Books on Agronomy and/or Agriculture?

[mundamanu]

Hi all. I am interested in learning about soil, crops, livestock, general farming, etc. There are a ton of free extension publications available on the internet and I have already read quite a bit. However, I would like to know what people's favorite books on general agronomy and/or agriculture are. Books are organized to give a rounder picture than one can get from cobbling together extension publications, especially if one is a beginner.

Thank you in advance for any titles.

Bob aka mundamanu

 

[higgy]

If you have an extension service ask them, they have agronomists, forage experts and weed people. They will steer you in the correct direction.

There is a great set of books that I use for here in the west, but try any of the land grant shools, UND, UofI, Nebraska, WSU etc. They have great web sites and good info and contact names and numbers.

Dane

 

[cowboydoc]

Have you looked at Penn State's website? They have some great info for your area.

 

[mundamanu]

cowboydoc,

Thank you for the response. I have looked at Penn State's website before. I have gotten a lot of valuable information from it. The trouble with a big and active extension like Penn State's is that there is too much information! It is hard for a newbie to figure out where to start and how best to combine articles to get a complete picture, so I was hoping to find a book(s) that covers the general principles of farming and ag science.

However, I had not thought of using the extensions as a resource for finding books as higgy suggested (thank you higgy). I can probably find an extension agent at Penn State that would be willing and able to put together a reading list of books for me. By finding a person at Penn State, even though the books would be general in nature, they would likely be geared toward farming in my geographic area.

Thanks again to both of you.

 

[cowboydoc]

That's really what you want is what is specific to your area. Farming/ranching varies so greatly from one area to the next. What works in one area doesn't work in the other. Being in Iowa and Idaho I have sure found this out. I constantly have to change gears going from one place to the next. It's a completely different ballgame in either place.

 

[Libertine]

mudamanu:

<font color="blue">I am interested in learning about soil, crops, livestock, general farming, etc. </font>

I have a rather extensive library myself (6000+ vols) of which about 350 volumes are devoted to agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, etc. If your interest is general and if are interested in working a small acreage you might look at Five Acres and Independence by M. G. Kains. This realistic and hardheaded guide was originally published in the 1930s it has been reprinted and updated. Most recently it was reprinted by Dover. If you are interested in agricultural issues, the USDA yearbooks are good (the older ones). I have about 60 going back to 1862 (when the USDA was started). The best are the ones published in the early 1900s up into the early 1920s. You get enough information on a number of topics in each issue without overkill. Also, MacMillan published a series called Rural Textbook Series (edited by L H Bailey-many written by G F Warren) covering a number of topics. The best single volume is titled Farm Management by G F Warren. I have the 1921 edition.

I disagree (respectfully of course) with cowboydoc's comments IF your desire is general understanding and general principles. If you need to have the latest thinking and research on growing a specific crop in a specific location he is, of course, correct. But the principles of agriculture have changed little. From your post, it seems you are interested in the general principles. You can even go back to Cato's De Agri Cultura (On Agriculture) published around 175 BC and you will understand more about hard headed principles of running a farm than most farmers today (available in the Loeb classical library in Latin with English translation-it is in print today). If you want specific information about a topic you can zero in on that later-for example, Plant Propagation in Pictures by Montague Free was published in 1957-you'll learn more about the subject than all but a professional botanist.

Go to your public library and ask them to point you to the Dewey 636 section.

Anyway, good luck. The above titles will give you a good overview of the general principles of the subject.

JEH

 

[higgy]

great information
Dane

 

[Libertine]

mundamanu:

It occurred to me I didn't offer any suggestions specifically regarding farm equipment. The best single book covering all types of equipment I have seen (everything from planting/cultivating/harvesting through feed preparation/fertilizing etc, ie. how a cotton & potato harvesters work through hammer mills to combines) is Farm Machinery & Equipment by H P Smith & publ by McGraw-Hill. My version was the 2nd edition published in 1937. Very little has changed other than size-they work the same. If you understand how a horse drawn potato digger works you will understand how a new one works today (for example). A second suggestion would be The Operation, Care & Repair of Farm Machinery published in a series of editions by John Deere beginning in the 1930s. I don't know if they still put them out. They are not as complete as the one suggested above, but are still very good. I have the 28th edition published in 1957.

JEH

PS The titles mentioned can be obtained at used book stores, off the internet (watch for excessive prices on ebay though), etc.

 

[mundamanu]

Libertine,

Thank you very much for that valuable information.

I am glad that it occurred to you to include equipment in the mix.

 

[budman72]

I have a great little book that I found at a used bookstore a long time ago titled "Farming for Self Sufficiency, Indepence on a 5 acre farm" by John & Sally Seymour. It's pretty entertaining and informative. They cover everything from buying land, establishing pastures, livestock (including how to butcher /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif), fruit, vegetables, grain (including how to brew your own beer /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif) machinery fish......

It was written in England in the early 1970's so its more of a "get back to the land" handbook, but it is fun to read and you can learn a lot from it. I doubt it's still in print, good luck in finding a copy.

Bud