3. OF THE KIND OF INFORMATION TO BE FOUND IN EXISTENT WORKS ON AGRICULTURE.

"Tire the hearer with a book of words."

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

Unless the business of a farm be treated in books somewhat in the manner thus described, I consider it impossible for a young farmer to derive from them the requisite information for conducting a farm, even though he should be constantly resident upon it. By even the most careful perusal of books, which relate methods of cultivating crops and treating live stock in the most general terms and in detached sections having no relative connection with each other, the young farmer will never, in my opinion, understand how to apportion labour, and modify its application to the raising of crops and rearing of live-stock, in accordance with the nature of the season. He will never learn to know by perusing a narrative couched in the most general terms, when an operation is really well performed; because, to be able to judge of the quality of work, all its minutiæ ought previously to have been fully and carefully detailed to him. Narratives couched in general terms, to the exclusion of essential minutiæ, will never impart that precision of ideas which the mind should possess in conducting any piece of field work; and without precision of ideas in regard to labour, no man will ever be able to conduct a farm aright. But to be told how to conduct a farm aright, is the chief motive of the young farmer for consulting a book at all.

Now, on examining works of any pretensions which have, for years past, been written on practical agriculture, none will be found to have been written and arranged on the principles I have recommended, and much less for the special benefit of beginners in farming. All are so arranged as to constitute books of reference for experienced, rather than as guides for young farmers. Yet, how few of the former will condescend to consult agricultural works! The aversion of experienced farmers to consult books on agriculture has long been proverbial. No doubt, this aversion may be explained; but whether the explanation is to be found in a general indifference to book-farming, or in the quality of the books themselves, or in both circumstances combined, it is not easy to determine. The aversion, however, appears to be felt more towards systematic than periodical works on agriculture.

The latter class receives favour, because, possibly, they may contain something that is not generally known, and their information bears the character of freshness. As to young farmers, if they cannot find books suited to their particular state of knowledge, they have no alternative but to peruse those that are extant.

For the sake of the young farmer, the usual contents of agricultural books require further consideration. Let any systematic work on practical agriculture be examined, and it will be found to contain an arrangement of the various particulars of farming, somewhat in this order. The soil and the various methods of working it are first described. The implements are then most probably particularised, or their description deferred to a later portion of the work. The methods of raising and securing the different kinds of crops are then detailed. And the treatment of live-stock is delayed to the last. We suppose that no satisfactory reasons can be given for adopting this particular arrangement of subjects. It is perhaps considered a simple arrangement, because it proceeds from what is considered the elementary process of preparing the soil, to the more complicated process of cultivating the plants for which the soil has been prepared. But the simplicity of the arrangement, I apprehend, is to be found rather in what is assumed than what is apparent; for ploughing land is not a more simple process, or more elementary, than sowing seed. Indeed, some sorts of ploughing require far greater dexterity and ingenuity in the performance than any process connected with the production of crops. Perhaps it is considered a natural arrangement, because the ground is first prepared, and the crop is then sown. The ground, it is true, must be partially, if not wholly, prepared before the crop be put into it; but, in the cultivation of the summer crops, much of the labour bestowed on the land is performed whilst the crops are in a rapid progress towards maturity.

Although the seasons visibly influence the operations and products of the farm, systematic works on agriculture scarcely disclose the subdivision of the year into seasons, much less the very different operations performed in different seasons, and still less the difference of character of the same season in different years. For all that is given in them by way of advice, every operation may as well be performed in one season as in another. No doubt, reference is made, and cannot altogether be avoided being made, to the season in which the piece of work described should be performed; but the reference seems to allude to the season more as an accidental concomitant, than as constituting the sole influential power that regulates the order of time in which the work should be performed. The allusion to the season, in short, only forms

an isolated hint, which, being singly repeated in a number of places, it is impossible for the reader to keep in mind the particular operation that should be performed in its own season. This apparent neglect of the great influential power which regulates all farm business, constitutes an insuperable objection to describing, in an uninterrupted narrative, a piece of work which is performed at intervals. Such a dissertation might bewilder the reader on its perusal, but could not satisfy the mind of the young inquiring farmer.

But the minuter arrangements in the books I am remarking on, are fully more objectionable than the general. The entire process usually adopted for working the land for a particular crop, is described in an uninterrupted narrative, before a description of the nature of the crop is given for which the soil is preparing; and, in consequence, before the connection between the preparation and the crop can be understood by the young farmer. This is not the usual procedure on farms, and cannot therefore be accounted natural; and it certainly tends to mislead the beginner. The usual practice is, that the land destined for any particular crop, is prepared to a certain degree, at stated times, in accordance with the natural seasons, and between those times many operations intervene which bear no relation to that particular crop. Every operation thus occupies a portion of time, intermittent in its season, and cannot truly be described in a continued dissertation. The finishing operation of every crop is always deferred until the appropriate season.

