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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... produce inattention on the part of the farmer ; and inattention and absence combined constitute sad interruptions to tui- tion , and cannot always be avoided by the most pains - taking farmer . But a book might be made an efficient ...
... produce valuable permanent va- rieties , may confer as valuable a boon on agriculture , as the successful crossings of different breeds of live - stock have already conferred by in- creasing their value . Many varieties of plants having ...
... produce the same effects on all varieties of ryegrass , it is for science to explain . Entomology might be made to serve agriculture more than it has yet done . In this department of science , farmers might greatly assist the ...
... produce an anticipated result . Attention alone can render them familiar , and without a familiar acquaintance with every operation , the management of a farm need never be un- dertaken . Much assistance in promoting this attention ...
... produce , is more likely to be safe , dur- ing a lease , in regard both to highness of price and quantity of produce , than that which only raises one kind of produce , whether wholly of ani- mals , or wholly of grain . For , although ...