From: cf603@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Dave Sill)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Rural Sources: Books (part 1 of 6)
Date: 3 Sep 1992 14:30:12 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: cf603@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Dave Sill)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


Well, it's been months since I've posted these, so here goes...

These were collected from articles posted to misc.rural, as were most of
the comments.  Additions/corrections/suggestions welcome.  Send them to me
at cf603@cleveland.freenet.edu.

Dave Sill

----
150 Years of IHC
    C. H. Wendel
    (Available from Kings Books, P.O. Box 86, Radner, OH 43066)

    A history of International Harvester and the companies that made
    up IHC.  Also has serial number lists to date IHC
    tractors.

American Cider Book 
    Vrest Orton
    Farrar, Straus, & Giroux NY 1973

    He was a sexist bombast, but it's an informative, traditionalist
    book.

Angora Goat Book and Guard Dogs
    Jean Ebeling
    Eakin Pulications, Inc.
    Austin, TX, 1983

    Written by Ranch Magazine columnist, somewhat oriented toward
    conditions in Texas.

Angora Goats the Northern Way
    Susan Black Drummond
    Freeport MI:
    Stony Lonesome Farm, 1985.

    Good overall info. especially on conditions in MI.

Art of Blacksmithing, The
    Alex Bealer
    Harper & Row 1984

    My constant reference for both tricks, designs, and history.

Back To Basics
    Reader's Digest 1986

    It's amazing how much is covered in the book, from livestock to
    barn building to blacksmithing &c.  It has enough to get you
    started on many rural pursuits. 

    A pretty good general, but superficial, reference.

    Another must-have. A series of how-to articles on things
    traditional from surveying and log-cabin-building (adobe too for
    you southwesterners) to sheep shearing and blacksmithing. Good
    recipes. Good pointers for additional information. This is the
    book to have around whenever you start thinking, ``Wonder if I
    ought to get a few geese for this place?''

Barns, Sheds, and Outbuildings
    Byron D. Halstead (Ed.)
    Stephen Green Press, MA 1981

    (Reprint of 1881) Includes good drawings of late 19th C barns,
    emphasizing efficient layout.

Chickens in your Backyard -- A Beginner's Guide
    Rick & Gail Luttmann
    Rodale Press, Inc.
    Emmaus, Pa. 18049, 1976
    ISBN 0-87857-125-6

    Well organized, up to date how-to/reference.

    Appears to touch on a lot of aspects of raising chickens like
    feed, illnesses, predators, coops, clean-up, etc.  It's a
    paperback, and was less than 10 bucks including postage, I think.

Complete Book of Raising Livestock and Poultry, The
    Thear & Fraser
    1980-1988
    Pan Books Ltd., Pan, Cavaye Place, London, SW10 9PG, UK.
    0-330-30158-6

    The how-to book of beasties for a small-holding.

Complete Book of Prefabs, Kits, and Manufactured Houses, The
    Fawcett Columbine (C) 1981
    ISBN 0-449-90051-7

Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency, The
    John Seymour
    1976-1989
    Corgi/Faber
    0-552-98051-X
    Transworld Publishers, 61 Uxbridge Road, Ealing, London, W5 5SA, UK.

    Excellent.  A must for any small farm or homestead.

Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable, The
    (See: Ten Acres Enough)

Continuing the Good Life
    Schocken 1979
    (See: Maple Sugar Book, The)

Country Living: A Source Book of Projects and Friendly Advice
    Lewis & Nancy Hill
    Rodale Press.

Encyclopedia of American Farm Tractors
    C. H. Wendel
    (Available from Kings Books, P.O. Box 86, Radner, OH 43066)

Encyclopedia of American Gasoline Engines Since 1872
    C. H. Wendel
    (Available from Kings Books, P.O. Box 86, Radner, OH 43066)

    THE reference on old engines.  This book has over 21000
    illustrations showing almost every company to manufacture internal
    combustion engines in the US.
 
Endless Tracks In The Woods
    James Young and Jerry Budy
    (Available from Kings Books, P.O. Box 86, Radner, OH 43066)

    A history of the development of the crawler.  Has serial number
    lists so you can date that old crawler. 
 
Economic Feasibility of Raising Angora Goats in the Northeastern US, The
    Stephen Dahm
    1986
    Penn State Library

    Master's thesis.  You can get the thesis via interlibrary loan.
    It's not too econ-techy, mostly pretty understandable.  Good
    overview of issues, lots of references.

Farm Animal Coloring Book
    (See: Ten Acres Enough)

Farm Fever: How to Buy Country Land and Farm It--Part Time or Full Time
    Jerry Baker and Dan Kibbie
    Funk & Wagnalls, 1977,
    ISBN 0-308-10299-1

    Full of excellent information about how to buy land and get
    started in farming, including addresses of various organizations
    and contacts.  Unfortunately, it's written in an dated and
    somewhat obnoxious style--lot's of exclamation marks! and hokey
    `my grandma Foobar always used to say...'s. 

Farmer's Tax Guide
    IRS Publication 225

Farmstead Book 1
    Paul Harmond (Ed.)
    Cloudburst, Seattle 1978

    Useful treatment of soil management and forage crops.  Also the
    farm shop and the woodlot.  There is no Farmstead Book 2!

