Five Acres and Independence

by Maurice G. Kains

Overview

"Five Acres" can be looked at as a gardening book or a mystical piece about living in harmony with nature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789562914468
Publisher:	Beta Nu Publishing
Publication date:	06/28/2007
Pages:	408
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.91(d)

Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION
"A word about the author, his practical experience, and qualifications suggest reliability of the text."
2. CITY vs. COUNTRY LIFE
Advantages and disadvantages
City vicissitudes
"Dependence upon "income" to supply "outgo"
"Country stability, productivity"
"Dependence upon "outgo" to supply "income"
Self-supporting
"Occupancy of home in country vs. tenancy of "flat" in city "
"Health, welath, happiness in country home"
3. TRIED AND TRUE WAYS TO FAIL
"Too little, capital, unfavorable location, uncongenial soil, too large area, inefficient soil preparation and tillage, lack of feding, big-headedness, inexperience, city hours, laziness, too many pets and guests"
4. WHO IS LIKELY TO SUCCEED?
Thinker and worker
Owner on the Spot
Absentee direction
Book farming
Observation as a teacher
Hired help
5. FIGURES DON'T LIE
Striking figures from U.S. Census and Department of Agriculture reports
Supply and demand
Relation to and contrast with individual owner's problems on productive land
6. THE FARM TO CHOOSE
Soil survey maps
Character of soil
Nature of plant growth already on the land
"Depth, drainage, slope, freedom from stones, previous crops and yields, neighborhood crops and yields"
7. WHERE TO LOCATE
Good roads
Their up-keep
Snow removal
Site with respect to roadside sales
Distance from market
"Schools, churches, electric current, buses, stores, doctors, etc."
8. LAY AND LAY-OUT OF LAND
Elevation
Aspect
Frostiness
"Impediments such as fences, boulders, stone walls"
Fields-sizes and shapes
"Roadways, lanes and paths"
Arrangement of buildings
9. "WIND-BREAKS, PRO AND CON"
Importance
Types
Influence on crops
Animals and residence
Workability in their shelter
Good and bad kinds
Saving of fuel
Production of fuel
10. ESSENTIAL FACTORS OF PRODUCTION
Good seed
Good breed of animal
Variety
"Strain"
Abundant water and available plant food in the soil
Rational tillage
Ample space between plants and for animals
11. RENTING vs. BUYING
Advantages and disadvantages of each
Various ways to manage depend upon each
Renting with option of buying
Buying a small place but working large rented area
12. CAPITAL
Investment and working money
Cost of land
Rent of property
Insurance
Equipment
Nursery stock and other plants
Animals
Labor
Time needed to get returns
13. FARM FINANCE
Importance of credit
Origin of capital
How secured
Borrowing for production
Usury
Fundamental rules for borrowing
Character of borrower and business ability
Annual inventory and budget
Bank cashier as advisor and confidant
Safety deposit boxes
14. FARM ACCOUNTS
Planning for production
"Knowledge of market, and the truth about one's business"
Record of crops and animals individually and of the farm as a whole
Account books
15. WATER SUPPLY
Rain water and cisterns
Filter cisterns
Cistern capacities
Cistern cleaning and purification
Springs gravity piping
Pneumatic pressure systems
Hydraulic rams
16 SEWAGE DISPOSAL
Primitive methods
Cess pools
Septic tanks
Tank construction
Personal experience
17. FUNCTIONS OF WATER
Necessity in plant and animal growth
Quantity needed by plants
Types of water in soil
Conservation by tillage and mulching
18. DRAINAGE
Importance
Methods
Instances to prove their value
19. IRRIGATION
Methods
Types of apparatus
Assurance of adequate water
Success in spite of drought
Use to supply fertilizer and certain kinds of spraying
20. FROST DAMAGE PREVENTION
What frost is
How it affects plants
Plant resistance to damage
Hardy and tender plants
Preventing fall of temperature to or below danger point
Forecasting local frosts
Methods available
21. LIVE STOCK
"Advantages and disadvantages of keeping cow, pig, poultry, rabbits, bees"
Desirable and undesirable kinds to have
22. POULTRY
Chicken for eggs and meat
"Duck, geese, turkeys, pigeons"
Scrubs vs. breeds and strains
"Housing, feeding, yarding, range, management "
Hatching vs. buying day-old chicks
Brooding
Sanitation
Etc.
23. BEES
Honey the principal interest
Importance in fruit production
Management easy but imperative
24. GREENHOUSES
Standardized styles preferable to home built
Advantages
Sizes desirable
Avoidance of mistakes
Types of houses
Ventilation
Heating
Greenhouse builders' contracts and propostions
25. COLDFRAMES AND HOTBEDS
Invaluable to start seedlings
Limitations of each
Types of each
How and where to make them
Hardening-off plants
Electric heating and regulation most desirable
26. SOILS AND THEIR CARE
Nature's soils injured by man
Reclamation
Types of soils and how to handle them
Humus
How to judge soil values
Soil erosion and its prevention
27. MANURES
Stable manure best
Why
Scarcity and cost
Fresh vs. rotted
Dried and pulverized
Amounts to apply
Functons in the soil
Experiences and experiments
28. COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS
Supplements to manures
Organic and inorganic
Value of each
Cautions in using
Compositon
Most important unmixed ones
Functions of each
"Mixed goods"
 
