THE READER’S GUIDE
TO THE
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
A HANDBOOK CONTAINING SIXTY-SIX COURSES OF SYSTEMATIC STUDY OR
OCCASIONAL READING
THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA COMPANY, Limited
London
THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA COMPANY
New York
Copyright in the United States of America, 1913,
by
The Encyclopaedia Britannica Company
INTRODUCTION
In your ordinary use of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, you give your
attention to the _one_ article that will answer the _one_ question you
have in your mind. The aim of this Guide is to enable you to use the
Britannica for an altogether different purpose, namely, for systematic
study or occasional reading on any subject.
The volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica contain forty-four million
words—as much matter as 440 books of the ordinary octavo size. And the
subjects treated—in other words, the whole sum of human knowledge—may be
divided into 289 separate classes, each one completely covering the
field of some one art, science, industry or other department of
knowledge. By the mere use of scissors and paste the alphabetical
arrangement of the articles could be done away with, and the Britannica
could be reshaped into 289 different books containing, on the average,
about half as much again as an ordinary octavo volume. It would
misrepresent the Britannica to say that you would then have 289
_text-books_, because there is an essential difference in tone and
purpose. A text-book is really a book intended to be used under the
direction and with the assistance of a teacher, who explains it and
comments upon it. The Britannica, on the other hand, owes the position
it has enjoyed since the first edition appeared in 1768 to the fact that
it has succeeded, as no other book has succeeded, in teaching without
the interposition of a teacher.
It is not, of course, claimed that the idea of reading certain groups of
Britannica articles in the order in which they will combine themselves
into complete books is a novel invention. Thousands of men owe the
greater part of their educational equipment to a previous edition of the
Britannica. And not only did they lay out their own courses of reading
without the aid of such a Guide as this, but the material at their
disposal was by no means so complete as is the 11th Edition. Every
edition of the Britannica before this one, and every other book of
comparable size previously published, appeared volume by volume. In the
case of the last complete edition before the present, no less than 14
years elapsed between the publication of the first volume and the last.
It is obvious that when editors have to deal with one volume at a time,
and are unable to deal with the work as a whole, there cannot be that
exact fitting of the edges of one article to the edges of another which
is so conspicuously a merit of the 11th Edition. All the articles in
this edition were completed before a single volume was printed, and the
work stood, at one stage of its preparation, in precisely the form
which, as has already been said, might be given to it by merely
rearranging the articles according to their subjects.
In this Guide, the principal articles dealing with the subject of each
chapter are named in the order in which you may most profitably study
them, and the summaries of the larger articles afford such a preliminary
survey as may assist you in making your choice among the courses.
Besides, where it seems necessary, there is added to the chapter a
fairly complete list of all articles in the Britannica on the subject,
so that the reader may make his study exhaustive.
A brief review of the six parts into which the Guide is divided will
show the general features of its plan, of which a more detailed analysis
is given in the Table of Contents.
Part 1 contains 30 chapters, each designed for readers engaged in, or
preparing for, some specific occupation. To the beginner, who still has
everything to learn, the advantages derived from such a course of study
may well be so great as to make the difference between success and
failure in life, and to those who have already overcome the first
difficulties, to whom the only question is how marked a success awaits
them, the Britannica can render invaluable service of another kind. No
amount of technical training and of actual experience will lead a man of
sound judgment to believe that he alone knows everything that all his
competitors put together know; or that his knowledge and theirs is all
that ever will be known. The 1500 contributors in 21 different countries
who wrote the articles in the Britannica include the men who have made
the latest advances in every department of knowledge, and who can
forecast most authoritatively the results to be expected from the new
methods which are now being experimentally applied in every field of
activity. The experienced merchant, manufacturer, or engineer, or the
man who is already firmly established in any other profession or
business, will naturally find in some of the articles facts and figures
which are not new to him, but he can profit by the opportunity to
review, confirm, reconsider and “brush up” his previous knowledge.
Part 2 contains 30 chapters, each devoted to a course of systematic
study designed to supplement, or to take the place of, some part of the
usual school and college curriculum. The educational articles in the
Britannica are the work of 704 professors in 146 universities and
colleges in 21 different countries. No institution of learning in the
world has a faculty so numerous, so authoritative, or so highly
specialized. Nor has any system of home study ever been devised by which
the student is brought into contact with teachers so trustworthy and so
stimulating. The fascination of first-hand knowledge and the pleasure of
studying pages intended not for reluctant drudges submitting themselves
to a routine, but for students eager to make rapid progress, are factors
in the educational value of the Britannica that cannot be overestimated,
and the elasticity with which any selected course of study can be
enlarged and varied is in full accordance with the modern theories of
higher education.
Part 3 is devoted to the interests of children. The first of its
chapters describes Britannica articles of the utmost practical value to
parents, dealing with the care of children’s health, with their mental
and bodily training, and with the intelligent direction of their
pastimes. The second chapter indicates varied readings in the Britannica
for children themselves, showing how their work at school can be made
more interesting and profitable to them by entertaining reading on
subjects allied to those included in their studies. The third chapter in
this Part gives a number of specific questions such as children are
prone to ask, as well as questions which may be put to them in order to
guide their natural inquisitiveness to good purpose. The references to
pages in the Britannica show where these questions are clearly and
instructively answered.
Part 4 suggests readings on questions of the day which relate to
American citizenship and to current politics. A study of the articles
indicated in this section of the Guide will aid the reader not only to
form sound opinions for himself, but also to exercise in private or
public life the influence for good which arises from a clear view of the
arguments on both sides of controverted questions. It is no exaggeration
to say that the Britannica is the only existing work in which such
subjects as tariffs, trusts, immigration, labour and the relation
between legislative and judiciary powers are treated without partisan
bias and with adequate fulness.
Part 5, especially for women, deals with their legal and political
status in various parts of the world, their achievements in scholarship,
art and science, as well as with home-making, domestic science and
kindred subjects. The important part which women, both among the
contributors and on the editorial staff of the Britannica, took in the
preparation of the work sufficiently indicates that the editor-in-chief
made ample provision for the subjects peculiarly within their sphere.
