Write a critical analysis

The thesis statement is often (but not always) the last sentence of the introductio- n.

The thesis is a clear position that you will support and develop throughout your paper. This sentence guides your paper.

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E. L. Angeli

Professor Patricia Sullivan

English 624

12 February 2012

Toward a Recovery of Nineteenth Century Farming Handbooks

While researching texts written about nineteenth century farming, I found a few

authors who published books about the literature of nineteenth century farming,

particularly agricultural journals, newspapers, pamphlets, and brochures. These authors

often placed the farming literature they were studying into an historical context by

discussing the important events in agriculture of the year in which the literature was

published (see Demaree, for example). However, while these authors discuss journals,

newspapers, pamphlets, and brochures, I could not find much discussion about another

important source of farming knowledge: farming handbooks. My goal in this paper is to

bring this source into the agricultural literature discussion by connecting three

agricultural handbooks from the nineteenth century with nineteenth century agricultural

history.

To achieve this goal, I have organized my paper into four main sections, two of

which have sub-sections. In the first section, I provide an account of three important

events in nineteenth century agricultural history: population and technological changes,

the distribution of scientific new knowledge, and farming’s influence on education. In the

second section, I discuss three nineteenth century farming handbooks in

connection with the important events described in the first section. Special

attention is paid to the role that these handbooks played in the dissemination of

agricultural knowledge (and the creation of genuinely new knowledge). I end

If your paper is long, you may want to write about how your paper is organized. This will help your readers follow your ideas.

MLA requires double-spacing throughout a document. Do not single- space any part of the document.

Page numbers begin on page 1 and end on the final page. Type your name next to the page number in the header so that it appears on every page.

Your name, the professor's name, the course number, and the date of the paper are double- spaced in 12- point, Times New Roman font. Dates in MLA are written in this order: day, month, and year. Do not abbreviate the month.

Titles are centered and written in 12-point, Times New Roman font. The title is not bolded, underlined, or italicized.

Blue boxes contain directions for writing and citing in MLA style.

Green text boxes contain explanations of MLA style guidelines.

The introduc- tory paragraph, should set the context for the rest of the paper. Tell your readers why you are writing and why your topic is important.

Use personal pronouns (I, we, us, etc.) at your instructor’s discretion.

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When using headings in MLA, title the main sections (Level 2 headers) in a different style font than the paper’s title, e.g., in small caps.

The headings used here follow a three- level system to break the text into smaller sections. The different levels help organize the paper and maintain consistency in the paper’s organization. You may use your own format for headings as long as they are consistent.

with a third section that offers research questions that could be answered in future

versions of this paper and conclude with a fourth section that discusses the importance of

expanding this particular project. I also include an appendix after the Works Cited that

contains images of the three handbooks I examined. Before I can begin the examination

of the three handbooks, however, I need to provide an historical context in which the

books were written, and it is to this that I now turn.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The nineteenth century saw many changes to daily American life with an increase in

population, improved methods of transportation, developments in technology, and the

rise in the importance of science. These events impacted all aspects of nineteenth century

American life (most significantly, those involved in slavery and the Civil War).

However, one part of American life was affected that is quite often taken for granted: the

life of the American farmer.

Population and Technological Changes. One of the biggest changes, as seen in

nineteenth century America’s census reports, is the dramatic increase in population. The

1820 census reported that over 10 million people were living in America; of those 10

million, over 2 million were engaged in agriculture. Ten years prior to that, the 1810

census reported over 7 million people were living in the states; there was no category for

people engaged in agriculture. In this ten-year time span, then, agriculture experienced

significant improvements and changes that enhanced its importance in American life.

One of these improvements was the development of canals and steamboats,

which allowed farmers to “sell what has previously been unsalable [sic]” and resulted in a

If there is a gramma- tical, mechanical, or spelling error in the text you are citing, type the quote as it appears. Follow the error with “[sic].”

The paragraph after the Level 2 headers starts flush left.

Be sure to differen- tiate the Level 3 headers from the Level 2 headers. The paragraph continues directly after the header.

Headings, though not required by MLA style, can help the overall structure and organization of a paper. Use them at your instructor’s discretion to help your reader follow your ideas.

