Fur Farming

Arthur Robert HardingProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.3

Word count: 199K words
Chapters: 20

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Fur Farming by A. R. HardingAuthor: Harding, A. R. (Arthur Robert), 1871-1930,Language: English, Class: SF: Agriculture: Animal culture, Release Date: Oct 2, 2010

Editor's review

This is a practical English manual on fur farming published in the early twentieth century, distributed free of charge by Project Gutenberg. The author, Harding, wrote widely for farmers and rural readers of his time; this book is aimed at farmers and country readers who hoped to take up fur-animal farming, covering site selection, housing construction, feed management, breeding, and pelt harvesting—a typical practical technical book. Its value lies not in style but in showing the technical level, business thinking, and industry vocabulary of fur farming a century ago; it is useful to researchers of agricultural history and rural economic history and to readers comparing the evolution of farming techniques. Today's readers should note that its methods are clearly limited by their era, and that animal-welfare views and disease-control measures differ greatly from contemporary standards; its practices should not be copied directly. It is suitable as historical material or casual reading, not as a modern farming guide.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying twentieth-century agricultural and rural economic history
General readers interested in the evolution of fur-farming techniques
Collectors of early practical agricultural manuals
Translators or writers who need to understand old industry vocabulary

Not a good fit for

Practitioners looking for a modern guide to fur-animal farming
Readers concerned with contemporary animal welfare and ethics
Those hoping for systematic biology or veterinary knowledge

Reading tips

Read it as a historical text: start with the table of contents to understand the chapter structure, then choose chapters on housing, feed, and breeding.
Note practices that clearly differ from modern standards as you read, to build comparative notes on technical change.
For research, cross-reference with agricultural journals of the same period and modern animal-welfare literature.
The English wording is old-fashioned; look up unfamiliar terms in an agricultural dictionary before continuing to avoid misreading.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can this book directly guide fur farming today?

Direct copying is not recommended. The book was written in the early twentieth century, and its feed formulas, disease control, housing standards, and animal-welfare views differ greatly from contemporary ones; many practices no longer meet current norms. It is better read as material for technical history.

How difficult is the English?

This is a practical manual aimed at ordinary farmers of its time; the sentences are generally plain, but it contains many old agricultural terms and farming jargon, so non-specialist readers may need a dictionary. General English reading ability is enough to grasp the main ideas.

How is the electronic edition best used?

The free electronic text from Project Gutenberg is easy to search and excerpt in full, suitable for finding chapters by topic such as housing, feed, and breeding, and convenient for researchers quoting the original. For systematic reading, take notes to organize chapter key points.

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About the author

Arthur Robert Harding Author · American · 1871–1930

Arthur Robert Harding (1871–1930), commonly known as A. R. Harding, was an American author and publisher born in Gallia County, Ohio. He founded the magazines Hunter-Trader-Trapper and Fur-Fish-Game and ran the A. R. Harding Publishing Company, long engaged in writing and issuing practical books on trapping and outdoor life. Seven of his works are included here, covering wolf and coyote trapping, fox trapping, mink trapping, deadfalls and snares, steel traps, fur farming, and medicinal plants such as ginseng; his representative titles include Wolf and Coyote Trapping and Ginseng and Other Medicinal Plants. Written mostly as how-to guides for hunters, trappers, and fur farmers, these books are plain in style and specific in method, reflecting the practical knowledge demanded by rural life and the fur trade in early twentieth-century America. Public information on the remaining details of his life is limited.