Part 6 is an analysis of the many departments of the Britannica which
relate to recreation and vacations, travel at home and abroad,
photography, motoring, out-door and indoor games and other forms of
relaxation and of exercise. The extent to which the work can be used in
planning motoring tours, and the superiority, in such a connection, of
its articles to the scant information found in ordinary guide books, are
shown in the extracts, included in this Part 6, relating to a trip from
New York through the Berkshire Hills to the White Mountains.
It will be seen from this brief survey of the field covered by the Guide
that provision has been made for every purpose which can dictate the
choice of a course of reading. But as you proceed to examine its
contents for yourself, you should remember that the lists it gives name
only a fraction of the articles in the Britannica, and that for a fuller
summary of the work as a whole you should turn to the Table on pp.
881–947 of Vol. 29.
Finally, the form in which this Guide is printed may call for a word of
justification. It is inevitable that chapters, of an analytical
character, bespattered with references to the numbers of volumes and of
pages, and terminating with lists of the titles of articles, should bear
a certain air of formality. There is no danger that the possessor of the
Britannica, familiar with the fascination of its pages and the beauty of
the illustrations which enhance their charm would permit his impression
of the work itself to be affected by the bleak appearance of the Guide.
But he may feel that because a list has a forbidding aspect the pleasure
he has derived from browsing at will in the Britannica would give place
to a sense of constraint if he rigidly pursued a course of reading. It
may easily be shown that such a fear would be groundless, for the
Britannica articles are all the better reading when one carries forward
the interest which one of them has excited to others of related
attraction. But to anyone who is firmly determined that he shall not be
persuaded to read systematically, the Guide will none the less be
useful, for he may flit from one chapter to another, selecting here and
there an article merely because the account which is given of it pleases
him. Or, better yet, he may find, in one portion only of a selected
course, a series of only three or four articles which will, in
combination, make the best of occasional reading.
THE EDITORS.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I
COURSES OF READING ESPECIALLY USEFUL TO THOSE ENGAGED IN CERTAIN
OCCUPATIONS, OR PREPARING FOR THEM
Page
Chapter 1. For Farmers 3
„ 2. For Stock-Raisers 10
„ 3. For Dairy Farmers 14
„ 4. For Merchants and Manufacturers, General and
Introductory 19
„ 5. Textiles 21
„ 6. Machinery 28
„ 7. Metals, Hardware, Glass and China 33
„ 8. Furniture 39
„ 9. Leather and Leather Goods 44
„ 10. Jewelry, Clocks and Watches 48
„ 11. Electrical Machinery and Supplies 55
„ 12. Chemicals and Drugs 58
„ 13. Food Products 63
„ 14. For Insurance Men 69
„ 15. For Architects 71
„ 16. For Builders and Contractors 79
„ 17. For Decorators and Designers 83
„ 18. For Railroad Men 90
„ 19. For Marine Transportation Men 94
„ 20. For Engineers 100
„ 21. For Printers, Binders, Paper-makers and All who Love
Books 109
„ 22. For Journalists and Authors 117
„ 23. For Teachers 122
„ 24. For Ministers 127
„ 25. For Physicians, Surgeons and Dentists 135
„ 26. For Lawyers 143
„ 27. For Bankers and Financiers 151
„ 28. For Civil Service Men 156
„ 29. For Army Officers 158
„ 30. For Naval Officers 168
PART II
COURSES OF EDUCATIONAL READING TO SUPPLEMENT OR TAKE THE PLACE OF
SCHOOL OR UNIVERSITY STUDIES
Chapter 31. Music 175
„ 32. The Fine Arts, Introductory and General 187
„ 33. Painting, Drawing, Etc. 189
„ 34. Sculpture 198
„ 35. Language and Writing 207
„ 36. Literature, Introductory and General 214
„ 37. American 218
„ 38. English 224
„ 39. German 230
„ 40. Greek 234
„ 41. Bible Study 237
„ 42. History, Introductory and General 246
„ 43. American 248
„ 44. Canadian 270
„ 45. English, Scotch and Irish 272
„ 46. French 278
„ 47. The Far East: India, China, Japan 281
„ 48. Economics and Social Science 288
„ 49. Health and Disease 294
„ 50. Geography and Exploration 300
„ 51. Anthropology and Ethnology 308
„ 52. Mathematics 316
„ 53. Astronomy 322
„ 54. Physics 329
„ 55. Chemistry 334
„ 56. Geology 338
„ 57. Biology, General and Introductory 344
„ 58. Botany 347
„ 59. Zoology 353
„ 60. Philosophy and Psychology 361
PART III
DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF CHILDREN
Chapter 61. Readings for Parents 371
„ 62. Readings for School Children 379
„ 63. Questions Children sometimes ask, and Some Questions
to ask Children 387
PART IV
READINGS ON QUESTIONS OF THE DAY
Chapter 64. 393
Education, Training of Defectives, Psychology
Crime, Juvenile Courts, Alcoholism
Heredity and Eugenics
Wages and Labour, Labour Organization
Immigration, The Negro Problem
Trusts, Finance, Tariff, Banking, Insurance
Socialism and its Tendencies
Initiative, Referendum and Recall, Government by
Commission
Suffrage and the Suffrage Question
International Relations, Peace Arbitration
The Greater United States
PART V
FOR WOMEN
Chapter 65. 411
The many subjects on which Women contributed to the
Britannica
Accomplishments of Women in Scholarship, Art and
Science
Women’s Legal Position in the United States and
elsewhere
Their Disabilities in Great Britain
Home-making, Domestic Science, the Table
Food Preservation and Food Values
Costume and Ornament
Women famous in History and Literature, and on the
Stage
PART VI
READINGS FOR RECREATION AND VACATION
Chapter 66. 425
Motoring, a Specimen Trip: New York to the White
Mountains
Photography
Out-door Games and Athletic Sports
Hunting, Fishing and Taxidermy
Sailing, Canoeing and Boating
Mountaineering and Winter Sports
Driving, Riding, Polo and Horse-racing
Gardening and Plants
In-door Games and Pastimes, Bridge, Needlework
Dancing, the Stage
Travel at Home and Abroad
PART I
COURSES OF READING ESPECIALLY USEFUL TO THOSE ENGAGED IN CERTAIN
OCCUPATIONS OR PREPARING FOR THEM
CHAPTER I
FOR FARMERS
SEE ALSO CHAPTER II, FOR STOCK-RAISERS, CHAPTER III, FOR DAIRY FARMERS
Every farmer in the United States knows that farming is to-day an
industry which calls for study of the world’s agricultural products,
processes, and markets as well as for scientific knowledge of soils,
crops, and animals. Fifty years ago the farmer sold for consumption in
his immediate neighborhood the small surplus of his crops that was not
needed for his own household and live stock. To-day he competes, in all
