Country Housewife's Handbook

Every part of a working country garden, from the seed beds to the herb patch and the fruit trees to the poultry run, set down in one practical handbook for the person who ran the place.

Gathered from the working knowledge of several hands, The Country Housewife's Handbook covers a whole year on a smallholding. There are chapters on the vegetable and fruit plots, on flowering trees and shrubs, and on the rose, rock, and herb beds; on keeping poultry, ducks, and rabbits; on the apiary; on manures and composts; and on selling what is left over.

What it does that modern guides rarely do is treat the kitchen and the ground outside it as one job: home-made wines and beverages from fruit that would otherwise be wasted, advice that moves between the potting shed and the scullery. Much of it still holds - the rotations, the composting, the small-scale keeping of stock - and it reads now as both a usable manual and a portrait of country life before supermarkets.

This edition features:

• Chapters on the vegetable garden, the fruit garden, and the growing of flowers, roses, and herbs
• Practical guidance on keeping poultry, ducks, and rabbits, and on running a small home apiary
• Methods and recipes for home-made wines and beverages using fruit that would otherwise be wasted
• Notes on manures and composts, and on taking surplus produce to market at a fair price
• A closing set of hints for housewife and gardener, and a full index for quick reference