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

A detailed description and guide to best contemporary farming practice, including agriculture, dairying and livestock farming, first published in 1842.

Henry Stephens (Author)

9781108024952, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 January 2011

738 pages, 215 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 4.1 cm, 1.07 kg

'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

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.

31. Drawing and stowing turnips, mangel-würzel, cabbage, carrots, and parsnips
32. The feeding of sheep on turnips in winter
33. Driving and slaughtering sheep
34. Rearing and feeding cattle on turnips in winter
35. Driving and slaughtering cattle
36. The treatment of farm-house in winter
37. Fattening, driving, and slaughtering swine
38. The treatment of fowls in winter
39. Thrashing and winnowing grain, and of the thrashing-machine
40. The wages of farm-servants
41. Corn marketing
42. The farm smith, joiner, and saddler
43. The forming of dunghills, and of liquid manure tanks
45. Winter irrigation
Part II. Spring: 46. Cows calving, and of calves
47. The advantages of having field-work in a forward state
48. Cross-ploughing, drilling, and ribbing land
49. Sowing spring wheat and grass seeds
50. Sowing beans, pease, tares, lucern, saintfoin, flax, and hemp
51. Switching, pruning, and water-tabling thorn-hedges
52. Hiring farm-servants
53. Sowing oat seed
54. The lambing of ewes
55. The training and working the shepherd's dog
56. Sowing barley seed
57. Planting potatoes
58. Breaking in young draught horses
59. Sows farrowing or littering
60. The hatching of fowls.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB]