Excerpt from The Complete Farmer and Rural Economist: Containing a Compendious Epitome of the Most Important Branches of Agricultural and Rural Economy In the following pages, the object of the writer is to give brief, but it is hoped perspicuous and practical sketches of some important improvements in modern husbandry. In attempting to carry this design into effect, it has been his intention to insert no matter which is merely conjectural or speculative; to give place to nothing not worth the attention of the person whose livelihood depends on his pursuits as a cultivator; and who has neither time nor money to devote to such books as are expensive, voluminous, and foreign or remotely related to available improvements in husbandry. With this view, the author has collected and generally abridged, from the sources which his occupation as editor of the New England Farmer has made it his duty as well as his pleasure to explore, the materials of the little work now submitted. He does not pretend to have taken a wide survey of the field of husbandry, much less, in this tract, to have given a plan of the whole premises. But he hopes his observations, though limited, may prove serviceable so far as they extend. Agriculture is the most extensive as well as the most useful of the sciences; and as an art may be compared to the ocean, in which every stream of improvement in the moral and physical condition of mankind pours its contribution. Still, it is not necessary to circumnavigate the whole of this world of waters in order to make voyages of valuable discovery. We cannot dip an oar nor launch a skiff in or upon the bosom of this great deep, without finding something to reward our adventures. 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.