The descriptions of implements are very unsatisfactory, and their construction, for the most part, is very imperfectly represented. None trace their action from the first start to the entire completion of the work. Implements of husbandry having, only a few years ago, been made in the rudest manner, their actions were necessarily imperfect, and their absolute weight a serious drag on the draught. They are now constructed on true principles of mechanical science, are light in motion, perfect in action, and elegant in form. It is remarkable that a correct description of improved implements has not ere this been undertaken by some skilful machinist.

Some works treat first of the science of agriculture, and then of the practice, as if the science of the art had been ascertained by studying abundance of facts derived from practice; or, as if its science already possesses such a superiority as to be allowed the precedence of practice. Others make science follow practice, as if the science had been derived from the practice described; whereas what is offered as science, is generally presented in isolated speculations, volunteered chiefly by theorists unacquainted with the practice of agriculture. Some authors theorise on

agricultural subjects from as slight a foundation of facts, as in the experimental sciences, although they profess to give no preference to science over practice. Theorising writers, however, sometimes throw out hints which, when improved by more practical experimenters, really lead to useful results; but whatever may be the origin of the hints of theorists, the ability to give a convincing and philosophical reason for every operation in husbandry, is an accomplishment which every young farmer should endeavour to attain. Efforts to discover reasons for practice, derived from principles applicable alike to science and good husbandry, is a healthful exercise of the mind, and tend to render it capable of accommodating practice to existing circumstances. Conformity of practice with the season, exhibits in the farmer superior ability for conducting farming operations: like the experienced mariner, who renders every change in the gale subservient to the safety of his ship; navigation itself, not being more dependent on weather than is farming. By pursuing a course of observation and investigation such as this, the mind of the young farmer will soon become scientifically enlightened; but books on farming usually afford no assistance in pursuing such a course of study.

The treatment of live-stock is usually deferred to the conclusion in works on agriculture, as if it were either the most important, or the most complicated occupation, of the farm. Breeding for the improvement of a particular race of animals, and judicious crossing betwixt two fixed races, are indeed occupations which tax the judgment severely ; but the ordinary treatment of live-stock is as easily managed as most of the operations of the field. The complete separation, moreover, made in books betwixt live-stock and field-operations, is apt to impress the mind of the inexperienced reader, that no necessary connection subsists betwixt stock and crop, whereas neither can be treated with advantage either to the farmer or themselves, unless both are attended to simultaneously.

From what I have stated regarding the arrangement of the subjects in systematic works on agriculture, it will be observed that they are better adapted for reference than tuition. They form a sort of dictionary or cyclopedia, in which different subjects are treated independently of each other, under different heads, though they may not be placed in alphabetical order. Being strictly works of reference, they may be consulted at any time; and are only valuable as such, in proportion to the accuracy of the information they contain: and being such, they are unfitted to impart agricultural knowledge suited to beginners; because, 1st, operations are not described in the order in which they occur on the farm ;

2d, the descriptions omit many of the minutiae of management, and yet constant attention to these constitutes an essential characteristic of a good farmer; 3d, they contain no precautionary warnings against the probability of failure in operations from various incidental causes, which ought to be anticipated, and attempted to be shunned; and, 4th, they afford no idea of the mode of carrying on various operations simultaneously in the different departments of management. Such works, therefore, impart no notion of how to set about to conduct a farm; and yet, without this essential information, to obtain which the earnest young farmer toils incessantly, they can render him no assistance as guides. Indeed, the authors of such works do not profess to be teachers of young farmers. Experience has made me well acquainted with the nature of the difficulties tyros in agriculture have to contend with; and I clearly see that the books on farming extant, are incompetent to assist them in overcoming those difficulties. I consider it, therefore, very desirable that a work should be written for the express purpose of presenting facilities to young farmers, in the acquirement of their profession. This opinion I have entertained for many years, and see no cause to change it for all the works on agriculture that have been published of late years. To me it is matter of surprise that such a work has never yet been written by any of the prominent writers on agriculture in this prolific age of books, when assistance in the acquirement of learning is proffered in so many shapes to the youths of all classes. In most other branches of art, there is no want of facilities in books for acquiring their elementary principles and practice. On the kindred art of gardening, in particular, every possible variety of publication exists, from the ponderous folio to the tiny duodecimo, containing all the minutiae of practice, and the elucidation of principles. It is difficult to account for the want of solicitude shewn by agricultural writers, for the early advancement of the young farmer. Perhaps many of them have never experienced the irksome difficulties of acquiring a practical knowledge of agriculture, and therefore cannot extend their sympathies to those who have ;-perhaps the exhibition of an intimate acquaintance with the minutiae of farming appears too trivial an accomplishment to arrest the attention of general writers;-perhaps they think when a young man begins to farm, it is sufficient for him to have a steward in whose skill he can confide;-perhaps the tuition of young farmers is beneath their dignity, and they would rather aspire to the higher object of instructing experienced men ;-or perhaps they have never condescended to trouble themselves with practical farming, which, to judge of their lucubrations by the sterlingness of their practical worth, many of them, I dare say, never have.