F. F. Rockwell (1884–1976)

I am working on a review of this 1911 book on gardening. Until that comes together here is a list of contents. The author has a delightful style. The book is available for free at GoogleBooks and for Kindle. The the Kindle version is good, it lacks the pictures and charts.

INTRODUCTION
Why You Should Garden
Requisites of the Home Vegetable Garden
The Planting Plan
Implements and their uses
Manures and Fertilizers
The Soil and Its Preparation

PART TWO --VEGETABLES
Starting the plants
Sowing and Planting
The Cultivation OF Vegetable
The Vegetable and Their Special Needs
Best Varieties OF THE Garden Vegetable
Insects and disease and methods of fighting them
Harvesting and storing

PART THREE -- FRUITS
The Varieties of Pome and Stone Fruits
Planting cultivation filler crops
Pruning spraying harvesting
Berries and Small Fruits
A Calendar of Operations
CONCLUSION

Style::: The author's style is marvelous. In fact, it's one of the best gardening books I've read. On par style-wise with Mel 'Square Foot Gardening' Bartholomew.

Relevance::: I'm adding this section because I think there could be a natural avoidance amongst gardeners to pick up a book this old. After all, the author discusses using horse drawn plows and some equipment I've never heard of.

But let me tell you that I was surprised at how educated his advice is. Mr. Rockwell knows all about the basic chemical elements plants need, and in what proportion. In addition, he knows about chemical fertilizers and why they are inferior to good old horse-poop. And actually if you want to get down to facts, he addresses green-manure and the other sort better than other authors I've read. Thus, I wouldn't be afraid of reading this book. There's things to learn.

Pam T.
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