Excerpt from The Patrons of Husbandry on the Pacific Coast To present in a compact and readily accessible form the annals of the farmers movement in California, with a summary of the advantages thus far secured by combination and cooperation, was the primary object of this work. In addition, I have thought it desirable to show the general relations of agriculture to human progress; to give the results of recent official investigations into railroad affairs, and to treat of some other questions of general public interest, by summarizing important and recent reports not generally accessible to Patrons. Again, I know of no single work in which the statistical information which farmers so often need for reference can be obtained. I have endeavored to meet this want, in the discussions of the various subjects to which such information appropriately belongs. As the work grew upon my hands, I have found that the presentation of my subject involved a constant reference to authorities. As far as possible, therefore, I have allowed each witness to speak for himself, to the exclusion of all claims to originality on my own part. I am greatly indebted to able writers, Professor Perry, President Anderson, Henry George, Hon. M. M. Estee and others, who have placed their valuable papers at my disposal, and I only regret that want of space has made it necessary for me to exclude any portion of them. The second chapter, defining the "office of Agriculture in the Social Economy," is a condensation of the instruction in Political Economy, given more than twenty years ago, to college classes, by the late John H. Lathrop, LL. D., first President of the Universities of Missouri and Wisconsin. In the chapter on "Agriculture in the Public Schools," it will be observed that the agitation of this question is not a recent thing in agricultural bodies. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.