First Person Rural
    Noel Perrin
    Penguin Books 1978

    (also the sequels _Second Person Rural_, 1980, and _Third Person
    Rural_, 1983)

    Brief, thoughtful essays about manure, sheep, maple sugaring,
    firewood, and such by a Vermont farmer who also happens to be a
    Dartmouth professor.  Often _Yankee Magazine_-type stuff aimed
    toward rural-wannabes and confused urbanites, but a good
    introduction to what one can expect to encounter as part of
    escaping the cities and 'burbs.

Five Acres and Independence
    M. G. Kains
    Greenberg Publishers 1935

    How to make a very small farm pay for itself. Amazingly un-dated
    advice, even after fifty-five years. Get one, if you can. 

Foxfire series

    They are available at the B. Dalton's bookstore chain.  As a
    series of interviews and how-to demonstrations by hillfolk, they
    are a valuable source for persons rediscovering problems of rural
    life.

Garden Way Publishing Bulletins
    Storey/Garden Way
    Schoolhouse Road
    Pownal, VT 05261
    800-827-8673

    Roughly 100 32-page booklets on various gardening, DIY/crafts,
    livestock, cooking/preserving, energy, etc.  List for $2 each.  I
    have _Eggs and Chickens_, by John Vivian (see Practical Guide) and
    _Baking with Sourdough_, don't remember author.  Both are very
    good.  The sourdough book has dozens of recipes, I particularly
    liked the pretzels. 

    In addition to lots of neat books, they also publish an odd
    series, "Country Wisdom Bulletins".  They're a dollar each, 32pp
    long, and focus on one topie or another:  "Building and Using Cold
    Frames", "Axes & Chainsaws", "Build a Smokehouse", "Buying country
    Land", "The Best Fences", etc, etc, tect [there are over a hundred
    of 'em.  I have a dozen or so].

Getting Started in Farming on a Small Scale
    USDA Agriculture Information Bulletin Number 451.

Gift of Good Land, The
    Wendell Berry 
    North Point Press
    San Francisco 1981

Goat Husbandry
    David Mackenzie

    I don't know if it's still in print, but I was fortunate enough to
    obtain a copy at a rummage sale.

Greener Pastures on Your Side of the Fence
    Bill Murphy

Harnessing Water Power for Home Energy
    Dermot McGuigan
    Garden Way Publishing, Pownal, Vermont 05261
    Paperback, 100 pages, 1978
    ISBN 0-88266-115-9

    The book describes how to determine how much power you have:
    measuring flow and head and the mechanics of turning the water
    into useful energy.  There are chapters on water-wheels, pelton
    wheels, turgo wheels, cross-flow turbines, francis turbine and on
    lots of other little details (like building a dam).  There are
    lots of manufacturer's addresses included in the text.  

Have-More Plan, The
    Ed and Carolyn Robinson
    Garden Way/Storey

    This book is worth owning just for the comic effect.  Leave it on
    your coffee table and watch your guests.  It's a blast from the
    past.  As with 5 Acres, though, the information is fairly timeless
    if you can suffer the presentation.  It contains lots of 1-2 page
    entries on beekeeping, rabbit/chicken raising, orcharding, etc.

How to Design an Independant Power System
    (out of print)
    Terrance D. Paul
    Best Energy Systems for Tomorrow, Inc.
    P.O. Box 280
    Necedah  WI  54646

    If you can find someone who has a copy, hound them until you can
    borrow it. 

Integral Urban House Self Reliant Living In The City, The
    Helga Olkowski, Bill Olkowski, Tom Javits and the Farallones
    Institute Staff
    ISBN: 0-87156-213-8
    Sierra Club Books

    Available via mail-order from Sierra Club bookstores.  It's about
    500 pages (8.5 x 11) and has a good bibliography

John Deere Tractors and Equipment
    Don Macmillian
    (Available from Kings Books, P.O. Box 86, Radner, OH 43066)

    General source of JD information.

Life after the City,
    Charles Long
    1989
    Camden House, 7 Queen Victoria Rd, Camden East, Ontario, K0K 1J0,
    CANADA
    0-920656-14-5

    Practical book.  Covers US as well as Canada

Living on a Few Acres
    USDA Yearbook of Agriculture, 1978

    Should be available free from your conresscritter.  A collection
    of short articles on different aspects of "Living on a Few Acres".
    From how to find a place, to what to do with it, etc [e.g., "Dairy
    Goats Require Lots of Care Just to Brak Even"; "think twice about
    risks of horse rental business",  "land improvements --- what you
    need to know", "Ready to face the realities of small-scale
    farming?"]

Living on Less
    Editors of the Mother Earth News
    Mother Earth News Books

    Scores of 2-5 pagers on such topics as housing, homesteading,
    gardening, canning, foraging, livestock, energy, clothing,
    recreation, etc.  Lots of good DIY info that doesn't assume you
    were born in a log cabin or raised by wolves. 