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“substantial increase in [a farmer’s] ability to earn income” (Danhof 5). This

improvement allowed the relations between the rural and urban populations to strengthen,

resulting in an increase in trade. The urban population (defined as having over 2,500

inhabitants) in the northern states increased rapidly after 1820.1 This increase

accompanied the decrease in rural populations, as farmers who “preferred trade,

transportation, or ‘tinkering’” to the tasks of tending to crops and animals found great

opportunities in the city (Danhof 7). Trade and transportation thus began to influence

farming life significantly. Before 1820, the rural community accounted for eighty percent

of consumption of farmers’ goods (Hurt 127). With the improvements in transportation,

twenty-five percent of farmers’ products were sold for commercial gain, and by 1825,

farming “became a business rather than a way of life” (128). This business required

farmers to specialize their production and caused most farmers to give “less attention to

the production of surplus commodities like wheat, tobacco, pork, or beef” (128). The

increase in specialization encouraged some farmers to turn to technology to increase their

production and capitalize on commercial markets (172).

The technology farmers used around 1820 was developed from three main

sources: Europe, coastal Native American tribes in America, and domestic modifications

made from the first two sources’ technologies. Through time, technology improved, and

while some farmers clung to their time-tested technologies, others were eager to find

alternatives to these technologies. These farmers often turned to current developments in

Great Britain and received word of their technological improvements through firsthand

knowledge by talking with immigrants and travelers. Farmers also began planning and

conducting experiments, and although they lacked a truly scientific approach, these

farmers engaged

In-text citations occur after the quote but before the period. The author’s/ authors’ name/s go before the page number with no comma in between.

Insert the footnote after the punctuatio- -n mark that concludes the sentence.

Use endnotes to explain a point in your paper that would otherwise disrupt the flow of the text.

If you cite the same source multiple times in a row, you do not have to repeat the author's last name until you start a cite a different author or start a new paragraph.

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Titles of published works (books, journals, films, etc.) are now italicized instead of underlined.

in experiments to obtain results and learn from the results.2 Agricultural organizations

were then formed to “encourage . . . experimentation, hear reports, observe results, and

exchange critical comments” (Danhof 53). Thus, new knowledge was transmitted orally

from farmer to farmer, immigrant to farmer, and traveler to farmer, which could result in

the miscommunication of this new scientific knowledge. Therefore, developments were

made for knowledge to be transmitted and recorded in a more permanent, credible way:

by print.

The Distribution of New Knowledge. Before 1820 and prior to the new knowledge

farmers were creating, farmers who wanted print information about agriculture had their

choice of agricultural almanacs and even local newspapers to receive information

(Danhof 54). After 1820, however, agricultural writing took more forms than almanacs

and newspapers. From 1820 to 1870, agricultural periodicals were responsible for

spreading new knowledge among farmers. In his published dissertation The American

Agricultural Press 1819-1860, Albert Lowther Demaree presents a “description of the

general content of [agricultural journals]” (xi). These journals began in 1819 and were

written for farmers, with topics devoted to “farming, stock raising, [and] horticulture”

(12). The suggested “birthdate” of American agricultural journalism is April 2, 1819

when John S. Skinner published his periodical American Farmer in Baltimore. Demaree

writes that Skinner’s periodical was the “first continuous, successful agricultural

periodical in the United States” and “served as a model for hundreds of journals that

succeeded it” (19). In the midst of the development of the journal, farmers began writing

handbooks. Not much has been written on the handbooks’ history, aside from the fact that

C.M. Saxton & Co. in New York was the major handbook publisher. Despite the lack of

If you delete words from the original quotation, insert an ellipsis, three periods with a space between and after each one.

Notice how this paragraph begins with a transition. The topic sentence follows the transition, and it tells readers what the paragraph is about. Direct quotes are used to support this topic sentence.

Notice how this paragraph ends with a brief mention of print sources and the next paragraph begins with a discussion of print informa- tion.

Transitions connect paragraphs and unify writing.

Body paragraphs often (but don’t always) have these four elements: a transition, a topic sentence, evidence, and a brief wrap-up sentence.

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information about handbooks, and as can be seen in my discussion below, these

handbooks played a significant role in distributing knowledge among farmers and in

educating young farmers, as I now discuss.