the world’s great markets, with all the world’s farmers, and is the
chief among American exporters. The Russian wheat fields and the
Argentine cattle ranches are really nearer to him than a farm in the
next township was to his grandfather. He lives better, does more for his
children and pays higher wages than do farmers in other parts of the
world, and yet he can successfully compete with them, because, as the
article on Agriculture in the Encyclopædia Britannica says, in speaking
of the United States, “there is no other considerable country where as
much mental activity and alertness has been applied to the cultivation
of the soil as to trade and manufactures.” American farmers “have been
the same kind of men, out of precisely the same houses, generally with
the same training, as those who filled the learned professions or who
were engaged in manufacturing or commercial pursuits”; and their
competitors abroad have been, for the most part, ignorant peasants. The
course of reading indicated here is designed for wide-awake farmers who
intend to be large farmers—by whom the latest information and the
broadest outlook are recognized as essential to their calling. _If you
think the articles named here cover a great deal of ground, remember
that the Massachusetts Agricultural College provides no less than
sixty-four distinct courses of instruction, and that the subjects
included in all the sixty-four are treated in the Britannica._
GETTING “GROUNDWORK” KNOWLEDGE
You may think, as you look at the titles of articles mentioned in these
pages, that there are some which you need not read because you have
already read bulletins of the United States Department of Agriculture or
of your State Experiment Station. These official publications are most
valuable, but naturally, they do not attempt to cover the whole range of
agricultural subjects as the Britannica does—they are not intended for
that purpose. Their arrangement and the way in which they are issued
shows that they are designed to meet only certain special needs, not to
give a general view of all the branches of farming. One subject may for
example be discussed in three different bulletins, published in three
different years, and the first may be out of print before the third
appears. In the Britannica you get information that forms the very
foundation of a thorough knowledge of farming and that also extends over
the widest field. Of course it would be absurd to say that merely
reading these articles will make any man a successful farmer as to say
that a medical student who works hard at his books will always develop
the tact and the sound judgment that a doctor needs. But unless the
medical student has studied those text books he will never make a
successful doctor; and similarly the information in the Britannica will
give the farmer new advantages, no matter how much practical experience
and special training he has had.
[Sidenote: Scope of the Articles]
There are in the Encyclopædia Britannica 1,186 articles dealing with
animal and vegetable life; and among the 11,341 geographical articles a
great many give important information about the production, distribution
and consumption of farm products. Those upon continents, countries,
states and provinces describe the local crops and any local methods of
farming that are of special interest. _There are some 600 articles on
individual plants_, of which a list will be found on pp. 889 and 890 of
Vol. 29 (the index volume). If any one of these thousands of articles
were not in the Britannica, it would not be quite so valuable as it is
to you, for you may, any day, want to find out about any plant that
grows, or about farming in any part of the world. A professor in an
agricultural college would of course be glad to study the whole series.
But in this Course of Reading only the articles which are of most
immediate use to all practical farmers are mentioned, and the contents
of each of these is described, so that you can omit any article that
goes into details which you think you do not want. If you do skip any of
them, it will, however, be a good plan to mark their titles in this
list, for you may like to come back to them later when you realize how
practical and understandable all the Britannica articles are—even those
with dullsounding names.
Of course you will begin by reading the article AGRICULTURE (Vol. 1, p.
338), by Dr. Fream and Roland Truslove, which is the key to the whole
subject. And remember that this chapter of the Readers’ Guide _mentions
only those subjects that are treated more fully in other parts of the
Britannica than in that article_, so that the chapter does not attempt
to tell the whole story.
[Sidenote: Soil and Subsoil]
The first thing a farmer has to deal with is the ground from which his
crops are to come. The whole surface of the earth was originally hard
rock. The article on PETROLOGY, the science of rocks (Vol. 21, p. 323),
by J. S. Flett, and the second part (Vol. 11, p. 659) of the article
GEOLOGY, by Sir Archibald Geikie, deal with the “weathering” of rock,
which has in great part broken it down into the small particles of stone
that, mixed with decayed roots and plants, form the soil or subsoil. It
may seem that it is going very far back into the origin of things for a
farmer to read about the sources from which soil comes, but the nature
of the mineral substances in it has a great deal to do with its power to
nourish plants, and you cannot know too much about the material on which
your principal work is done. The article which should next be read, SOIL
(Vol. 25, p. 345), continues the story of these particles of rock and
shows how sand and clay must be combined with decaying vegetable or
animal matter in order to make the best soil. This mixture is in turn
“weathered” by air, heat, frost, and moisture; and not only the size of
the grains in which it lies, but also their shape—which makes them pack
more or less tightly—affect the pores, or spaces between the grains,
through which the roots of the plants must push their way, and through
which air and water must reach these roots. The article EARTHWORM (Vol.
8, p. 825) describes the useful part that worms play in stirring the
mixture, while the natural and artificial fertilizers, which supply
whatever ingredients the soil lacks, are discussed in the article
MANURES AND MANURING (Vol. 17, p. 610). An important part of this
article deals with the best methods of keeping farm yard manure in such
a way that it does not lose its value before it is spread over the
fields, and with the use, in this connection, of the liquid-manure tank.
