text:  Beginning at the close of the agricultural year when the crops are reaped and housed and the long winter invites to new and peculiar and as they may be called preparatory labours the reader is taught what work in each succeeding month and season should be undertaken--why at that season for what purpose it is to be done-in what way it can best be performed--how at the least cost of money and the smallest waste of time--and _how the master may at all times ascertain if his work has been efficiently performed_