The Book of the Farm: Detailing the Labours of the Farmer, Farm-steward, Ploughman, Shepherd, Hedger, Cattle-man, Field-worker, and Dairy-maid

by Henry Stephens

Overview

Henry Stephens (1795-1874) was a farmer and later a writer on agriculture. After attending lectures on chemistry and agriculture at the University of Edinburgh he boarded with a Berwickshire farmer, George Brown, and gained experience of agricultural work. In 1820 Stephens acquired his own farm, on which he used modern and experimental farming methods. In 1837 he sold the farm, and devoted the rest of his life to writing guides to farming for the use of inexperienced farmers. These influential volumes, first published in 1842, contain Stephens' detailed descriptions of contemporary farming practices. He describes in meticulous detail all aspects of farming, including livestock care and slaughter, dairying, irrigation practices and crop culture. Arranged by season and including copious high-quality illustrations of farming equipment, these extremely popular and fascinating volumes were considered the standard work on practical Victorian agriculture. Volume 2 describes farming tasks performed in spring.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108024952
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/06/2011
Series:	Cambridge Library Collection - British and Irish History, 19th Century
Pages:	738
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.80(d)

Table of Contents

1. The difficulties which the young farmer has to encounter at the outset of learning practical husbandry; 2. The means of overcoming those difficulties; 3. The kind of information to be found in existent works on agriculture; 4. The construction of 'The Book of the Farm'; 5. The existing methods of learning practical husbandry; 6. The establishment of scientific institutions of practical agriculture; 7. The evils attendant on landowners neglecting to learn practical agriculture; 8. Experimental farms as places for instruction in farming; 9. A few words to young farmers who intend emigrating as agricultural settlers to the colonies; 10. The kind of education best suited to young farmers; 11. The different kinds of farming; 12. Choosing the kind of farming; 13. Selecting a tutor farmer for teaching farming; 14. The pupilage; 15. Dealing with the details of farming; Part I. Winter: 16. The steading or farmstead; 17. The farm-house; 18. The persons who labour the farm; 19. The weather in winter; 20. Climate; 21. Observing and recording facts; 22. Soils and subsoils; 23. Enclosures and shelter; 24. The planting of thorn hedges; 25. The plough; 26. The various modes of ploughing ridges; 27. Draining; 28. Yoking and harnessing the plough, and of swing-trees; 29. Ploughing stubble and lea-ground; 30. Trench and subsoil ploughing, and moor-band pan.

Editorial Reviews

'This is the classic of Victorian farming: widely consulted at the time, huge in its extraordinary social, economic and technological coverage, and a splendid asset to historians. These three beautifully produced volumes are a major publishing event, of great scholarly and practical interest today.' Professor K. D. M. Snell, University of Leicester

From the Publisher