Agriculture for Beginners / Revised Edition
Editor of the American Agriculturist formerly Director of Agricultural Experiment Station Kansas State Agricultural College
Professor of Plant Pathology, University of Illinois formerly Teacher of Science in High School Columbus, Ohio
Formerly President of the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts
GINN AND COMPANY BOSTON · NEW YORK · CHICAGO · LONDON ATLANTA · DALLAS · COLUMBUS · SAN FRANCISCO
COPYRIGHT, 1903, 1904, 1914, BY CHARLES WILLIAM BURKETT, FRANK LINCOLN STEVENS AND DANIEL HARVEY HILL ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 329.7 The Athenæum Press GINN AND COMPANY · PROPRIETORS · BOSTON · U.S.A.
GETTING READY FOR WINTER
Since its first publication Agriculture for Beginners has found a welcome in thousands of schools and homes. Naturally many suggestions as to changes, additions, and other improvements have reached its authors. Naturally, too, the authors have busied themselves in devising methods to add to the effectiveness of the book. Some additions have been made almost every year since the book was published. To embody all these changes and helpful suggestions into a strictly unified volume; to add some further topics and sections; to bring all farm practices up to the ideals of to-day; to include the most recent teaching of scientific investigators—these were the objects sought in the thorough revision which has just been given the book. The authors hope and think that the remaking of the book has added to its usefulness and attractiveness.
They believe now, as they believed before, that there is no line of separation between the science of agriculture and the practical art of agriculture. They are assured by the success of this book that agriculture is eminently a teachable subject. They see no difference between teaching the child the fundamental principles of farming and teaching the same child the fundamental truths of arithmetic, geography, or grammar. They hold that a youth should be trained for the farm just as carefully as he is trained for any other occupation, and that it is unreasonable to expect him to succeed without training.
Charles William Burkett
Daniel Harvey Hill
Frank Lincoln Stevens
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CHARLES WILLIAM BURKETT
FRANK LINCOLN STEVENS
AND
DANIEL HARVEY HILL
CONTENTS
SECTION I. ORIGIN OF THE SOIL
SECTION II. TILLAGE OF THE SOIL
SECTION III. THE MOISTURE OF THE SOIL
SECTION IV. HOW THE WATER RISES IN THE SOIL
SECTION V. DRAINING THE SOIL
SECTION VI. IMPROVING THE SOIL
SECTION VII. MANURING THE SOIL
SECTION VIII. ROOTS
SECTION IX. HOW THE PLANT FEEDS FROM THE SOIL
SECTION X. ROOT-TUBERCLES
SECTION XI. THE ROTATION OF CROPS
SECTION XII. HOW A PLANT FEEDS FROM THE AIR
SECTION XIII. THE SAP CURRENT
SECTION XIV. THE FLOWER AND THE SEED
SECTION XV. POLLINATION
SECTION XVI. CROSSES, HYBRIDS, AND CROSS-POLLINATION
SECTION XVII. PROPAGATION BY BUDS
Plants to be propagated from Buds
SECTION XVIII. PLANT SEEDING
SECTION XIX. SELECTING SEED CORN
SECTION XX. WEEDS
SECTION XXI. SEED PURITY AND VITALITY
HOW TO RAISE A FRUIT TREE
SECTION XXII. GRAFTING
SECTION XXIII. BUDDING
SECTION XXIV. PLANTING AND PRUNING
SECTION XXV. MARKET-GARDENING
SECTION XXVI. FLOWER GARDENING
SECTION XXVII. THE CAUSE AND NATURE OF PLANT DISEASE
SECTION XXVIII. YEAST AND BACTERIA
SECTION XXIX. PREVENTION OF PLANT DISEASE
SECTION XXX. SOME SPECIAL PLANT DISEASES
SECTION XXXI. INSECTS IN GENERAL
SECTION XXXII. ORCHARD INSECTS
SECTION XXXIII. GARDEN AND FIELD INSECTS
SECTION XXXIV. THE COTTON-BOLL WEEVIL
FARM CROPS
SECTION XXXV. COTTON
SECTION XXXVI. TOBACCO
SECTION XXXVII. WHEAT
SECTION XXXIX. PEANUTS
SECTION XL. SWEET POTATOES
SECTION XLI. WHITE, OR IRISH, POTATOES
SECTION XLII. OATS
SECTION XLIII. RYE
SECTION XLIV. BARLEY
SECTION XLV. SUGAR PLANTS
SECTION XLVI. HEMP AND FLAX
SECTION XLVII. BUCKWHEAT
SECTION XLVIII. RICE
SECTION XLIX. THE TIMBER CROP
SECTION L. THE FARM GARDEN
SECTION LI. GRASSES
SECTION LII. LEGUMES
Descriptive Table
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
SECTION LIII. HORSES
Proportions of a Horse
SECTION LIV. CATTLE
SECTION LV. SHEEP
SECTION LVI. SWINE
SECTION LVII. FARM POULTRY
SECTION LVIII. BEE CULTURE
SECTION LIX. WHY WE FEED ANIMALS
SECTION LX. THE DAIRY COW
SECTION LXI. MILK, CREAM, CHURNING, AND BUTTER
Dairy Rules
SECTION LXII. HOW MILK SOURS
SECTION LXIII. THE BABCOCK MILK-TESTER
SECTION LXIV. GROWING FEED STUFFS ON THE FARM
SECTION LXV. FARM TOOLS AND MACHINES
SECTION LXVI. LIMING THE LAND
SECTION LXVII. BIRDS
SECTION LXVIII. FARMING ON DRY LANDS
SECTION LXIX. IRRIGATION
Methods of Irrigating Crops
SECTION LXX. LIFE IN THE COUNTRY
FOR BITING INSECTS
FOR SOFT-BODIED SUCKING INSECTS
FOR FUNGOUS DISEASES
SPRAYS FOR BOTH FUNGOUS AND INSECT PESTS