Carol Ekarius' natural, organic approach to livestock management produces healthier animals, reduces feed and health care costs, and maximizes your profit. Includes case studies of successful farmers, nitty-gritty details of every facet of livestock farming, and fascinating insights on how to work with nature instead of against it.

A comprehensive account of the history, accession, care and maintainance of RBGE's living plant collection across our four Gardens.

In the past few decades, sustainability of natural resources and the social and environmental issues that surround them have become increasingly topical. This multidisciplinary book discusses the complex relationships between society, natural resources and the environment. Major resources including water, agriculture, energy, minerals and forests are considered, as well as different facets of the environment including climate, landforms and biodiversity. Each resource is discussed in the context of both environmental and socio-economic factors affecting their present and future distribution and demand. Presenting a balanced, comprehensive overview of the issues surrounding natural resources and sustainability, this accessible volume will be of interest to policy makers, resource managers, graduate students and researchers in the natural and social sciences.

Despite bananas being the world's most exported and valuable fruit, banana production faces a number of challenges, primarily the extremely narrow genetic base currently available for commercial cultivation which increases the rate of vulnerability to diseases and other stresses. The sector faces increasing pressure to improve existing varieties, as well as to develop new varieties which retain key yield and quality characteristics and improved resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Achieving sustainable cultivation of bananas Volume 2: Germplasm and genetic improvement offers an authoritative discussion on the progress of identifying and broadening the genetic base for Musa species. This collection reviews the current conventional and molecular breeding techniques for breeding new varieties of banana, as well as providing coverage on improving traits in Cavendish. With its distinguished editors and international range of expert authors, Achieving sustainable cultivation of bananas Volume 2: Germplasm and genetic improvement will be a standard reference for university and other researchers in tropical fruit science, government and other agencies supporting banana cultivation, as well as commercial banana growers and retailers. This title is accompanied by a companion volume: Achieving sustainable cultivation of bananas Volume 1: Cultivation techniques.

A comprehensive guide to the use of math in the Green Industry

Designed for both students and practitioners in the Green Industry, this book offers full coverage of the calculations necessary to effectively, safely, and economically manage a Green Industry operation.

Following clear explanations of all relevant mathematical principles, the authors cover calculations inherent in all aspects of the Green Industry, from determining area and volume, to the application of fertilizers, pesticides, and growth regulators, to preparing design and installation cost estimates.

Coverage includes computations for:

Landscape installation and maintenance

Greenhouse, nursery, and interior landscape operation

Parks and recreation maintenance

Turf management, including lawn care, sports turf, and sod production

Proper application of fertilizers, pesticides, and plant-growth regulators

Proper calibration of application equipment

Additional features include multiple computations for readers to work through, appendices with units of measure and equivalents, and a table with conversion factors.

William Marshall (1745-1818), an experienced farmer and land agent, published this work anonymously in 1785. (His later, two-volume Planting and Rural Ornament is also reissued in this series.) His intention here is 'to bring into one point of view, and arrange in compendious form, the Art of Planting and Laying-Out Plantations', which had been treated by previous authorities as two distinct subjects. The book begins with instructions on propagation, planting out and transplanting, followed by an outline of the Linnaean system and an extensive alphabetical plant list (by Latin names). The second part consists of advice on the use of plants in the wider landscape: stands of timber for cutting, hedges, woodlands, and the landscaping of 'grounds'. The work includes a history of modern gardening, and discussions of 'factitious accompaniments', including the hunting-box and the ornamented cottage, though not the temple, which was 'a great act of folly' according to Marshall's criteria.

Farmers have developed a range of agricultural practices to sustainably use and maintain a wide diversity of crop species in many parts of the world. This book documents good practices innovated by farmers and collects key reviews on good practices from global experts, not only from the case study countries but also from Brazil, China and other parts of Asia and Latin America. A good practice for diversity is defined as a system, organization or process that, over time and space, maintains, enhances and creates crop genetic diversity, and ensures its availability to and from farmers and other users. Drawing on experiences from a UNEP-GEF project on "Conservation and Sustainable Use of Wild and Cultivated Tropical Fruit Tree Diversity for Promoting Livelihoods, Food Security and Ecosystem Services", with case studies from India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, the authors show how methods for identifying good practices are still evolving and challenges in scaling-up remain. They identify key principles effective as a strategy for mainstreaming good practice into development efforts. Few books draw principles and lessons learned from good practices. This book fills this gap by combining good practices from the research project on tropical fruit trees with chapters from external experts to broaden its scope and relevance.

