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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... work . He discovers this difference on examining more closely into the nature of the work he sees performing . He observes one day the horses at work in the plough A in one field , moving in a direction quite opposite.
... direction quite opposite , in regard to the ridges , to what they were in the plough in another field . On another day he observes the horses at work with quite a different implement from the plough . The field - workers , he perceives ...
... directions inspire that degree of confidence in the labourers as to believe them to be the best that could be devised in the circumstances . Shame is often acutely felt by servants , on being detected in error , whether of the head or ...
... direction of M. Von Thäer . There are three professors besides himself ; one for mathema- tics , chemistry , and geology ; one for veterinary knowledge ; and a third for botany , and the use of the different vegetable productions in the ...
... directions of the wind and forms of the clouds will enable farmers to anticipate the kind of weather that will afterwards ... direction in which the different rocks usually lie . It has as yet done little for agriculture ; but a perfect ...