FARMER'S COMPANION; OR, ESSAYS ON THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. WITH THE ADDRESS, PREPARED TO BE DELIVERED BEFORE THE AGRICULTURAL COUNTY, CONNECTICUT, AND AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING TABLES AND OTHER MATTER USEFUL TO THE FARMER. SECOND EDITION. BY THE LATE HONORABLE JESSE BUEL, CONDUCTOR OF THE CULTIVATOR.' BOSTON: MARSH, CAPEN, LYON, AND WEBB. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, by MARSH, CAPEN, LYON, AND WEBB, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. EDUCATION PRESS. 4-2-41 J PREFACE. My prominent object, in presenting this volume to the public, is to aid in the improvement of American Husbandry. Even he that has received but the one talent, is bound to put it to interest for the benefit of his country. Influenced by this consideration, and the almost total deficiency of books upon American husbandry, for school and rural libraries, I have been induced to send abroad this volume, in the hope, that it will contribute, in some degree, to improve and elevate this primary branch of national industry. Should it be favorably received, I propose to prepare another volume, treating particularly of the management of Tillage Crops, the Garden, the Orchard, &c. Bred to a mechanical business, I took up Agriculture, more than twenty years ago, from choice, as the future business of my life. Without the pretensions or conceits which we are all apt to acquire in the long practice of a business, I began farming with a consciousness that I had every thing to learn, and that the eyes of my neighbors would be quick to detect faults in my practice. I at once, therefore, sought to acquire a knowledge of the principles of my new business, and of the practice of the most enlightened and successful farmers. These I found in books and agricultural periodicals; and by these I have been greatly benefited. Although it does not become me to herald my success, I will venture to say, to encourage others, and particularly the young, in the work of self-instruction and improvement, that my lands, which are light and sandy, and which cost, in an uncultivated state, thirty dollars an acre, are now worth two hundred dollars an acre, for farming purposes; or, in other words, that the net profit of their culture exceeds the interest of two hundred dollars per acre. |