Farming’s Influence on Education. One result of the newly circulating print information

was the “need for acquiring scientific information upon which could be based a rational

technology” that could “be substituted for the current diverse, empirical practices”

(Danhof 69). In his 1825 book Nature and Reason Harmonized in the Practice of

Husbandry, John Lorain begins his first chapter by stating that “[v]ery erroneous theories

have been propagated” resulting in faulty farming methods (1). His words here create a

framework for the rest of his book, as he offers his readers narratives of his own trials and

errors and even dismisses foreign, time-tested techniques farmers had held on to: “The

knowledge we have of that very ancient and numerous nation the Chinese, as well as the

very located habits and costumes of this very singular people, is in itself insufficient to

teach us . . .” (75). His book captures the call and need for scientific experiments to

develop new knowledge meant to be used in/on/with American soil, which reflects some

farmers’ thinking of the day.

By the 1860s, the need for this knowledge was strong enough to affect education.

John Nicholson anticipated this effect in 1820 in the “Experiments” section of his book

The Farmer’s Assistant; Being a Digest of All That Relates to Agriculture and the

Conducting of Rural Affairs; Alphabetically Arranged and Adapted for the United States:

Perhaps it would be well, if some institution were devised, and supported at the

expense of the State, which would be so organized as would tend most effectually

to produce a due degree of emulation among Farmers, by rewards and honorary

distinctions conferred by those who, by their successful experimental efforts and

improvements, should render themselves duly entitled to them.3 (92)

The paragraph ends with a wrap-up sentence, “Despite the lack . . .”, while transi- tioning to the next thought.

Use block quotations when quoted text runs longer than four lines once typed in your paper.

Block quotations begin on a new line, are double- spaced, and are indented half an inch from the margin. Do not add quotation marks not present in the original. The citation information (author name and page number) follows the quote’s end punctua- tion.

Part of Nicholson’s hope was realized in 1837 when Michigan established their state

university, specifying that “agriculture was to be an integral part of the curriculum”

(Danhof 71). Not much was accomplished; however, much to the dissatisfaction of

farmers, and in 1855, the state authorized a new college to be “devoted to agriculture and

to be independent of the university” (Danhof 71). The government became more

involved in the creation of agricultural universities in 1862 when President Lincoln

passed the Morrill Land Grant College Act, which begins with this phrase: “AN ACT

Donating Public Lands to the several States and Territories which may provide Colleges

for the Benefit of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts [sic].” The first agricultural colleges

formed under the act suffered from a lack of trained teachers and “an insufficient base of

knowledge,” and critics claimed that the new colleges did not meet the needs of farmers

(Hurt 193).

Congress addressed these problems with the then newly formed United States

Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA and Morrill Act worked together to form

“. . . State experiment stations and extension services . . . [that] added [to]

. . . localized research and education . . .” (Baker et al. 415). The USDA added to the

scientific and educational areas of the agricultural field in other ways by including

research as one of the organization’s “foundation stone” (367) and by including these

seven objectives:

(1) [C]ollecting, arranging, and publishing statistical and other useful

agricultural information; (2) introducing valuable plants and animals; (3)

answering inquiries of farmers regarding agriculture; (4) testing agricultural

implements; (5) conducting chemical analyses of soils, grains, fruits, plants,

vegetables, and manures; (6) establishing a professorship of botany and

entomology; and (7) establishing an agricultural library and museum. (Baker et

al. 14)

Periods occur before the end quotation mark if the citation information is given already in the sentence.

If a source has three or more authors, use the first author’s last name followed by “et al.”

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These objectives were a response to farmers’ needs at the time, mainly to the need for

experiments, printed distribution of new farming knowledge, and education. Isaac

Newton, the first Commissioner of Agriculture, ensured these objectives would be

realized by stressing research and education with the ultimate goal of helping farmers

improve their operations (Hurt 190).

Before the USDA assisted in the circulation of knowledge, however, farmers

wrote about their own farming methods. This brings me to my next section in which I

examine three handbooks written by farmers and connect my observations of the texts

with the discussion of agricultural history I have presented above.