Originally published in 1913, this book provides a practical guide to the development of school gardens and the value of gardens for the broader educational process. Illustrative figures are incorporated throughout and exercises are included at the end of the text. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in horticulture and the history of education.

Tamsin Westhorpe's delightfully funny memoir of making a living with mud permanently under her fingernails will delight any reader. A cast of colourful characters pepper the pages of her hapless horticultural exploits, which range from dispensing gnome-placement advice on live TV to how to deal with nudist neighbours or the inside scoop on why the roses surrounding the beautifully manicured English lawn bowling greens grow quite so vigorously...

Following the successful first edition, this revised and greatly expanded edition Tomato Diseases: Identification, Biology and Control is the definitive work on the diseases and disorders of the tomato. The tomato is the world's most widely produced vegetable. The number of diseases affecting the tomato is enormous: hundreds of bio-aggressors, more than 50 non-parasitic diseases, plus new and alarmingly frequent emerging diseases. Despite considerable progress to curb these diseases, they remain a constant threat to crops, often causing considerable damage. In such a context, the identification, detection, knowledge and control of these diseases-symptoms often can be very similar-are challenges that this book will help overcome. Containing more than 900 color photos, the book consists of two main parts. The first is designed as a diagnostic tool, allowing the reader to alternate between the observation of the diseased plant, environmental questions, and the prioritization of differential diagnoses. The second part comprises numerous information sheets detailing the characteristics of most tomato pathogens, geographic distribution, impact on production, types of symptoms, and life history of the plant. This section also describes the range of plant protection and disease resistance measures currently available. This unique volume is a comprehensive overview of the latest scientific knowledge on parasitic and non-parasitic tomato diseases worldwide. It will address the needs of tomato producers and keen gardeners, as well as those of researchers, teachers and their students.

Originally published in 1914, this book was intended for school teachers to use as a reference guide in teaching their classes how to build and maintain a school garden. The book details the different types of garden to build, such as rock garden, rosary and wild gardens, and provides weekly and monthly task instructions for classes to maintain the garden all year round. The author discusses the subject comprehensively, explaining the names of plants, tools and pests, aiming to equip school children and beginners with the principles of gardening. The book also contains a variety of illustrations and photographs to assist with teaching. This is a highly informative book that will be of value to anyone with an interest in horticulture and early twentieth-century education.

Maize is one of the most important and widely grown cereal crops in the world and is a staple food for almost a billion people, particularly in the developing world. It has been estimated that maize yields need to increase by 60% by 2050. There is an urgent need to increase yields in the face of such challenges as climate change, threats from pests and diseases and the need to make cultivation more resource-efficient and sustainable. Drawing on an international range of expertise, this collection focuses on ways of improving the cultivation of maize at each step in the value chain, from breeding to post-harvest storage. Volume 1 reviews research on breeding and its use in improving nutritional quality and agronomic performance. It then goes on to discuss the challenges in translating these advances into effective outcomes for smallholders in the developing world. Achieving sustainable cultivation of maize Volume 1: From improved varieties to local applications will be a standard reference for cereal scientists in universities, government and other research centres and companies involved in maize cultivation. It is accompanied by Volume 2 which reviews improvements in cultivation techniques as well as the management of pests and diseases.

Originating in Central Asia, apples are one of the most important fruits globally and are grown in over 100 countries. Apple cultivation faces a number of challenges. Increasing global competition has put the focus on lowering costs whilst further improving sensory quality and shelf-life. There is a need to reduce inputs such as water, fertiliser and labour, both to save costs and reduce environmentally-damaging emissions and pollution. There is a continual battle with fungal, viral and bacterial diseases as well as insect pests. In the long term there is a need for new varieties able to withstand disease or more extreme conditions associated with climate change. This means preserving genetic variety and exploiting new molecular breeding techniques opened up by the sequencing of the apple genome in 2010. Drawing on an international range of expertise, this collection focuses on ways of improving the cultivation of apples as a food crop at each step in the value chain, from breeding through to post-harvest storage. The book first reviews research in apple physiology and breeding. The following sections focus on cultivation techniques through to post-harvest storage, followed by a discussion of diseases and pests and their management. Concluding chapters address wider issues such as economics, consumer trends and sustainability. Achieving sustainable cultivation of apples will be a standard reference for fruit and horticultural scientists in universities, government and other research centres and companies producing apples.

