Books on practical sciences: horticulture, home ec, etc

BellonaTimes · Post by **BellonaTimes** » February 19th, 2009, 7:13 pm

I have been working on cleaning up this poorly computer-scanned text of The Family Kitchen Garden (first published 1847)
http://www.archive.orgstreamfamilykitchengar00buisrichfamilykitchengar00buisrich_djvu.txt

which I'm planning to post on archive.org in txt format. Took me three days using my Open Office word processor.

I'd like to read part or all of it, wondering if anyone else is interested.

The book has aged well, as gardening hasn't changed that much in 150 years, especially if you're into organic gardening. i was thinking that some parts of this could be mixed with readings from one of the vegetarian cookery books, and similar non-fiction works, also any fiction that might add a little color like Peter Rabbit, My Secret Garden, etc

Post by **TriciaG** » February 19th, 2009, 8:03 pm

Your web address doesn't work.

It sounds like an interesting book. However, mixing in other works would be problematic for the indexing, I would think. (I could be wrong, though). Would the book work well as a stand-alone project?

Hokuspokus · Post by **Hokuspokus** » February 19th, 2009, 10:50 pm

There seem to be 5 scans of this book on archive. Here is one of them =>
http://www.archive.org/details/familykitchenga00buisgoog

Interesting project

Illiterati · Post by **Illiterati** » February 20th, 2009, 1:12 am

And here is another, the one above having an incomplete flip book, the first I have ever encountered in archive.org:

http://www.archive.org/details/familykitchengar00buisrich

A fine project and book indeed, and I would suggest reading all of it as one project if you only have the inclination to do so.

Since this is an indexed book of different plants, if you will do it (I hope) may I ask being very clear with naming chapters with names something like 02 - Artichoke, Asparagus, Basil, Beans, Beet.

It would be great for easily finding the plant you are looking for.

I would even suggest reading each plant as an individual chapter for easy searchability, but some of them are very short (500 words or less) and the disclaimer might come in a bit obstrusive (though if you made this a solo you could use shorter disclaimer.)

Great idea, especially now that it starts to be the time for germinating seeds...

I

[EDIT: and now that we have opened this genre for suggestions, this is something I would love to hear, if there are people interested in reading a book of this subject matter: http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/art-design/higgins/index.htm

Great book for people interested in olde painting. Well, lead is not particularly used anymore, but still. ]

BellonaTimes · Post by **BellonaTimes** » February 20th, 2009, 7:54 pm

Okay, here's my edit:

http://www.archive.org/details/RobertBuiststheFamilyKitchenGardener1847

Aside to TriciaG, what I meant by combining articles and fiction was in the format of Librivox's short story collection pages on archive.org.
First file would have say me reading the information on carrots and cabbage, then someone else (preferably British) reading something from Beatrix Potter, someone else reading about the cultivation of peaches from The Kitchen Gardener, then my reading (or somebody else's) of Elinor Wylie's poem, and so on.

I know that several Asian poets wrote about fruit trees, particularly in blossom. Folks need to put on their thinking caps and try to remember similar references to vegetables in classic PD books. It could be something as fleeting but brilliant as Scarlett biting into that radish in Gone With The Wind (if indeed that were PD!); some people still don't get the significance of that scene (survival) and when the film was released (the novel in 1936, the film in 1939, as the Depression was ending); aren't there gardening scenes in Jane Austen's novels, such as Sense & Sensibility?

Here are some more gardening guides from the period of the Kitchen Gardener:

1845

The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America. Andrew J. Downing and Charles Downing.
http://www.archive.org/details/fruitsfruittrees81down
The Horticulturist - A magazine published by Andrew J. Downing.
A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Gardening Adapted to North America. Andrew J. Downing.
John Chapman, Johnny Applseed (1774-1845)

1848

The Cottage Gardens of American. Walter Elder.

1849

A Practical Treatise on the Management of Fruit Trees. George Jacques.
Patents issued on chemical fertilizers: guano and sulfate of ammonia.
Mixed chemical fertilizers sold commercially in the U.S..

(source: http://www.gardendigest.com/timel19.htm#Start )

Post by **TriciaG** » February 20th, 2009, 8:09 pm

Aside to TriciaG, what I meant by combining articles and fiction was in the format of Librivox's short story collection pages on archive.org.
First file would have say me reading the information on carrots and cabbage, then someone else (preferably British) reading something from Beatrix Potter, someone else reading about the cultivation of peaches from The Kitchen Gardener, then my reading (or somebody else's) of Elinor Wylie's poem, and so on.

Yes, I realized what you were describing. I guess it seems weird to me to integrate portions of other works into larger ones like that. It'd be like modifying the main work. Maybe I'm just a purist, LOL!

If the additional works were injected, someone who wants to just listen to the main work itself would have to wade through all the inserts.

But don't mind me if this is something you really want to do. It's my ol' ISTJ personality coming through.

