At the beginning of the eighteenth century the Agricultural Revolution revolutionized farming. Centuries-old methods were discarded and widespread improvements were made. One of the most notable changes was the replacement of draught oxen with the more versatile special heavy breeds of horses. The Victorian ingenuity of the Industrial Revolution produced an enormous range of horse-drawn agricultural machinery. Fields had been ploughed by draught animals for centuries, but suddenly new horse-drawn machinery included not just ploughs, but grubbers, cultivators, harrows, rollers, drills, reapers, binders, root lifters, manure spreaders and rakes. This book describes and illustrates these machines, the horses and their harness, inventors and manufacturers and lists the places where the machines can be seen today.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0
Unusable Book - and not for the content. This book might be wrought with ageless wisdom, colorful history and practical horse sense- but who would know! The type is way too small (and my vision is perfect) and the text is too far into the spine. That adds up to one unpleasant reading experience-IF you can even manage the arduous task of trying to read this book. Time for a major reformatting by the publisher.
Packed with info This is a lovely little pocket size book packed with useful information on horse drawn farm machinery. If you've ever wondered how they did it or the difference between a harrow and a harvester this book will tell you. If you've ever thought of taking up farming by horse, this book can help tell you what you need to know. Overall I'd recommend it.