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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... yard . 578. Longitudinal section of the cart- steelyard . OPERATIONS CONNECTED WITH THE CULTURE OF CORN . Fig . 302. Casting in a stack to be thrashed . 304. Feeding - in corn into the thrashing- mill in the upper barn . 305. The ...
... yard in winter , to trample down the large quantity of straw into manure , -both of which classes of cattle are purchased when wanted . 3. A third sort of farming is that which is practised in the neighbour- hood of large towns . In the ...
... yard in a given time , for the use of the animals ; and upon this , again , depends the supply of grain that can be sent to the market in any given time . For although it is certainly in the farmer's power to thrash as many stacks as he ...
... yard manure is carried from the courts , and deposited in a large heap , in a convenient spot near the gate of the field which is to be ma- nured with it in the ensuing spring or summer . This work is carried on as long as there is ...
... yard as Christmas presents to his friends in town , and in return he is invited into town to partake of its amusements . But there is no want of the attractions of hospitality nearer home . There , farmers maintain a constant ...