Can three modern historians survive a whole year working as if they were back in the 19th Century? In the first part of the Victorian farm, the team has to face the harsh realities of winter, as they prepare the farm house for their year-long stay.
The Book of the Farm
by Henry Stephens
Detailing the Labors of the Farmer, Steward, Plowman, Hedger, Cattle-man, Shepherd, Field-worker, and Dairymaid, Volume 1
Replete with instruction and knowledge honed with experience, The Book of the Farm remains one of the finest agricultural guidebooks ever produced.
The 19th century saw the maturation of farming in Western Europe, with intensive methods and efficiencies achieved as never before. Published in the 1840s and successively revised over subsequent decades, this book is a summation of the ingenuity of large-scale agriculture. The production of ever-greater harvests required skill; no longer could any farm be maintained by rudimentary methods taught by example – farming had become a sophisticated, professional discipline reliant upon science and machinery.
Aimed at informing prospective students of farming, this work makes no secret of the difficulty and wits required of the modern farmer. Over 100 illustrations depict the tools required, from hoes and ploughs to the traction steam engines that served as forerunners to the modern tractor. Over 80 charts detail all manner of records: animal and crop weights, their prices on the market, mineral levels present in soil and fertilizer, costs of machinery and day-to-day operations.
In all, The Book of the Farm is both a superb agricultural history and guide, filled with insight and techniques useful even in the modern day.
Vol. 1 https://books.google.pl/books/about/The_Book_of_the_Farm.html?id=938aAAAAYAAJ&redir_esc=y
Vol. 2 https://books.google.pl/books/about/The_Book_of_the_Farm.html?id=i-gDAAAAQAAJ&redir_esc=y
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Dr Nicola Verdon
https://www.shuhistory.com/nicola-verdon
I am an historian of modern Britain, and focus mainly on the social and economic history of rural areas between 1800 and 1950.
I’m particularly interested in women’s and children’s work, family life, poverty and standards of living. Although I’ve been doing more and more work on the 20th century, my heart is still where I began my research career, in the 19th, and my favourite decade is the 1830s.
I’ve published my research widely in academic books and journals but I also really enjoy disseminating it to the wider public, and have worked on some great projects with organisations outside academia, including theatre groups (advising the cast of Warhorse), radio (appearing on BBC’s Open Country) and TV (including filming for Who Do You Think You Are?, The Restoration Man, Victorian Farm, Wartime Farm, Emmerdale at War and Great British Railway Journeys).
Eliza Acton
Modern Cookery for Private Families
Modern Cookery for Private Families is an English cookery book by Eliza Acton. It was first published by Longmans in 1845, and was a best-seller, running through 13 editions by 1853, though its sales were later overtaken by Mrs Beeton. On the strength of the book, Delia Smith called Acton “the best writer of recipes in the English language”,[1] while Elizabeth David wondered why “this peerless writer” had been eclipsed by such inferior and inexperienced imitators.[2]
It was one of the first cookery books to provide lists of ingredients, exact quantities, and cooking times, and to include Eastern recipes for chutneys.
The book was well received on its first appearance; critics thought it the best cookery book they had seen, combining as it did clarity of instructions with excellent organisation. Acton’s recipes and writing style have been admired by cooks including Bee Wilson, Elizabeth David, Delia Smith and Jane Grigson; Clarissa Dickson Wright praises her writing but criticises her increasing conformity to Victorian dullness.
