The Book of the Farm: Detailing the Labors of the Farmer, Farm-steward, Ploughman, Shepherd, Hedger, Cattle-man, Field-worker, and Dairymaid, Volume 1Replete with instruction and knowledge honed with experience, The Book of the Farm remains one of the finest agricultural guidebooks ever produced. The 19th century saw the maturation of farming in Western Europe, with intensive methods and efficiencies achieved as never before. Published in the 1840s and successively revised over subsequent decades, this book is a summation of the ingenuity of large-scale agriculture. The production of ever-greater harvests required skill; no longer could any farm be maintained by rudimentary methods taught by example - farming had become a sophisticated, professional discipline reliant upon science and machinery. Aimed at informing prospective students of farming, this work makes no secret of the difficulty and wits required of the modern farmer. Over 100 illustrations depict the tools required, from hoes and ploughs to the traction steam engines that served as forerunners to the modern tractor. Over 80 charts detail all manner of records: animal and crop weights, their prices on the market, mineral levels present in soil and fertilizer, costs of machinery and day-to-day operations. In all, The Book of the Farm is both a superb agricultural history and guide, filled with insight and techniques useful even in the modern day. |
From inside the book
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... course of the thrashing - machine , in Plate XXIII . 334. Elevation of the horse - course of the thrashing - machine , in Plate XXIII . 335a and 3356. The reeving of the pul- leys of the ring - chain of the horse - wheel of the ...
... course of observation and investigation such as this , the mind of the young farmer will soon become scientifically enlightened ; but books on farming usually afford no assistance in pursuing such a course of study . The treatment of ...
... course slovenly performed . The most per- fect field - work is performed when the agricultural and conventional sea- sons happen to coincide in duration . The greatest difficulty which the farmer experiences when first as- suming the ...
... course , he may acquire a knowledge of farming intuitively as he would his mother tongue . Another is when he goes to school in boyhood , and remains there until ready to embark in the active business of farming ; ' the impressions of ...
... course of observation which I have thus chalked out , and particularly in the first year of his apprenticeship , the pupil , in a short time , will acquire a considerable knowledge of the minu- tiæ of labour ; and it is only in this way ...