island
is not up to the knowledge of the time; too many of them are almost
entirely ignorant of the most elementary principles of agriculture. How,
indeed, can it be otherwise, when a landholder is contented to place this
delicate management in the hands of his retired butler, or his failing
groom, or even of his solicitor or attorney, who has been bred up to a
totally different profession? If law and medicine require separate schools
and training, so do farming and the management of estates, if they are to
be farmed to a profit, or managed with economy and skill.

But the purpose of our _book_ does not end with the mere practical man. It
professes, and is fitted, to instruct the proprietor too. How much have
the landlords yet to learn? Which of them has ever, at school or college,
had an opportunity of obtaining any instruction in regard to what was to
be the occupation and support of his after life! Some do indeed, when they
settle on their estates, apply themselves, by reading and otherwise, to
make up their deficiencies, and to fit themselves for the new and useful
sphere in which they are called to move. But in broad England, how few are
the landlords who know the principles on which their land ought to be
cultivated--who feel an enlightened interest in the prosperity and real
advancement of agriculture--who understand how to set a useful, and
prudent, and enlightened example to their tenantry! If knowledge such as
that contained in the book before us require to be diffused among the
humble walks of agricultural life, it is no less necessary, we are
assured, among those who frequent its highest places.

But a spirit not only of improvement, but of eager searching after
knowledge, has sprung up among the entire agricultural body. From our own
experience we say this; for we have seen with delight the eager eyes of
listening audiences, for whole hours, fixed upon a single speaker, who was
attempting zealously and simply, to instruct them. And it is those of the
agricultural body who already know most, among whom this eagerness is
observed to be most intense. They have tasted of the value of the new
lights which recent science especially has thrown upon agricultural
practice, and they are eager for the acquisition of more.

We are proud to say, that the first decided proof of this desire for
higher knowledge has been manifested among the farmers and proprietors of
Scotland. The _Agricultural Chemistry Association of