The microbes in the soil render the farmer an enormous service by
changing crude nitrogen, which plants cannot digest, into the forms in
which it is indispensable to them, and this process is described in the
article BACTERIOLOGY (Vol. 3, p. 164), by Professor Marshall Ward,
Professor Blackman, and Professor Muir.
[Sidenote: Sunlight and Shade, Heat and Cold, Water Enough—and Not too
Much]
The action of light, the supply of which is just as necessary in causing
growth as the warmth the sun gives, and the action of water and of heat
and cold, are explained in the section “Physiology” (Vol. 21, p. 745) of
the article on PLANTS. The proper method of working each farm, with a
view to using these four in the right proportions, is influenced by the
latitude in which it lies, its height above sea level, the protection
that mountains give it, the slope at which the fields face the sun or
turn away from it, the rain-fall, the relative dampness or dryness of
the air when it is not raining, and the moisture of the soil. Every one
of these subjects is vital to the farmer, and the Britannica brings to
its readers the latest information regarding them in articles written by
the leaders of progress. You will find the latest scientific guidance,
in the most practical shape, in the articles CLIMATE (Vol. 6, p. 509),
by Professor R. de C. Ward, of Harvard, METEOROLOGY (Vol. 18, p. 264),
by Professor Cleveland Abbe, of the United States Weather Bureau, and
ACCLIMATIZATION (Vol. 1, p. 114). The distribution of heat in the soil
is described in the article CONDUCTION OF HEAT (Vol. 6, p. 893), where
the diagram showing variations of temperature at different depths in the
soil should be carefully studied.
[Sidenote: Drainage and Irrigation]
The brackish water that troubles farmers near tidal creeks, the alkali
water that often occurs West of the Mississippi, and the stagnant water
that never does the farm any good, are all as bad in their way as the
river-floods or the merely sodden soil in which nothing will grow but
coarse grass that is always unsafe pasturage. Drains and embankments
need very careful planning, and sound information will be found in the
articles DRAINAGE OF LAND (Vol. 8, p. 471), RECLAMATION OF LAND (Vol.
22, p. 954), and RIVER ENGINEERING (Vol. 23, p. 374), the latter by
Professor L. F. Vernon H. Harcourt, the leading authority on such
subjects the world over.
The saving of water and the method of bringing it to the farm and
distributing it over the fields are authoritatively discussed in the
articles IRRIGATION (Vol. 14, p. 841), WATER SUPPLY (Vol. 28, p. 387),
by G. F. Deacon, WINDMILL (Vol. 28, p. 710), PUMP (Vol. 22, p. 645), and
in the section headed “Utility of Forests” (Vol. 10, p. 646) of the
article FORESTS AND FORESTRY, by Gifford Pinchot, formerly U. S. Chief
Forester. The other parts of this article, dealing with the timber
industry, are of course important to farmers whose land includes any
lumber. WATER RIGHTS (Vol. 28, p. 385) explains the laws which regulate
the taking of water from streams and lakes, and the article LAKE (Vol.
16, p. 86) is also of interest in connection with irrigation.
[Sidenote: Farm Buildings and Fences]
When the farmer, who has to be everything by turns, has been an engineer
long enough to get the water off his farm or on his farm—and perhaps he
has to do both in different parts of the same farm—he must next take on
the builder’s job. He will be reminded of a good many precautions and
economies that are often overlooked, and may find, too, some hints that
are quite new to him, in the excellent series of articles, all by
experts in the building trade: FARM BUILDINGS (Vol. 10, p. 180),
BUILDING (Vol. 4, p. 762), FOUNDATIONS (Vol. 10, p. 738), BRICKWORK
(Vol. 4, p. 521), STONE (Vol. 25, p. 958), MASONRY (Vol. 17, p. 841),
TIMBER (Vol. 26, p. 978), CARPENTRY (Vol. 5, p. 386), and ROOFS (Vol.
23, p. 697). The use of concrete for buildings, tanks, irrigation works,
etc., has proved so successful, and is so rapidly increasing, that you
will be especially interested by the article CONCRETE (Vol. 6, p. 835).
BARBED WIRE (Vol. 3, p. 384), in which the meshed field fencing, of late
increasing in favor, is also dealt with, is another practical article.
[Sidenote: Agricultural Machines]
Advertisers no doubt supply you with more literature about farm
machinery than you find time to read, but that makes it all the more
essential to get sound information that has no trade bias. The
Britannica goes into the principles of construction and helps you to see
the good and bad points in the new models you are constantly offered.
You can learn a great deal from the articles PLOUGH (Vol. 21, p. 850),
HARROW (Vol. 13, p. 27), CULTIVATOR (Vol. 7, p. 618), HOE (Vol. 13, p.
559), and the sections on machines in the articles HAY (Vol. 13, p.
106), REAPING (Vol. 22, p. 944), SOWING (Vol. 25, p. 523) and THRASHING
(Vol. 26, p. 887). OIL ENGINE (Vol. 20, p. 35), WATER MOTORS (Vol. 28,
p. 382) and TRACTION (Vol. 27, p. 118) are also of importance.
Farm horses and the other live-stock required in general farming fall
under Chapter II of this Guide.
[Sidenote: Farm Finance]
You cannot read the articles already mentioned, and consider all that
has to be done in merely getting a farm ready to be worked, without
realizing how grossly unfair it is that the American farmer should be
hampered, as he is, by the want of proper banking facilities when he is
making a start. And after he has bought and prepared his land and
equipped and stocked his farm he needs, each year, money to finance his
crops. For any loan used in the purchase of land and in permanent
improvements such as buildings, drainage, irrigation, a mortgage is the
natural security; but the short-term farm mortgages—five years at
most—customary in the United States, do not give the farmer as much time
as he needs for repayment, no matter how successful he may be. The
average farm offers quite as good a certainty of continued earning power
as does the average railroad, and farm mortgages should be—in
fairness—regarded not as opportunities for short loans, but as sound
standing investments, just as suitable as railroad bonds for
conservative investors. The farmer’s position is even worse when he
needs a short loan that he will be able to repay as soon as his crops
have been sold, for he is then expected either to give a mortgage as
security or to pay exorbitant interest.
