The Rural Text-Book Series EDITED BY L. H. BAILEY Carleton, THE SMALL GRAINS. B. M. Duggar, PLANT PHYSIOLOGY, with special reference to Plant Production. J. F. Duggar, SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS. Gay, THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF Goff, THE PRINCIPLES OF PLANT CULTURE, Revised. Harper, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY FOR SCHOOLS. Harris and Stewart, THE PRINCIPLES AGRONOMY. Hitchcock, A TEXT-BOOK OF GRASSES. Jeffery, TEXT-BOOK OF LAND DRAINAGE. OF Lyon, Fippin and Buckman, SOILS THEIR Mann, BEGINNINGS IN AGRICULTURE. Piper, FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. Warren, ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. Warren, FARM MANAGEMENT. Wheeler, MANURES AND FERTILIZERS. White, PRINCIPLES OF FLORIculture. Widtsoe, PRINCIPLES OF IRRIGATION PRAC TICE. COPYRIGHT, 1897, By E. S. GOFF. COPYRIGHT, 1906, By C. F. CRONK. Administrator Goff Estate. REVISED EDITION COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1916. ་ཏ་པ་ ་ ་ ་ ་ ་ ་ ་ Norwood Press J. S. Cushing Co. - Berwick & Smith Co. AGRIC LIBRARY Г PREFACE THIS book, "The Principles of Plant Culture," was first published by the late Professor Goff at Madison, Wisconsin, in 1897. It was then a book of 276 pages. Under his hand and the hands of his associates, Frederic Cranefield and James G. Moore, it has had seven editions; and it has undergone three partial revisions. The sixth edition, appearing in 1910, and the seventh edition, appearing in 1912, ran only to 303 pages, as it had been the desire of all those persons associated with it to keep the volume within comfortable limits. In the present edition the subject-matter has not been increased to any extent, although the page is in different form. The motive of the book is well stated by Professor Goff in the first edition: "This book has grown out of the author's experience in the lecture room and laboratory, while giving instructions to students in the Short Course in Agriculture, in the University of Wisconsin. It is intended especially for students who have had little or no previous instruction in botany, and it is hoped that it may also be found interesting and profitable to the general reader who would learn more of the principles that underlie the culture of plants." The book has had the test of use by many teachers and students through nearly twenty years, and it was also the outgrowth of active teaching by a good teacher. It has now had the great advantage of revision and |
