I do not expect to gain fame or fortune by the publication of this
little book. I have prepared it for publication, because a number of
the pioneers who read my journal twenty years ago, when published in
_The Husbandman_, have asked me to.
At that time I was a busy wife, mother and housekeeper, and could only
write when my baby boy was taking his daily nap, to supply the copy for
each week. No one knows better than I how very imperfect it was, yet
many seemed to enjoy it, and the press that noticed it at all spoke
very kindly of it.