Notwithstanding the prosperous conditions of farming in the United
States, the country as a whole produces only half as much grain for
every acre of farm land as is produced in Europe, and the only reason is
that most of our farmers lack the capital needed in order to get the
fullest yield from their land. In the chief European countries, the
system of banking facilities for farmers, described in the article
CO-OPERATION (Vol. 7, p. 86), by Aneurin Williams, shows what can be
done, and sooner or later will be done, in the United States. This
article fully describes the admirable Raiffeisen banks in Germany, which
are based upon the idea that a society of farmers (restricted to the
neighborhood, so that each member’s honesty and capability are known to
the other members) make themselves jointly responsible for loans to the
members. A promissory note is the only security required. The French,
Italian, Austrian, and other systems are also discussed in the
Britannica, but the German plan is that which offers the best example to
America.
[Sidenote: Plants and Crops]
This course of reading has now covered the conditions and the material
required for farming, and it is time to get down to something that
_grows_. In the old books everything about the life of a plant was
treated as a part of the science of botany, and if you remember the
botany you were taught at school, you remember a string of long names
and very little else. There is of course an article on botany in the
Britannica, but it deals chiefly with the history of botanical science,
and the life of the plant is treated under another heading, and in a
novel, interesting, and practical way. The article PLANTS (Vol. 21, p.
728) is indeed one of the most important and unusual in the
Encyclopædia, giving the results of recent investigation which you could
not find in any other book. It is written by eight contributors, all men
who have done a great deal of original work. The section on classes of
plants is by Dr. Rendle, that on the anatomy of plants by A. G. Tansley,
that on the healthy life of plants by Professor J. Reynolds Green, that
on their diseases by Professor H. Marshall Ward, that on the relation
between plants and their surroundings by Dr. C. E. Moss, that on plant
cells by Harold Wager, that on the forms and organs of plants by
Professor S. H. Vines, and that on the distribution of plants in various
parts of the world by Sir. W. Thiselton-Dyer. Special accounts of the
chief parts of the plant are given in the articles LEAF (Vol. 16, p.
322), STEM (Vol. 25, p. 875), and ROOT (Vol. 23, p. 712). The success of
artificial fertilization or impregnation is explained (Vol. 13, p. 744)
in the article HORTICULTURE.
Apart from the diseases described in the section, already mentioned, of
the article PLANTS, the greatest danger to which crops are exposed is
that of insect pests, and the special article ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY,
dealing with them (Vol. 8, p. 896), gives a full account of each of the
remedies that have proved useful. The cotton boll weevil is the subject
of a most interesting section of the article COTTON (Vol. 7, p. 261).
Separate articles are devoted to individual pests, such as LOCUST (Vol.
16, p. 857), and—turning to a larger enemy—RABBIT (Vol. 22, p. 767).
There is no bird that troubles the farmer, or helps him by killing
insects, upon which there is not an article, for more than 200 distinct
bird articles are listed under the heading “Birds” on p. 891 of Vol. 29
(the index volume), in addition to the information in the article BIRD
(Vol. 3, p. 959), and the article on families of birds (Vol. 20, p.
299).
The crops of all climates are treated in general in the article
AGRICULTURE, and in particular under their individual names, all of
which are so familiar, and indeed so fully listed on p. 889 of Vol. 29
(the index volume), that they need not be repeated here. Naturally you
will include in this course of reading the crops with which you are
personally concerned, and in any case you ought to read GRASS AND
GRASSLAND (Vol. 12, p. 367), and GRASSES (Vol. 12, p. 369).
[Sidenote: Wheat]
The article WHEAT (Vol. 28, p. 576) deals with one of the chief products
of “the greatest cereal producing region of the world.” It begins the
story of a wheat crop with the burning of the old straw of the previous
year, then takes up ploughing, harrowing, seeding, thrashing, labor in
connection with all these operations, and transportation and marketing.
At this point, the article FLOUR AND FLOUR MANUFACTURE (Vol. 10, p.
548), by G. F. Zimmer, takes up the later history of wheat. It may
surprise you to learn from the Britannica that wheat first found its way
to America through a few grains being accidentally mixed with some rice.
BARLEY (Vol. 3, p. 405) is an interesting article on the grain that is
the oldest cereal food of the human race, and that is also remarkable
for its power to grow over a greater range of latitude than any other
grain. COTTON (Vol. 7, p. 256), by Professor Chapman, is an article of
which the vast importance may be judged by the following table taken
from page 261:
[Illustration: PRODUCTS FROM A TON OF COTTON SEED]
Cotton seed, 2000 pounds
+------+----------------------+----------
| | |
| Linters, 23 pounds |
| ------------------ |
Meats, 1090 pounds Hulls, 888 pounds
-----+---------+-- +------+-------+----
| | | | |
Cake, 800 pounds| | | |
---+------------+ | | |
| | | | |
Meal | | | |
---------------------------+ | | |
(Feeding stuff. Fertilizer)| Fibre | | Bran
---------------------------+ ---+---+ | -+--
| | | |
| --------+----------+-------+------
Crude Oil, 290 pounds (High-grade paper) | (Cattle food)
----+----------+----- -------------------+--------------
| | |
Summer Yellow |Soap stock (Fuel) |
+-------+------------- +----+----- --+--------+--------------+
|(Winter|Cotton seed | | |
|yellow | stearin) Soaps Ashes -------+-----
+-------+----------- ----- --+-- (Cattle food)
| | with the meal
| | |
| Salad oil | |
+-------------------- | |
| Summer white Fertilizer |
+----+--------------- These together,
|Lard| a very valuable
+----+ manure
|Cottolene (with beef stearin, cooking oil)
+------------------------------------------
|Miners’ oil
+-----------
|Soap
+----
Every one of the other cereal and general crops produced in any part of
the world is treated in the Britannica with the same fullness of
information and with the same practical detail which characterizes these
articles on wheat, barley and cotton.