Importance of competent advice before attempting such work
Many trees not worth reclamation
How to determine useful ones
Tree surgery not desirable from income basis
Personal appraisal methods
Renovation methods
37. FRUIT TREE PRUNING
Principles
Applications
Methods good and bad
Times to prune
Tree architecture
Building strong trees
Vine and Bush training and pruning
Knowledge of flower bud formation and position essential
38. GRAFTING FRUIT TREES
Simple methods
Trees not to graft
Best ones and best branches to use
How to get and keep scions
Time to graft
Grafting waxes
Paraffin
Repair or bridge grafting to save girdled trees.
39. HOW TO AVOID NURSERY STOCK LOSSES
"Buyers, not nurserymen, most often responsible for death of stock"
Right and wrong handling
Loose planting
Bearing age trees unsatisfactory
Young stock best to order
Pruning after planting
Treatment of Y-crotch trees
Staking
Label removal
40. VEGETABLE CROPS TO AVOID AND TO CHOOSE
"Quick and slow maturing kinds, staple and fancy kinds high and low quality varieties, good vs. poor keepers, kinds saleable in several ways"
41. SEEDS AND SEEDING
Types of seeds
Effect of weight on sprouting and the crop
Seed testing
Age of seed
Seedsman's reputation
"Special stock" seed"
Seedsmen's trial grounds
"Seed growing, selection"
Sowing times
Temperature
Depth
Etc.
42. TRANSPLANTING
Stages of development
Pre-watering
Preparation of soils and flats
"Lifting, pricking-out, spotting board and dibble"
"Depth, watering, hardening"
Planting in the open
After-care
43. PLANTS FOR SALE
Often highly profitable near town of amateur gardeners
General and special stocks and sales methods
Advertising
44. SOMETHING TO SELL EVERY DAY
Crops in demand
"Crops that "work over well"
"Pickles, jams, jellies, juices, syrups, preserves, "canned goods"
Eggs
Chickens
Ducks
Honey
Plants
Flowers
45. STRAWBERRIES
Regular season and everbearing kinds
Culture systems of training
"After fruiting, what? "
Companion and succession crops
Quickest fruit to bear
Often highly profitable
Every farm should have them
46. GRAPES
Planting
Pruning
Training
Precocious and annual fruiting
Long season of fruiting by successional ripening of varieties and storage
47. BUSH AND CANE FRUITS
"Raspberry, blackberry, currant, gooseberry, dewberry, blueberry"
Varieties
Culture
48. SMALL FARM FRUIT GARDENS
Does the ordinary farm orchard pay?
Investigational experiment
Improved methods of cultivation
Varieties for home use
Sequence of rippening
Lay-out of orchard and small fruits
49. SELECTION OF TREE FRUITS
Varieties to choose
Type of trade to work for
"General market, roadside sales, personal trade"
Successional ripening to hold trade
Filler trees and other fruits
Inter-tilled crops to help pay costs of development
50. STORAGE OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
"Methods, good and bad for various types of crops"
"Root cellars, pits, storage houses, lofts"
Arrangement
Ventilation
Cooling
Heating
Sanitation
Fumigation
51. ESSENTIALS OF SPRAYING AND DUSTING
"Spraying, dusting and other methods effective when properly used"
Fruit and vegetable insect enemies
APPENDICES
INDEX