THE FARMER'S AND PLANTER'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RURAL AFFAIRS; EMBRACING ALL THE MOST RECENT DISCOVERIES IN Agricultural Chemistry, SUITED TO THE COMPREHENSION OF UNSCIENTIFIC READERS. BY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, Esq., F.R.S. WITH EXTENSIVE ADDITIONS ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE UNITED STATES, BY GOUVERNEUR EMERSON, M. D., MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES; Revised Edition of 1868. LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. CALIFORNIA. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNE. PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION OF 1868. M. F. LE PLAY,-one of the closest observers of the age, distinguished by his capacity to lay aside all prejudice and pride of opinion, and found his conclusions upon evidence derived only from the most exact and reliable data,—one whose active and well adjusted mind has long been devoted to investigations connected with the conditions and developments of all the great branches of industry,—the imperial counsellor and commissioner-general, charged with the organization and direction of the several Universal Expositions held in Paris from 1855 to 1867,- thus expresses his views of the important position to which Agriculture is entitled among the diversified branches of industry.* The agricultural product superior to all others is wheat, which, next to milk, contains most of the indispensable elements required to sustain the human body. Wheat takes from the earth a large amount of phosphorus, the essential element for the formation of bones, although in most soils hardly a trace of it is perceptible. This wonderful concentration in wheat of the materials of the human body, — the mysteries of which science has only begun to reveal,- evidently furnishes the primary foundation for the grandest developments of population and the highest achievements of civilization. Agriculture holds out to families the most permanent prospect of employment and subsistence. It adapts itself with admirable pliancy to all the relations of industry, whether on a limited or extensive scale. It organizes itself spontaneously in accordance with the intellectual or moral condition of families and the diverse circumstances under which these may exist. It establishes between the family, the soil, the plants, and *La Réforme Sociale en France. - Deduite de l'observation comparée des peuples Européens. Par M. F. Le Play, Auteur des Ouvriers Européens, Commissaire General aux Expositions Universelle de 1855, de 1862, et de 1867. |