Some of the principal articles on the routine of farming such as sowing,
reaping, and the like, have already been mentioned in connection with
agricultural machinery. The articles on individual countries contain
sections on the crops of each of them, and you will find CANADA (Vol. 5,
p. 152), and GERMANY (Vol. 11, p. 810), of special interest. The special
features of tropical farming are described in the articles on tropical
crops.
[Sidenote: Fruit and Flower Growing]
The article FRUIT AND FLOWER FARMING (Vol. 11, p. 260) covers fruit
culture in general, and, in the section of it which deals with the
United States (Vol. 11, p. 268), the American fruit crops. This section
describes the wonderful development of the fruit industry since cold
transportation and cold storage enabled consumers in every part of the
country, and in Europe as well, to purchase fruit grown in whatever
state most advantageously produces any one variety. You should select,
from the twenty separate articles on individual fruits, not only those
on the varieties which you are already growing, but those on any others
that are possible in the part of the country where your land lies. The
section on fruit in the article on HORTICULTURE (Vol. 13, p. 775) is
devoted to growing on a smaller scale, in gardens. It contains (Vol. 13,
p. 780) a practical calendar to show each month’s work.
Flower culture is the subject of special sections in both the articles
above named and there is a descriptive list (Vol. 13, p. 766) of more
than three hundred hardy annuals, biennials, and perennials, full of
practical information. The calendar already mentioned indicates the
dates for indoor and out-door operations. From the many articles on
individual flower plants listed at the end of Part 3 of this chapter you
can make your own choice.
[Sidenote: Poultry and Bees]
Poultry and their rearing are dealt with in the articles POULTRY AND
POULTRY FARMING (Vol. 22, p. 213), FOWL (Vol. 10, p. 760), TURKEY (Vol.
27, p. 467), GUINEA FOWL (Vol. 12, p. 697), DUCK (Vol. 8, p. 630), GOOSE
(Vol. 12, p. 241), and INCUBATION and INCUBATORS (Vol. 14, p. 359).
Bee-keeping and the honey industry are treated in the articles BEE (Vol.
3, p. 625) and HONEY (Vol. 13, p. 653). Truck farming is treated in the
section dealing with vegetables (Vol. 13, p. 776), of the article
HORTICULTURE. Apart from the law as to water rights already mentioned
the legal doctrine most particularly affecting farmers is that of
EMBLEMENTS (Vol. 9, p. 308). GRAIN TRADE (Vol. 12, p. 322), and
GRANARIES (Vol. 12, p. 336), the latter describing the latest type of
grain elevators, are articles of great interest to farmers who
specialize in cereal crops.
The new system of purchase of grain by the government, which is working
admirably in Western Canada, protects the farmer against the speculators
who buy standing crops for less than a fair price, and it is to be hoped
that some similar plan may be adopted in the United States.
ECONOMICS (Vol. 8, p. 899), by Professor Hewins, CO-OPERATION (Vol. 7,
p. 82), and TARIFF (Vol. 26, p. 422), deal with topics related to the
marketing of all agricultural products. The articles on learned
societies have an extensive section (Vol. 25, p. 317) on the
agricultural societies of all countries.
[Sidenote: The History of Farming]
Agricultural history is, naturally, based upon the history of vegetable
life, and the fossil plants described in the article PALÆOBOTANY (Vol.
20, p. 524), long as their appearance preceded that of man, greatly
affected the nature of the earth’s crust which he was to occupy.
The earliest of all known writings, the Code of Khammurabi, described in
the article on Babylonian Law, shows (Vol. 3, p. 117) that agriculture
was the subject of careful legislation under the oldest government of
which a contemporary record has survived; and the provisions as to the
working of land on the “metayer” system, under which the landowner
received from the landholder a share of the crops, and as to irrigation,
are most explicit and practical. Ancient Egyptian implements of
agriculture are fully described (Vol. 9, p. 69) in the article EGYPT,
and pictures of them appear on page 72 of the same volume. If the
ancient history of farming interests you, it is only necessary for you
to turn to the heading “Agriculture,” in the Index (Vol. 29), where you
will find references to a number of other articles on the early
civilizations.
From these articles, as from the historical section of the guiding
article AGRICULTURE, and the passages relating to agriculture in many of
the 6,292 articles on the histories of races and countries, the reader
may learn that agriculture has been the key to all history. The earliest
migrations of the human race, as definitely as the comparatively recent
development of America, Australasia and the interior of Africa, were
based upon an agricultural impetus. And his reading upon other subjects
in the Encyclopædia Britannica will often remind him that the wool and
cotton and linen and leather that we wear, the carpets and blankets and
sheets in our houses, all originated in farming of one kind or another;
while every food that nourishes us, save fish and game, is directly an
agricultural product. All the bustle of the great cities, all the wheels
that turn in the mills, all the intricate mechanism of industry and
commerce, all the world’s work and thought and happiness, depend upon
the mysterious and inimitable processes by which the brown soil yields
green growth. For all the progress science has made, we are no nearer to
replacing these processes by any short cut of chemistry than were the
first farmers whose husbandry is recorded in history. If all the little
roots ceased for one year to do their work in the dark, the human race
would hopelessly starve to death.
The alphabetical list of articles at the end of Chapter III of this
Guide will make it easy for you to add to this course of reading,
choosing for yourself the line that will be most attractive to you. In
making your choice, do not forget that plant-life is a subject you
cannot study too closely. No matter what crop you make your specialty,
you have to _educate_ the plants that produce it to do their work, just
as carefully as a teacher trains children. Another fact to keep in mind
is that just as a doctor is dealing with organs in the human body which
he cannot see, so you are particularly concerned with the roots down in
the soil, and the more you know about the way they eat and drink, the
better for your farm.
The names of many of the writers of these articles are given in the
table of the 1,500 Contributors to the Britannica, beginning at page 949
of Vol. 29 (the index volume); a glance will show you what authoritative
positions they occupy and how thoroughly they command your confidence.
