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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... CROPS . Fig . 268. The ox - louse ( Hæmatopinus sury- sternus ) . 269. The ox - louse ( Trichodectes scalaris ) . 296. The horse - louse ( Trichodectes equi ) . 301. The sow - louse ( Hæmatopinus suis ) . 394 a . The oat - grub ( Tipula ...
... CROPS Continued . casei ) , and wheat - straw fly ( Chlorops pumilionis ) . Fig . 491. Cockchafers ( Melolontha vulgaris ) . 492. The hawthorn butterfly ( Pierus cratægi ) . 493. The currant or magpie butterfly ( Abraxus grossulariata ) ...
... crops ; but what portion of any work is intended as a certain part of the preparation for a particular crop , is a knowledge which he cannot acquire by intuition . Every pre- paratory work is thus perplexing to the young farmer . Field ...
... crops , the labour appropriated to each kind of crop terminates for a time , and is not resumed until a fit season arrive . These periodical cessations from labour form natural epochs in the progress of the crops towards maturity , and ...
... crops and treating live stock in the most general terms and in de- tached sections having no relative connection with each other , the young farmer will never , in my opinion , understand how to apportion labour , and modify its ...