BellonaTimes · Post by **BellonaTimes** » February 21st, 2009, 7:20 am

My intent for a combination page would be more or less a teaser for the actual book. It would also hopefully encourage people to read or download the full audiobooks of the other writers.

I did some research in the archive last night using keywords like 'garden', 'potatoes', 'fruit' and 'corn' and found these literary references; excuse the typos, this is how these books were optically scanned:

North of the house, the road from Deane to Pop-
ham Lane ran at a sufficient distance from the front
to allow a carriage drive, through turf and trees. On
the south side the ground rose gently, and was occu-
pied by one of those old-fashioned gardens in which
vegetables and flowers are combined, flanked and
protected on the east by one of the thatched mud
walls common in that country, and overshadowed by
fine elms. Along the upper or southern side of this
garden, ran a terrace of the finest turf, which must
have been in the writer's thoughts when she described
Catharine Morland's childish delight in ' rolling down
the green slope at the back of the house.'
(from A Memoir of Jane Austen, Chap 11 Description of Steventon 1882)

One house would pride itself on its ham, another on
its game-pie, and a third on its superior furmity, or
tansey-pudding. Beer and home-made wines, espe-
cially mead, were more largely consumed. Veget-
ables were less plentiful and less various. Potatoes
were used, but not so abundantly as now ; and there
was an idea that they were to be eaten only with
roast meat. They were novelties to a tenant's wife
who was entertained at Steventon Parsonage, cer-
tainly less than a hundred years ago ; and when Mrs.
Austen advised her to plant them in her own garden,
she replied, ' No, no ; they are very well for you
gentry, but they must be terribly costly to rear!
(ibid, page 30)

I like this. You get an idea of how people were living at the time of the Family Kitchen Gardener. Buist says that it was the result of 30 years practical knowledge from his own experience.

Delaford is a nice
place, I can tell you; exactly what I call a nice
old-fashioned place, full of comforts and con-
veniences; quite shut in with great garden walls
that are covered with the best fruit-trees in the
country ; and such a mulberry tree in one corner !
Lord! how Charlotte and I did stuff the only
time we were there! (from Austen's Sense & Sensibility)

In a Word, I gave them every Part of my own Story;
and I told them, I would prevail with the Captain to leave
them two Barrels of Gun-Powder more, and some Garden-
Seeds, which I told them I would have been very glad of;
also I gave them the Bag of Pease which the Captain had
brought me to eat, and bade them be sure to sow and
encrease them. (Daniel DeFoe, Robinson Crusoe, page 287
http://www.archive.org/stream/robinsoncrusoe00defogoog/robinsoncrusoe00defogoog_djvu.txt )

I carefully sav'd the Ears of this Com, you may be
sure, in their Season, which was about the End of June;
and laying up every Corn, I resolv'd to sow them all
again, hoping in time to have some Quantity sufficient
to supply me with Bread ; but it was not till the 4th Year
that I could allow myself the least Grain of this Corn to
eat, and even then but sparingly, as I shall say afterwards
in its Order ; for I lost all that I sow'd the first Season, by
not observing the proper Time ; for I sow'd it just before
the dry Season, so that it never came up at all, at least,
not as it would ha' done : Of which in its Place.

Besides this Barley, there was, as above, 20 or 30
Stalks of Rice, which I preserv*d with the same Care,
and whose Use was of the same Kind or to the same
s^; Purpose, (z//>.) to make me Bread, or rather Food ; for I
found ways to cook it up without baking, tho' I did that
also after some time. But to return to my Journal.
(ibid, pg 79)

The rainy Season, and the dry Season, began now to
appear regular to me, and I learnt to divide them so, as
to provide for them accordingly. But I bought all my
•Experience before I had it ; and this I am going to relate,
was one of the most discouraging Experiments that I
made at all ; I have mentioned that I had sav'd the few
Ears of Barley and Rice, which I had so surprizingly
found spring up, as I thought, of themselves, and believe
there were about thirty Stalks ofRice, and about twenty
of Barley ; and now I thought it a proper Time to sow it
after the Rains, the Sun being in its Southern Position
going from me.

Accordingly I dug up a Piece of Ground as well as I
•could with my wooden Spade, and dividing it into two
Parts, I sow'd my Grain ; but as I was sowing, it casually
occur* d to my Thoughts, That I would not sow it all at
first, because I did not know when was the proper Time
for it ; so I sow'd about two Thirds of the Seed, leaving
about a Handful of each.

It was a great Comfort to me afterwards, that I did
so, for not one Qrain of that I sow*d this Time came to
any Thing; for the dry Months following, the Earth
having had no Rain after the Seed was sown, it had no
Moisture to assist its Growth, and never came up kt all,
till the wet Season had come again, and then it grew as if
it had been but newly sown.

