial Fertilizers—Gypsum. | [102] |
| XVIII. | Alkalis—Salt, Ashes, Lime. | [107] |
| XIX. | Soils and Fertilizers | [112] |
| XX. | Bones, Phosphates, Guano | [118] |
| XXI. | Muck—How to Utilize It | [124] |
| XXII. | Insects; Birds | [129] |
| XXIII. | About Tree-Planting | [134] |
| XXIV. | Fruit-Trees—The Apple | [139] |
| XXV. | More about Apple-Trees | [145] |
| XXVI. | Hay and Hay-Making | [150] |
| XXVII. | Peaches, Pears, Cherries, Grapes | [156] |
| XXVIII. | Grain-Growing—East and West | [162] |
| XXIX. | Esculent Roots—Potatoes | [170] |
| XXX. | Roots—Turnips, Beets, Carrots | [178] |
| XXXI. | Farmers' Calling | [183] |
| XXXII. | A Lesson of To-day | [189] |
| XXXIII. | Intellect in Agriculture | [195] |
| XXXIV. | Sheep and Wool-Growing | [200] |
| XXXV. | Accounts in Farming | [207] |
| XXXVI. | Stone on a Farm | [212] |
| XXXVII. | Fences and Fencing | [219] |
| XXXVIII. | Agricultural Exhibitions | [225] |
| XXXIX. | Science in Agriculture | [231] |
| XL. | Farm Implements | [237] |
| XLI. | Steam in Agriculture | [241] |
| XLII. | Co-operation in Farming | [248] |
| XLIII. | Farmers' Clubs | [254] |
| XLIV. | Western Irrigation. | [260] |
| XLV. | Sewage | [266] |
| XLVI. | More of Irrigation | [274] |
| XLVII. | Undeveloped Sources of Power | [280] |
| XLVIII. | Rural Depopulation | [286] |
| XLIX. | Large and Small Farms | [292] |
| L. | Exchange and Distribution. | [297] |
| LI. | Winter Work | [303] |
| XLII. | Summing up | [308] |
PREFACE.
Men have written wisely and usefully, in illustration and aid of Agriculture, from the platform of pure science. Acquainted with the laws of vegetable growth and life, they so expounded and elucidated those laws that farmers apprehended and profitably obeyed them. Others have written, to equally good purpose, who knew little of science, but were adepts in practical agriculture, according to the maxims and usages of those who have successfully followed and dignified the farmer's calling. I rank with neither of these honored classes. My practical knowledge of agriculture is meager, and mainly acquired in a childhood long bygone; while, of science, I have but a smattering, if even that. They are right, therefore, who urge that my qualifications for writing on agriculture are slender indeed.
I only lay claim to an invincible willingness to be made wiser to-day than I was yesterday, and a lively faith in the possibility—nay, the feasibility, the urgent necessity, the imminence—of very great improvements in our ordinary dealings with the soil. I know that a majority of those who would live by its tillage feed it too sparingly and stir it too slightly and grudgingly. I know that we do too little for it, and expect it, thereupon, to do too much for us. I know that, in other pursuits, it is only work thoroughly well done that is liberally compensated; and I see no reason why farming should prove an exception to this stern but salutary law. I may be, indeed, deficient in knowledge of what constitutes good farming, but not in faith that the very best farming is that which is morally sure of the largest and most certain reward.