First full biography of Richard Woods, the landscape designer, examining his work and restoring him to the attention he merits. A contemporary of the famous landscape designer "Capability" Brown, Richard Woods has never received the recognition he deserves: in contrast to Brown, he emphasised the pleasure ground and kitchen garden, with a more pronounced use of flowers than was general among the landscape improvers of his time. He liked variety and incident in his plans and, where he was employed on a larger scale, the encroachment of the pleasure ground into the park created the Woodsian "pleasure park". In this important work of detection and biography, Fiona Cowell analyses his designs, and explores his activities as a plantsman, a determined amateur architect and a farmer. In particular, she showsthe difficulties he found as a Catholic living in penal times, examining the difficulties encountered by both Woods and his Catholic patrons, and placing the man and his work in their wider social and economic context. Unjustly neglected in the past, he is here given his rightful place among the creators of the English landscape style.

Brought up among the extensive grounds of her family home at Didlington Hall in Norfolk, Alicia Amherst (1865-1941) was a keen gardener from an early age. Especially interested in socially beneficial gardening, she sat on the board of the Chelsea Physic Garden from 1900, encouraged the growing of smoke-resistant flowers in poor urban areas, and promoted the greater use of allotments and school gardens during the First World War. The product of four years' research, this learned and engaging work of horticultural history since Roman times was first published to great acclaim in 1895. It notably discusses the manuscript kept at Trinity College, Cambridge, of a fifteenth-century treatise in verse, The Feate of Gardening, which is the earliest existing account in English on the subject. Highly illustrated, Amherst's book also includes her annotated and chronological bibliography of printed works on gardening since 1516.

In the early nineteenth century, live plant cuttings were commonly transported between continents in wooden boxes exposed to the elements on the decks of ships; unsurprisingly, it was rare for them to arrive in good health. The glass cases devised by Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1791-1868) were a revolutionary step forward in preserving botanical specimens. In this monograph, first published in 1842, Ward explores some of the most common causes of plant deaths in cities and aboard ships, including air quality and temperature. Most importantly, he emphasises the need for light. Although photosynthesis would not be chemically understood until later that century, Ward recognised that a glass case was infinitely preferable to an opaque one. His rapidly adopted invention would have far-reaching effects, allowing for the safe transportation of tea from China to the Himalayas, rubber from the Amazon and medicinal species from the Andes to India.

H. Rider Haggard (1856 1925) is best known as the successful writer of adventure stories with exotic backgrounds such as King Solomon's Mines. However, he also served on a number of royal commissions, and in managing his wife's Norfolk estate became a recognised expert on agricultural matters. His A Farmer's Year (1898, also reissued in this series), recounts the work of the farm, together with observations on rural life and the state of agriculture in general. In 1905 he published this work, a diary of his garden in 1903. After an introductory chapter (with a plan) describing the the garden, orchard and glasshouses, and the staff he employed, the diary begins, relating the tasks and experiences of the year, from spraying against red spider mite in January to decorating the house with greenery on Christmas Eve. This beautifully written book reveals the horticultural taste and practice of the Edwardian era.

This book addresses an important problem in ecology: how are communities assembled from species pools? This pressing question underlies a broad array of practical problems in ecology and environmental science, including restoration of damaged landscapes, management of protected areas, and protection of threatened species. This book presents a simple logical structure for ecological assembly and addresses key areas including species pools, traits, environmental filters, and functional groups. It demonstrates the use of two predictive models (CATS and Traitspace) and consists of many wide-ranging examples including plants in deserts, wetlands, and forests, and communities of fish, amphibians, birds, mammals, and fungi. Global in scope, this volume ranges from the arid lands of North Africa, to forests in the Himalayas, to Amazonian floodplains. There is a strong focus on applications, particularly the twin challenges of conserving biodiversity and understanding community responses to climate change.