Note: Sections of this paper have been omitted for the purpose of this sample.

CONCLUSION

From examining Drown’s, Allen’s, and Crozier and Henderson’s handbooks in light of

nineteenth century agricultural history, I can say that science and education seem to have

had a strong influence on how and why these handbooks were written. The authors’ ethos

is created by how they align themselves as farmers with science and education either by

supporting or by criticizing them. Regardless of their stance, the authors needed to create

an ethos to gain an audience, and they did this by including tables of information,

illustrations of animals and buildings, reasons for educational reform, and pieces of

advice to young farmers in their texts. It would be interesting to see if other farming

handbooks of the same century also convey a similar ethos concerning science and

education in agriculture. Recovering more handbooks in this way could lead to a better,

more complete understanding of farming education, science’s role in farming and

education, and perhaps even an understanding of the rhetoric of farming handbooks in

the nineteenth century.

The conclusion “wraps up” what you have been discussing in your paper.

Because this is a Level 2 header, the paragraph is not indented.

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Notes

1. Danhof includes “Delaware, Maryland, all states north of the Potomac and Ohio

rivers, Missouri, and states to its north” when referring to the northern states (11).

2. For the purposes of this paper, “science” is defined as it was in nineteenth

century agriculture: conducting experiments and engaging in research.

3. Please note that any direct quotes from the nineteenth century texts are written

in their original form, which may contain grammar mistakes according to twenty-first

century grammar rules.

Endnotes begin on a new page after the paper but before the Works Cited. Double- space all entries and indent each entry 0.5” from the margin. Use size 12 Times New Roman font.

Center the title “Notes,” using 12-point Times New Roman font.

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Works Cited

Allen, R.L. The American Farm Book; or Compend of American Agriculture; Being a

Practical Treatise on Soils, Manures, Draining, Irrigation, Grasses, Grain,

Roots, Fruits, Cotton, Tobacco, Sugar Cane, Rice, and Every Staple Product of

the United States with the Best Methods of Planting, Cultivating, and Preparation

for Market. Saxton, 1849.

Baker, Gladys L., et al. Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States

Department of Agriculture. [Federal Government], 1996.

Danhof, Clarence H. Change in Agriculture: The Northern United States, 1820-1870.

Harvard UP, 1969.

Demaree, Albert Lowther. The American Agricultural Press 1819-1860. Columbia UP,

1941.

Drown, William, and Solomon Drown. Compendium of Agriculture or the Farmer’s

Guide, in the Most Essential Parts of Husbandry and Gardening; Compiled from

the Best American and European Publications, and the Unwritten Opinions of

Experienced Cultivators. Field, 1824.

“Historical Census Browser.” University of Virginia Library, 2007,

www.mapserver.lib.virginia.edu/. Accessed 6 Dec. 2008.

Hurt, R. Douglas. American Agriculture: A Brief History. Iowa State UP, 1994.

Lorain, John. Nature and Reason Harmonized in the Practice of Husbandry. Carey,1825.

“Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862.” Prairie View A&M, 2003. www.pvamu.edu/

library/about-the-library/history-of-the-library-at-prairie-view/1890-land-grant-

history/. Accessed 6 Dec. 2008.

The Works Cited page begins on a new page. Center the title “Works Cited” without underlining, bolding, or italicizing it. If there is only one entry, title this page “Work Cited.”

If a print source does not list a publisher and you can infer who the publisher is, place the publisher’s name in brackets.

MLA now requires only the publisher, and not the city of publication. The 8th

edition also does not require sources to have a publication marker, (such as “Print”).

The Works Cited page is a list of all the sources cited in your paper.

List the title of the source in quotation marks, and the title of the container in italics, followed by a comma and the date of publication. Since this is an online source, include the URL and date of access.

If a source has three or more authors, only the first one shown in the source is given. It is followed by et al.

MLA now requires URLs (when possible) when citing online sources. Omit “http://” from the address. The date of access is optional, but be sure to include it whenever possible, since online works can be changed or removed at any time.

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Nicholson, John. The Farmer’s Assistant; Being a Digest of All That Relates to

Agriculture and the Conducting of Rural Affairs; Alphabetically Arranged and

Adapted for the United States. Warner, 1820.