[_See list of articles on subjects connected with farming, at the end of
Chapter III of this Guide._]
CHAPTER II
FOR STOCK-RAISERS
Stock-raising in the United States was, until quite recent years, under
the evil influence of the careless methods which had been handed down
from the old days of the range-cattle industry. Chicago men still tell
the story of the Chicago banker, afterwards Secretary of the Treasury,
who declared, in reply to a request for a loan on the security of
range-cattle, that he “would as soon lend money on a shoal of mackerel
in the Atlantic Ocean.” The vague possession and the vague methods of
breeding and marketing which suggested this comparison did not form the
habits of close observation and incessant care which became necessary
when land and food began to cost money. The lesson has been learned, and
the present conditions of the industry are infinitely better for the
country at large. It has been proved that fattening as well as breeding
can be successfully undertaken in almost every part of the United
States. Even in the North West, the tendency to-day is to turn from
exclusive grain growing to a combination of cropping and feeding.
Cattle, and also work horses of the right type, for which the demand is
always greater than the supply, are yielding fair profits on many of the
New England farms which had been neglected for years.
[Sidenote: Staying on the Land]
One of the most encouraging features of the present situation is that
the broader distribution of the live-stock industry encourages farm-bred
boys to remain at home. It has long been a popular belief that the
attraction of the cities lies largely in the facilities for amusement
which they offer; but the best class of young men who have left the
farms have done so because they did not believe that plowing and sowing
and reaping gave enough scope for their intelligence and their
initiative. When stock-raising is combined with tillage, there is not
only a greater interest in farm life and a greater chance to make
general knowledge effective, but there are also better opportunities for
a young man to make a small venture of his own while he is still a farm
hand. It is certainly true that stock-raising needs the young man who is
determined to know something about everything and all there is to know
about one thing. To him the articles in the Britannica which are
indicated in this chapter should be of the greatest value, for they
cover a broad range, and they are written by specialists of the highest
authority. They do not profess to teach what can only be learnt in the
course of practical experience, but they will make each day’s work more
interesting and more effective.
[Sidenote: Cattle]
You cannot do better than to begin your reading with the article (Vol.
4, p. 337) on the family of animals to which cattle belong, a family so
varied that it includes so small a creature as the hare, and so large a
one as the rhinoceros. The article CATTLE (Vol. 5, p. 359), by Professor
Wallace and Dr. Fream, begins by reminding you that the idea of cattle
owning has always been so closely associated with the idea of wealth
that the two words “capital” and “cattle” have the same root, and that
our word “pecuniary” is taken from the Latin term for cattle. This
article, illustrated with photographs of the best specimens of bulls and
cows of different breeds, deals with Shorthorns, Herefords, Devons,
Holsteins, Dutch Belteds, Sussexes, Longhorns, Aberdeen-Angus, Red
Polleds, Galloways, Highlands, Kerry’s, Dexters, Jerseys and Guernseys,
and has a section on the rearing of calves. OX (Vol. 20, p. 398) is
chiefly about the origin of domestic cattle. AGRICULTURE (Vol. 1, p.
388) contains information of a more general kind as to practical
stock-raising. The best methods of mating are described fully in BREEDS
and BREEDING (Vol. 4, p. 487), VARIATION and SELECTION (Vol. 27, p.
906), and HEREDITY (Vol. 13, p. 350), by Dr. Chalmers Mitchell.
MENDELISM (Vol. 18, p. 115) will tell you all about the theory which is
nowadays the great subject of discussion among experts in breeding.
EMBRYOLOGY (Vol. 9, p. 314), by Dr. Hans Driesch, and REPRODUCTION (Vol.
23, p. 116), by Professor Vines, contain the results of the latest
investigations, and the article SEX (Vol. 24, p. 747) describes the
recent experiments undertaken with the hope that breeders may at some
future time be enabled to vary at will the proportion of males and
females. TELEGONY (Vol. 26, p. 509) gives you the evidence for and
against the belief that offspring are influenced by a previous mate of
the dam. FOOD PRESERVATION (Vol. 10, p. 612) and REFRIGERATING (Vol. 23,
p. 30) cover the cold shipping and cold storage of beef. LEATHER (Vol.
16, p. 330), by Dr. J. G. Parker, one of the foremost technical experts
on this subject, follows hides through the market to their final
distribution and industrial uses.
[Sidenote: Horses and Mules]
Notwithstanding the harm that trolley cars and automobiles and
mechanically propelled agricultural machines have done to important
branches of the horse business, and notwithstanding the competition
which American exporters find in Europe from the Argentine ranches,
there is still an active market for farm horses and for stock suited to
trucking and light delivery work in cities. You no doubt find, in
whatever part of the United States your interests lie, that you need to
watch the market very closely, and that you must always be ready to
change your plans at short notice. But it is to the quick-witted man who
is always prepared to vary his methods that the Britannica offers the
greatest practical services. The article on the horse family in general
(Vol. 9, p. 720) is very interesting, but you will give more time to the
elaborate article HORSE (Vol. 13, p. 712), by Richard Lyddeker, E. D.
Brickwood, Sir William Flower, and Professor Wallace. The illustrations
are unusually valuable, for instead of following the usual custom of
making all the photographs the same size, the Editors of the Britannica
showed good sense and originality by making each one to scale. The
breeds are separately described, and the sections on feeding and
breaking are full of useful hints. The history of the thoroughbred
strain is carefully traced, the pedigree of one famous type being shown
in a table naming more than one hundred ancestors. The article
HORSE-RACING (Vol. 13, p. 726), by Alfred Watson, shows how the sport
has influenced breeding, and the description of American trotting goes
back to the day when “Boston Blue,” in 1818, trotted a mile in three
minutes, “a feat deemed impossible” at that period! The English race
meetings, in which American owners and jockeys now play so conspicuous a
part, are described in special sections, as well as the training at
Newmarket. RIDING (Vol. 23, p. 317), and DRIVING (Vol. 8, p. 585), are
by practical experts, and TRACTION (Vol. 27, p. 118) contains an
interesting table analyzing the draft power of the horse. The section on
Arab horses in the article ARABIA (Vol. 2, p. 261) should be read, for
it adds to the information, in the articles already named, on the breed
that has influenced every variety of horse. MULE (Vol. 18, p. 959) will
tell you about the varieties not only in the United States and Mexico,
but also in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt,
Algeria and North China. The section on Hybrids (Vol. 13, p. 713) of the
article HORSE deals with all the attempts that have been made to get a
perfect type of mule by introducing various strains of blood.
