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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Agriculture for Beginners, by
Charles William Burkett and Frank Lincoln Stevens and Daniel Harvey Hill

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Title: Agriculture for Beginners
       Revised Edition

Author: Charles William Burkett
        Frank Lincoln Stevens
        Daniel Harvey Hill

Release Date: March 8, 2007 [EBook #20772]

Language: English


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AGRICULTURE FOR
BEGINNERS BY CHARLES WILLIAM BURKETT

Editor of the American Agriculturist
formerly Director of Agricultural Experiment Station
Kansas State Agricultural College

FRANK LINCOLN STEVENS

Professor of Plant Pathology, University of Illinois
formerly Teacher of Science in High School
Columbus, Ohio

AND DANIEL HARVEY HILL

Formerly President of the North Carolina College of
Agriculture and Mechanic Arts

REVISED EDITION

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
GETTING READY FOR WINTER PREFACE

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.

If they are right in these views, the training must begin in the public schools. This is true for two reasons:

1. It is universally admitted that aptitudes are developed, tastes acquired, and life habits formed during the years that a child is in the public school. Hence, during these important years every child intended for the farm should be taught to know and love nature, should be led to form habits of observation, and should be required to begin a study of those great laws upon which agriculture is based. A training like this goes far toward making his life-work profitable and delightful.

2. Most boys and girls reared on a farm get no educational training except that given in the public schools. If, then, the truths that unlock the doors of nature are not taught in the public schools, nature and nature's laws will always be hid in night to a majority of our bread-winners. They must still in ignorance and hopeless drudgery tear their bread from a reluctant soil.

The authors return hearty thanks to Professor Thomas F. Hunt, University of California; Professor Augustine D. Selby, Ohio Experiment Station; Professor W. F. Massey, horticulturist and agricultural writer; and Professor Franklin Sherman, Jr., State Entomologist of North Carolina, for aid in proofreading and in the preparation of some of the material.



CONTENTS

  CHAPTER I. THE SOIL   SECTION PAGE   I. Origin of the Soil 1 II. Tillage of the Soil 6 III. The Moisture of the Soil 9 IV. How the Water rises in the Soil 13 V. Draining the Soil 14 VI. Improving the Soil 17 VII. Manuring the Soil 21     CHAPTER II. THE SOIL AND THE PLANT   VIII. Roots 25 IX. How the Plant feeds from the Soil 29 X. Root-Tubercles 30 XI. The Rotation of Crops 33     CHAPTER III. THE PLANT   XII. How the Plant feeds from the Air 39 XIII. The Sap Current 40 XIV. The Flower and the Seed 42 XV. Pollination 46 XVI. Crosses, Hybrids, and Cross-Pollination 48 XVII. Propagation by Buds 51 XVIII. Plant Seeding 59 XIX. Selecting Seed Corn 66 XX. Weeds 69 XXI. Seed Purity and Vitality 72     CHAPTER IV. HOW TO RAISE A FRUIT TREE   XXII. Grafting 78 XXIII. Budding 81 XXIV. Planting and Pruning 83     CHAPTER V. HORTICULTURE   XXV. Market-gardening 89 XXVI. Flower-gardening 108     CHAPTER VI. THE DISEASES OF PLANTS   XXVII. The Cause and Nature of Plant Disease 122 XXVIII. Yeast and Bacteria 127 XXIX. Prevention of Plant Disease 129 XXX. Some Special Plant Diseases 130     CHAPTER VII. ORCHARD, GARDEN, AND FIELD INSECTS   XXXI. Insects in General 144 XXXII. Orchard Insects 152 XXXIII. Garden and Field Insects 165 XXXIV. The Cotton-Boll Weevil 173     CHAPTER VIII. FARM CROPS   XXXV. Cotton 180 XXXVI. Tobacco 189 XXXVII. Wheat 192 XXXVIII. Corn 197 XXXIX. Peanuts 202 XL. Sweet Potatoes 204 XLI. White, Or Irish, Potatoes 206 XLII. Oats 209 XLIII. Rye 213 XLIV. Barley 215 XLV. Sugar Plants 217 XLVI. Hemp and Flax 226 XLVII. Buckwheat 229 XLVIII. Rice 231 XLIX. The Timber Crop 232 L. The Farm Garden 235     CHAPTER IX. FEED STUFFS   LI. Grasses 238 LII. Legumes 244     CHAPTER X. DOMESTIC ANIMALS   LIII. Horses 262 LIV. Cattle 270 LV. Sheep 276 LVI. Swine 279 LVII. Farm Poultry 282 LVIII. Bee Culture 286 LIX. Why we feed Animals 290     CHAPTER XI. FARM DAIRYING   LX. The Dairy Cow 293 LXI. Milk, Cream, Churning, and Butter 297 LXII. How Milk sours 302 LXIII. The Babcock Milk-Tester 304     CHAPTER XII. MISCELLANEOUS   LXIV. Growing Feed Stuffs on the Farm 309 LXV. Farm Tools and Machines 313 LXVI. Liming the Land 315 LXVII. Birds 318 LXVIII. Farming on Dry Land 323 LXIX. Irrigation 326 LXX. Life in the Country 330   APPENDIX 339   GLOSSARY 342   INDEX 351 TO THE TEACHER

Teachers sometimes shrink from undertaking the teaching of a simple textbook on agriculture because they are not familiar with all the processes of farming. By the same reasoning they might hesitate to teach arithmetic because they do not know calculus or to teach a primary history of the United States because they are not versed in all history. The art of farming is based on the sciences dealing with the growth of plants and animals. This book presents in a simple way these fundamental scientific truths and suggests some practices drawn from them. Hence, even though many teachers may not have plowed or sowed or harvested, such teachers need not be embarrassed in mastering and heartily instructing a class in nature's primary laws.

If teachers realize how much the efficiency, comfort, and happiness of their pupils will be increased throughout their lives from being taught to coöperate with nature and to take advantage of her wonderful laws, they will eagerly begin this study. They will find also that their pupils will be actively interested in these studies bearing on their daily lives, and this interest will be carried over to other subjects. Whenever you can, take the pupils into the field, the garden, the orchard, and the dairy. Teach them to make experiments and to learn by the use of their own eyes and brains. They will, if properly led, astonish you by their efforts and growth.

You will find in the practical exercises many suggestions as to experiments that you can make with your class or with individual members. Do not neglect this first-hand teaching. It will be a delight to your pupils. In many cases it will be best to finish the experiments or observational work first, and later turn to the text to amplify the pupil's knowledge.

Although the book is arranged in logical order, the teacher ought to feel free to teach any topic in the season best suited to its study. Omit any chapter or section that does not bear on your crops or does not deal with conditions in your state.

The United States government and the different state experiment stations publish hundreds of bulletins on agricultural subjects. These are sent without cost, on application. It will be very helpful to get such of these bulletins as bear on the different sections of the book. These will be valuable additions to your school library. The authors would like to give a list of these bulletins bearing on each chapter, but it would soon be out of date, for the bulletins get out of print and are supplanted by newer ones. However, the United States Department of Agriculture prints a monthly list of its publications, and each state experiment station keeps a list of its bulletins. A note to the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., or to your own state experiment station will promptly bring you these lists, and from them you can select what you need for your school.



AGRICULTURE FOR BEGINNERS


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