Robert Hogg (1817-97), son of a Scots nurseryman, was destined for a career in medicine, but abandoned his studies to pursue horticulture. Employed by a famous London tree nursery, he travelled widely in Britain and Europe to study gardening practice. This work, first published in 1851, was intended to encourage a taste for the 'most important, most instructive, and intellectual branch of horticultural science' - the cultivation of fruit. (The book is subtitled 'The Apple', as though further volumes on other fruit were intended, but none appeared, though Hogg did publish The Fruit Manual (also reissued in this series) in 1860.) It lists and gives detailed descriptions, including drawings, of 401 apples in cultivation in Great Britain, and a further 541 of which Hogg had no direct knowledge. He provides classification lists by fruit colour, shape, seasonality and region - a fascinating resource for the history of horticulture and of food.

Robert Hogg (1818-97) was a British nurseryman and an early secretary of the Royal Horticultural Society: a prize medal is named in his honour. Born in Berwickshire, Hogg trained in medicine at Edinburgh before following his father into fruit tree cultivation, and became joint editor of the Cottage Gardener, later the Journal of Horticulture. In 1851, he published The British Pomology (also reissued in this series): this work, on apples, was apparently intended as a study of British fruit trees, but no further volumes followed. Instead, in 1860, Hogg published this comprehensive catalogue of British fruit, which ran to five, increasingly extended, editions over the next twenty-five years. It became the standard reference work, and was even plagiarised in Scott's Orchardist: however Hogg sued and obtained an injunction preventing further sales. Hogg promoted systematic work in the Royal Horticultural Society and was instrumental in setting up its fruit committee.

In this work, first published in 1802 and followed by many subsequent editions, the famous horticulturalist William Forsyth (c. 1737 1804) gives an exhaustive guide to the cultivation of fruit trees and advises on pests and diseases. Forsyth was appointed superintendent of the Royal Gardens of St James and Kensington in 1784, and was also one of the founders of the (now Royal) Horticultural Society. The work is divided into two parts: in the first, various kinds of fruit trees, including soft fruit and nuts, are described in detail. Forsyth explains how to plant and prune them and gives advice on harvesting and storing the produce. In the short second part, Forsyth discusses the need for better care of both fruit and forest trees (good-quality timber being needed especially in time of war), and advocates a 'Composition' of his own invention for improving the health of diseased and damaged trees.

The European Garden Flora is the definitive manual for the accurate identification of cultivated ornamental flowering plants. Designed to meet the highest scientific standards, the vocabulary has nevertheless been kept as uncomplicated as possible so that the work is fully accessible to the informed gardener as well as to the professional botanist. This new edition has been thoroughly reorganised and revised, bringing it into line with modern taxonomic knowledge. Although European in name, the Flora covers plants cultivated in most areas of the United States and Canada as well as in non-tropical parts of Asia and Australasia. Volume 1 contains accounts of all the Monocotyledons, which includes those groups known informally as the 'petaloid monocotyledons' (the Liliaceae and Amaryllidaceae in the first edition, divided here among 17 families), the grasses and sedges (Gramineae and Cyperaceae), the aroids (Araceae) and the large and diverse Orchidaceae.

The European Garden Flora is the definitive manual for the accurate identification of cultivated ornamental flowering plants. Designed to meet the highest scientific standards, the vocabulary has nevertheless been kept as uncomplicated as possible so that the work is fully accessible to the informed gardener as well as to the professional botanist. This new edition has been thoroughly reorganised and revised, bringing it into line with modern taxonomic knowledge. Although European in name, the Flora covers plants cultivated in most areas of the United States and Canada as well as in non-tropical parts of Asia and Australasia. Volume 2 contains accounts of the first 71 families of Dicotyledons, including the Aizoaceae and Cactaceae (large and important families of succulents), as well as many tree families (Juglandaceae, Betulaceae, Fagaceae, Ulmaceae) and popular herbaceous plants (Ranunculaceae, Papaveraceae, Cruciferae).

The European Garden Flora is the definitive manual for the accurate identification of cultivated ornamental flowering plants. