Bale o' Cotton: The Mechanical Art of Cotton Ginning offers a unique blend of fact and folklore about cotton ginning, the process that takes cotton from the field, separates fibers from seeds, and packages the lint into a bale for shipment to market. It traces the development of the industry, the equipment, and the techniques of this integral facet of American life from its English beginnings in 1793, through its heyday in the American South, to its present technological peak. Out of the long days spent in the gin plant, a rich oral tradition developed, which included a broad sense of general history and an understanding of worldwide markets, an appreciation for the music of the machine (especially the steam engine), legendary individuals, and a folklore based on practical jokes. But the language, traditions, and cultural practices that developed around the cotton gin are now rapidly becoming extinct as modern technology eliminates the risks, inventiveness, and close working relationships between ginners and machines. To document and preserve the memory of this way of life, Karen Gerhardt Britton has collected material from numerous interviews with ginners, inventors, laborers, and historians. The abundance of illustrations and the availability of never-before-published archival material, thanks to the generous cooperation of the ginning industry, make this a valuable and fascinating resource for historians and lay readers alike.

Although over two thirds of the Earth's surface is covered by water, more than 97% is ocean water which is too salty for human use or even for irrigation. Consequently, the freshwater is only 3% and almost 1% of the available freshwater is liquid surface water that can be used directly by humans. The rest is groundwater and iced water. Yet still, freshwater is considered to be one of the most abundant resources on earth. In the agriculture sector only, over two-thirds of the available freshwater is used for irrigation. This book focuses on the technology, management and efficiency of drip irrigation.

The fall of the New Order government in 1998 and the political reform that followed posed substantial challenges for Indonesia's bureaucracy to continue fulfilling its mandate. This book analyses the process of bureaucratic reform in the irrigation sector. Using irrigation Management Transfer policy as the entry point for analysis, it documents and analyses the irrigation bureaucracy's ability to sustain its power and prominence in the sector's development, amidst and against national and international pressures for reform. The book argues that bureaucratic reform in the irrigation sector rather than attempting to change the bureaucracy's functioning in the image of national and global (good) governance perspectives and priorities, should instead focus on linking the irrigation bureaucracy's everyday practice more effectively with farmers' needs and aspirations. Reform efforts of the past decades show that Indonesia's irrigation sector development cannot be redirected without the irrigation bureaucracy's knowledge, experience and cooperation, and without strengthening its downward accountability to farmer-irrigators.

The comprehensive and compact presentation in this book is the perfect format for a resource/textbook for undergraduate students in the areas of Agricultural Engineering, Biological Systems Engineering, Bio-Science Engineering, Water Resource Engineering, and Civil & Environmental Engineering. This book will also serve as a reference manual for researchers and extension workers in such diverse fields as agricultural engineering, agronomy, ecology, hydrology, and meteorology.

This book develops and presents a conceptual model for sustainable-groundwater irrigated agriculture. The model is based on the general principles of the economic theories of cost-benefit relations and behavioral models of resource use. The study has evaluated the advances in tubewell farming and the aquifer potential in arid Balochistan over a period of three decades. It has analyzed the booms and busts of the farming over time taking into consideration the local aquifer limitations and the socio-political considerations and policy framework. Three data sets farmers, expert officials and satellite images - have been used to aid validation. By observing the most vital parameters, the study has concluded that the local aquifer has been falling at a rate directly proportional to the growth rate of irrigated farming, suggesting the current development process is unsustainable. For instance, the research finds that tubewell bores have reached down to depths where the term aquifer mining applies; as a result, irrigation costs have become too high to allow farming to be economically viable. In addition, desertification is steadily encroaching and the cropping pattern being changed from high-value horticulture to subsistence cropping. The study has also set parameters for assessing the willingness of farmers to accept modern, sustainable strategies and interventions."

This book Irrigation & Agricultural Drainage Engineering is intended as a source book in the area of irrigation and drainage for the students of agricultural engineering in particular and agricultural science in general. However, this book also may be useful for agricultural extension workers and the professional working in this area. The contents of the book will enable one to acquire some basic requirements which an irrigation and drainage manager must have. The contents include basics along with some information toward research achievements, importance and usefulness so that the students get interested to the subject and at the same time help them to attend the institutional and competitive examinations. The book contains good numbers of numerical as example and task to get the students familiar to the requirements, complicacies, and possible remedies in actual working condition. Excepting the traditional broad and short questions, multiple choice questions are also set in every to assist the students in successful preparation for the entrance examinations in PG programs and the competitive examinations like State and Union PSC, etc.

This book for Agriculture and Agricultural and Civil Engineers and will be very much helpful for the beginning students in irrigation. It is designed to guide its readers in: Basic knowledge of soil, water and plant, hydrologic and hydraulics to the state-of-the-art of irrigation system design and management. Presented the principles and concepts of farm irrigation in a simple manner to maximize the students learning, understanding and motivation. The method and order of presentation have been carefully developed and classroom tested to make this book a useful and effective teaching tool. The book is written covering syllabus of irrigation engineering which is taught in different State Agricultural Universities as well as in the department of Civil Engineering of different Engineering colleges. The book contains adequate solved problems, short and long type questions, tables, figures which will be immensely helpful to the students and design engineers. Several field experimental results have also been incorporated in the book at appropriate sections to make the book interesting for the readers.

Processing of milk into various dairy foods, i.e. Dairy Technology is underpinned by disciplines such as chemistry and biochemistry, microbiology and process engineering. Strong emphasis on public health aspects and product quality demands that proper attention be given to the points in the production and processing chain where both pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms can be controlled effectively. Keeping above points in view, a very comprehensive book has been written encompassing entire gamuts of chemical, physical and microbiological characteristics of milk, processing and preservation of milk. The main objective of the book is to provide the latest information in a consolidated form at one point to meet the requirements of not only undergraduate and postgraduates students but also teachers and dairy professionals.

The contents of the book are of a high quality and flow very smoothly from the characterization of biophysical resources and land use systems to the farming systems level and finally culminate at the catchment/ watershed level. The modelling studies are included to update the current trends, while vulnerability studies provide complete set of information with respect to future action plan. The authors of the various s have also displayed high skills in development of customized GIS tools of learning and knowledge sharing. This book, would stand-out as an example of knowledge sharing efforts in the area of geo-informatics and the use of GIS technologies for their effective and efficient management of natural resources. The authors from top institutes like CGIAR, ICRISAT, University of Tokyo, Japan, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, Japan and The Kansas State University, USA, IIT, IARI, NRSC, NGRI, and reputed Agricultural Universities and institutes (e.g. NBSS&LUP, CRIDA, CSSRI, NIAM, IGFRI, NRCAF, NBPGR, CMFRI, IASRI, IIHR etc.) have contributed knowledge relating to biophysical resource characterization and quality assessment, agricultural vulnerability to climate change, rainfall variation, water availability and urbanization, and development of customized GIS application, knowledge sharing and learning tools. The comprehensive review in the areas of data mining, farm level applications, and modeling for retrieval of biophysical parameters are other specific contributions from the authors.

In recent years, there has been growing attention devoted to the implementation of information and communication technology in agriculture and rural development. While evidence has linked ICT to an increase in gross domestic product, it has prompted a global dedication to the research of the socio-economic benefits, trade-offs, and policy implications of ICT consumption in developing countries. E-Agriculture and Rural Development: Global Innovations and Future Prospects is a comprehensive collection of research on the emerging trends and advances in the global use of information and communication technology in agriculture and rural development. Consisting of case studies, implementation frameworks, and policies, this book provides a global perspective and understanding of the developments in e-agriculture and rural development.

The present book is an attempt to compile various chemical, nutritional and micro-biological analytical techniques related to handling milk and milk products. The book has been divided into three basic sections dealing in methodologies applicable to raw milk reception to milk product analysis to air, water, detergents and dairy effluent. * Section "A" deals with various platform and laboratory tests applied to raw and processed milk quality assessment, in terms of rapid tests, detection of adulterants and preservatives, sampling techniques etc. * Section "B" gives the detailed analytical techniques as applied for determination of various quality parameters/ attributes of different dairy products being manufactured by Indian Dairy Industry. * Section "C" various other tests applicable to dairy industry for maintaining quality including nutritional quality and hygiene, test for dairy detergents and sanitizers, air and water quality for a dairy plant and determination of melamine, aflatoxins, minerals and vitamins (fat & water soluble). The Text also contains various food regulatory acts, food safety act 2006, hygiene code, ISO 9000 series, ISO 14000 and ISO 22000 quality management systems, PFA and BIS standards for different milk types and MRL values for pesticides, heavy metals and antibiotic substances and list of approved analytical labs are also provided for ready reference.

With fresh water becoming an increasingly precious commodity, and the prospect of becoming a source of the same type of political instability that is now associated with energy shortages, sustainable use of water resources is becoming more and more important. One of those uses is for irrigation. Sustainable Irrigation Management, Technologies and Policies IV addresses various aspects of irrigation. It includes not only the scientific and technical aspects of the management of water resources, but also matters the economics and policy aspects. Containing papers presented at the Fourth International Conference on the subject, the book covers the topics such as: The State of the Art; Irrigation Modelling; Irrigation Systems and Planning; Sustainable Irrigation and Water Re-use; Irrigation Management; Governance for Sustainable Irrigation; Water Trade Issues.

The comprehensive and compact presentation in this book is the perfect format for a resource/textbook for undergraduate students in the areas of Agricultural Engineering, Biological Systems Engineering, Bio-Science Engineering, Water Resource Engineering, and Civil & Environmental Engineering. This book will also serve as a reference manual for researchers and extension workers in such diverse fields as agricultural engineering, agronomy, ecology, hydrology, and meteorology.

At last, integrated management of drought on farms is dealt with in one comprehensive book. Although drought is a highly variable, near-universal natural phenomenon which has repercussions on a country's water and food supplies and many other sectors of the economy, there are many ways of avoiding, resisting and mitigating the effects of drought. Pro-active preparedness entails using the principles of risk management to upgrade the drought resistance of a farm systematically, and to have auxiliary contingency plans at the ready for use during unusually long droughts. The book provides tools for these strategies as it covers the management of water, soils, crops, rangeland, fodder and livestock, and many other drought-related topics. Audience: This book will be an important source of information for university and college staff and students in agricultural sciences, water and land use, environmental management, geography and risk management, and also farmers, agricultural advisors and policy makers.