Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1870 [PAGE 243]

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England are exceedingly good. Robinson's Gleanings from French Gardens, is another late work of the kind. There are many old books of the kind by Young, and others, but they are now perhaps more curious than useful. Such books as Gourey's Voyage Agricole en France Allemagne, Hongrie, Boheme, Belgique, Lavergne's Economie rurale de la France, depuis 1789, Essai sur V Economie rurale de V Angleterre de Y Ecosse et d' Irlande, etc., are apparently quite common in French agricultural literature, and are not unknown in German and other languages. 6. The Social Sciences applicable to Agriculture are, Agricultural Statistics, Rural Economy, Farm Manufactures, or Rural Industries, and Rural Law. Agricultural Statistics, I am sorry to say, we have but few of, and those not very reliable. Our National Government gives us a decennial census, but it is very inaccurately taken, and omits to secure some of the more important facts. The attempts of our Commissioner of Agriculture to secure more frequent information in regard to crops, though necessarily only partially successful are pointing the way to something better. Ohio, Iowa, California, and other States, are collecting annual (I believe) statistics of agriculture, which seem to be valuable. Our own State collects a few meagre items, through the assessors in the annual assessment. But I believe we are far behind some European countries, both in frequency and accuracy of our agricultural statistics. Rural Economy, although an important subject, has a scanty literature. It may be defined as the general management of landed estates. There is a good English or rather Scotch book on the subject, by Prof. Low, and we have a translation of Boussingaults's work of that name, though it can hardly be properly called so. In French, I see named Breton's Economic Agricole, De Dombasle's Economie politique et agricole, Gaucheron's Cours d'Economie Agricole, etc., and in German a good many books bearing more or less directly on the subject. Todd's Young Farmer's Manual, and Thomas' Rural Affairs, have a good deal of the same character. Farm Manufactures may be regarded as including those industries of a simple character, the material for which is produced upon the farm, and which either from its bulk or other difficulty of removal, or from lack of a good market, or from the desire to employ the farm work when field labor is impracticable, it is thought best to work up at home. Such are cider, wine and vinegar making, the canning of fruits ; the making of beet and maple sugar, sorghum syrup, starch, cheese and butter, etc. Not much has been written upon these as specialities in this country. Sorghum manufacture has drawn out a few manuals by Hedges and others. Hussmann and Reemelin have written on wine making. We have Flint's book, mainly devoted to dairying and society transactions on the same subject. The Northwestern Dairyman's Association, mainly an Illinois Society, has held three meetings, and published their proceedings in pamphlet form. In Europe these rural industries occupy a more prominent place, and we find special works on wine making, dairying, etc., in considerable numbers.