[Sidenote: Sheep and the Wool Market]
SHEEP (Vol. 24, p. 817) contains separate descriptions of the 28 best
breeds, discussing their values both for wool and for the meat trade.
Breeding, feeding, dipping and lambing are fully treated. Sheepdogs and
other breeds useful to the stock-raiser fall under the article DOG (Vol.
8, p. 374). WOOL (Vol. 28, p. 805), by Professor Aldred Barker, is an
article in which you will at once be impressed by the splendid
thoroughness that is characteristic of the Britannica. It goes to the
very foundation of the subject by giving you microscopic photographs, on
a scale of 320 to 1, of each of the six great varieties of wool, and
explaining the structure of the fibres. The article FIBRES (Vol. 10, p.
309) will enable you to compare another microscopic photograph of wool
fibre with similar pictures of silk, flax, cotton, jute, and other
textile materials. The article wool deals next with wool-yolk and
wool-fat, and then goes on to show why greasy wool is better than wool
washed before shearing. Wool classing and sorting are next described,
and then scouring. From this point the treatment of wool hardly comes
within the jurisdiction of the sheep-man, although he cannot know too
much about the qualities of the yarns obtained from different kinds of
wool. It is interesting to note in this article that the first fulling
mill in America was built at Rowley, Mass., in 1643, only thirty-four
years after the first sheep was brought to America, and only
twenty-three years after the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock.
[Sidenote: Pigs and Pork]
The article SWINE (Vol. 26, p. 236) deals with the swine family in
general, and the article PIG (Vol. 21, p. 594), containing a fine
full-page plate, gives a detailed account of the breeds most profitable
on the farm, including the Poland-China, the Berkshire, the Duroc, and
the Chester White. Eleven breeds in all are particularized. The breeding
and fattening of hogs, although it is now successfully followed as a
distinct branch of the live-stock industry, must always remain in great
part a mere branch of general farming; for the pig’s power of thriving
on many kinds of food, enables the farmer to utilize produce that cannot
advantageously be shipped, and to keep his pigs following his cattle
over the fields. Much information will be found all through the article
AGRICULTURE (Vol. 1, p. 388). TRICHINOSIS (Vol. 27, p. 266) deals with a
disease that has sometimes seriously affected the pork market, and been
made the excuse, too, for some very harsh restrictions on American
exportation.
[Sidenote: Diseases and Parasites of Live-stock]
You will find in the Britannica (Vol. 28, p. 6) a very full and clear
account of the diseases of all domestic animals, by Dr. Fleming and
Professor McQueen, with special sections on the maladies of the horse,
of cattle, of sheep, and of pigs, and on the parasites that infest them.
TUBERCULOSIS (Vol. 27, p. 354) calls for special study, for it is a
“disease of civilization” almost unknown among wild animals in their
natural state and among the uncivilized races of mankind. The connection
between the disease in cattle and its spread among human beings is fully
explained in this article. PLEURO PNEUMONIA (Vol. 21, p. 838) deals with
the lung disease from which cattle are the only sufferers, RINDERPEST
(Vol. 23, p. 348), with the infectious fever which affects both cattle
and sheep, and ANTHRAX (Vol. 2, p. 106), with the terribly infectious
carbuncles communicated from cattle and sheep to man by the microbes
carried in wool and hides. GLANDERS (Vol. 12, p. 76) describes the form
in which this disease of horses and mules afflicts human beings, the
symptoms and course of which, in the animals themselves, fall under the
subject of horse diseases (Vol. 28, p. 8). The microbe by which this
disease is carried is shown in the plate facing one of the pages (Vol.
20, p. 770) of the article PARASITIC DISEASES. FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE
(Vol. 10, p. 617) afflicts cattle, sheep, and pigs, and occasionally
human beings.
Among the articles on continents and countries which contain special
information on stock-raising, you should not miss the interesting
general review of the European live-stock industry in the article EUROPE
(Vol. 9, p. 914), the section on live-stock in CANADA (Vol. 5, p. 153),
that in ARGENTINA (Vol. 2, p. 465), in AUSTRALIA (Vol. 2, p. 950), and
in NEW ZEALAND (Vol. 19, p. 627) The history of stock-raising is fully
treated at the beginning of the article AGRICULTURE (Vol. 1, p. 388).
[Sidenote: How to “Even Up”]
When you have read the articles mentioned in the three parts of this
chapter on Farming, do not turn away with the idea that you have got
from the Britannica all that it can give you to help you in your
business. Remember that you have to judge men, as well as live-stock, in
order to succeed, and that general knowledge is of the greatest use in
doing that. The one sure sign of the kind of man you cannot rely upon is
that he talks confidently about subjects of which he really knows
little, and the more you yourself know, the more readily you can detect
the pretentious people who might make you think too well of them.
If you turn over the pages of this guide, and ask yourself, as you
glance at the chapters, in what departments of general knowledge you are
weakest, you will see what courses of reading will do most to make you
an “evened up” man, without any weak threads in your intellectual
texture. And, whatever you read, do not forget that the Britannica is a
book of reference as well as for reading: that you are debasing your
mind every time you leave unanswered any question that comes up in the
course of the day’s work or talk, or while you are reading your
newspaper. A vigorous mind wants an answer whenever it becomes conscious
of a question or of a doubt, and if you fail to feed it with the
information it asks for, it loses health. Now that you have the
Britannica, the food is in the store-room, do not leave it there!
[_See list of articles on subjects connected with stock-raising and
other branches of farming, at the end of Chapter III of this Guide._]