Finding my first Seed did not grow, which I easily
imagined was by the Drought, I sought for a moister
Piece of Ground to make another Trial in, and I dug up
a Piece of Ground near my new Bower, and soVd the
rest of my Seed in February^ a little before the Vernal
Equinox; and this having the rainy Months of March
and April to water it, sprung up very pleasantly, and
yielded a very good Crop ; but having Part of the Seed
left only, and not daring to sow all that I had, I had but
a small Quantity at last, my whole Crop not amounting
to above half a Peck of each kind.

But by this Experiment I was made Master of my
Business, and knew exactly when the proper Season was
to sow; and that I might expedl two Seed Times, and
two Harvests every Year. (ibid, pgs 206-207)

from THE PEASANT'S CONFESSION

I hid him deep in nodding rye and oat

His shroud green stalks and loam ;
His requiem the corn-blade's husky note

And then I hastened home. . . .

(Thomas Hardy, pg 40 http://www.archive.org/stream/worksofthomashar01harduoft/worksofthomashar01harduoft_djvu.txt )

There is a story of a Dorset vicar who was
explaining to his flock the meaning of miracles.
He saw that his hearers were dull and inattentive,
and did not seem to grasp what he was saying, so
he pointed to an old rascal of a villager who always
lived riotously yet never toiled, and said in a loud
voice : " I will tell you what a miracle is. Look
at old Jan Domeny, he hasn't an apple-tree in
his garden, and yet he made a barrelful of cider
this October. There's a miracle for you."
(from 'Thomas Hardy's Dorset' by R. Thurston Hopkins [1922])

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » February 23rd, 2009, 7:55 am

The Family Kitchen Garden is wonderful!

Gardening is one of my passions too. I am currently working on recording the (modern) book Organic Gardener's Composting by Steve Solomon (Project thread). I'm definitely interested in working on more gardening books as well =)

Illiterati · Post by **Illiterati** » February 23rd, 2009, 8:29 am

I found I just could not stop reading this. Great confrontational style, where the author just tells like it was a fact what is great and what not: http://www.archive.org/details/landscapegardeni00kempuoft

I

BellonaTimes · Post by **BellonaTimes** » February 23rd, 2009, 4:59 pm

thistlechick wrote:The Family Kitchen Garden is wonderful!

Gardening is one of my passions too. I am currently working on recording the (modern) book Organic Gardener's Composting by Steve Solomon (Project thread). I'm definitely interested in working on more gardening books as well =)

I like the fact that the Solomon book is from the 1990's. How does it compare to Buist's work in terms of the gardening styles?

I got my interest in gardening from my late mother, who turned an acre and 1/2 of land -- our family homestead -- into a virtual oasis of towering oak trees and masses of azaleas. Sad to say that since she passed on (Summer of 2007) the garden is not as pretty as it once was. I just don't have her green fingers, especially when it comes to the constant care she gave it every morning. Up and out there at daybreak weeding, watering, pruning, etc She learned how to do this from her grandfather, as she spent the first 11 years of her life living on an island off the coast of Honduras. My sister however recently became a master gardener; she lives in the desert southwest but manages to grow an abundance of vegetables every year. So this project is more or less dedicated to them.

Biggi · Post by **Biggi** » February 24th, 2009, 2:21 am

I promised to read the german names of the plants.
So here they are.
Feel free to laugh a bit on my english pronunciation.

I read the english name first and then the german. Sometimes I added the plants name which is used today.
Many of the names are antiquated. Some I never heard of.
The text file contains the plants names in the order I read them and with corrected german spelling.

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/xx/gardenplants.mp3
http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/xx/gartenpflanzen.txt

I hope this helps.

BellonaTimes · Post by **BellonaTimes** » February 24th, 2009, 5:22 pm

Biggi wrote:I promised to read the german names of the plants.
So here they are.
Feel free to laugh a bit on my english pronunciation.
I read the english name first and then the german. Sometimes I added the plants name which is used today.
Many of the names are antiquated. Some I never heard of.
The text file contains the plants names in the order I read them and with corrected german spelling.

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/xx/gardenplants.mp3
http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/xx/gartenpflanzen.txt

I hope this helps.

Thank you! Very nice. I especially liked the German for the herb Tansy. You put that sort of glottal accent on 'Rhine' that reminds me of Yiddish, which is one of my favorite dialects. My father particularly liked Borscht-Belt comics and gave me a book by Leo Rosten, The Joys of Yiddish, when I was a teenager so I could understand the references. My favorite word in Yiddish is meeskite, which is actually a rather rude one.

Biggi · Post by **Biggi** » February 25th, 2009, 1:34 am

Oh, I spoke Rheinfarn very articulated.
In a normal sentence in everyday life it would be more mumbled I think.

I don't know much about Yiddish, only that we use quite a lot yiddish based words in German. Most of them without knowing that they are Yiddish.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_deutscher_W%C3%B6rter_aus_dem_Hebr%C3%A4ischen

Post by **ColleenMc** » September 1st, 2018, 4:37 pm

Family Kitchen Gardener is in the catalog:

https://librivox.org/the-family-kitchen-gardener-by-robert-buist/

The other books further down on this thread are still up for grabs!