Living the Good Life
    Schocken 1970
    (See: Maple Sugar Book, The)

Malabar Farm
    Harper & Bros. 1948(?)
    (See: Pleasant Valley)

Maple Sugar Book, The
    H. & S. Nearing
    Schocken Books 1950

    I think the FBI used to put your name on file if you ordered
    these.  Maybe they still do. In any case, Scott Nearing (who had
    run as a Socialist against Fiorello LaGuardia in the NY mayoral
    race) and his wife Helen started the back-to-the-land movement in
    the '30s, when they set up a self-sufficient farm in Vermont. They
    continued for another half-century, later moving to Maine when the
    ski industry started ruining the neighborhood. Good scholarship,
    with numerous obscure quotes and references going back hundreds of
    years; rather dated politics; lots of blaming meat-eating for most
    of mankind's physical and moral infirmities. Probably a more
    primitive lifestyle than most of us could stand for long, but true
    classics. I especially recommend the first, which combines a
    history of maple sugaring with in-depth technical information.

Nebraska Tractor Tests Since 1920
    C. H. Wendel
    Kings Books
    P.O. Box 86
    Radner, Ohio 43066
 
    The Nebraska tractor tests are an important tool in comparing
    tractors and any farm tractor sold in Nebraska must be put through
    these tests.  The tests are still being conducted.  This book
    gives the important data for each test from 1920 through 1984.  If
    you are concerned about the size, power, weight, economy of a
    tractor, it is here.  For example the tractors tested in 1978
    range from the small 1940 lb. Kubota L-185 to the large 47370 lb.
    Stieger ST-450.

New Industry, or Raising the Angora Goat, and Mohair, for Profit, A
    William L. Black
    Keystone Printing Co.
    Fort Worth, TX 1900. (yes, 1900)

    An oldie, but goodie.  Great perspective on the way things were,
    and the way they could be.

New Organic Grower, The
    (See: Ten Acres Enough)

Pleasant Valley
    L. Bromfield
    Harper & Bros. 1943

    Not sure if these are in print right now, but you should be able
    to get them from used book stores. Politically far more
    conservative than the Nearings, novelist Louis Bromfield takes all
    his book royalties and puts together a huge Ohio farm. The
    money's-no-object bit can get tedious at times (not to mention the
    thousands of words in praise of Boxers), but these were the first
    really-widely-read books against reliance on chemical fertilizers
    and toward composting, erosion control, and protecting farmland
    from development by selling the rights to conservancy trusts or
    foundations. 

Practical Blacksmithing
    M.T. Richardson (Ed.)
    Weathervane 1978

    (reprint of 4 volume 1889-91) compendium of 19thC journal
    articles; jumbled, but fun.

Practical Guide to Homesteading, The
    John Vivian

    I'd consider this a must-read, if not a must-have, for wannabes.
    Vivian takes the reader through a typical year on his homestead.
    Full of practical (hence the title) advice, the kind of thing you
    learn usually by blowing it the first time around. 

Practical Guide to Successful Farming
    Wallace S. Moreland (Ed.)
    Halcyon House 1943

    Excellent reference for practical, low-budget farming.  From
    Rutgers Ag professors, it can be found in used book shops.  (I
    bought one for $3, then my mom gave me the one she had given her
    father in 1943.  It's a pleasure to read from the pages thumbed by
    the man who got me interested in farming.)

Raising Milk Goats Successfully
    Gail Luttmann
    Williamson, Charlotte, VT 1986

    Well organized, up to date how-to/reference.

Raising Poultry the Modern Way
    Lenonard S. Mercia
    A Garden Way Publishing Book
    Storey Communications, Inc.
    Pownal, Vermont 05261, 1983
    ISBN 0-88266-058-6

Raising Sheep the Modern Way
    Paula Simmons
    Garden Way 1976

    Well organized, up to date how-to/reference.

Secrets of the Still
    Grace Firth
    EPM Pub McClean VA 1983

    She's a great writer, this is worth reading even if you don't
    drink!  This plus Foxfire are all you need to know about making
    spirits. 

Shepherd's Guidebook, The
    Margaret Bradbury

Small Scale Grain Raising
    Gene Logsdon
    Rodale 1977

    This will convince you that you don't need a lot of land to grow
    your own wheat, barley or oats.  Very practical for small
    holdings.

Small Scale Poultry Keeping
    (See: Ten Acres Enough)

Ten Acres Enough
    Small Farmers Journal
    P. O. Box 2805, Eugene, Or 97402

    A fine source of readable material on how to do many of the things
    that we as a culture have forgotten and mislaid in our rush to
    yuppiedom.

Three Acres and Liberty
    Bolton Hall
    MacMillan Co NY 1918

University of Guelph
    Division of Independant Studies
    Agriculture and Horticulture programs
    South House
    Ontario, N1G 2W1, CANADA

    Extensive video collection for sale as well as ag and hort
    diplomas.

Veterinary Guide for Animal Owners
    C.E. Spaulding
    Rodale Press 1976

    Very handy reference for most livestock (except children)

-- 
Dave Sill
Play: cf603@cleveland.freenet.edu
Work: de5@ornl.gov
Newsgroups: misc.rural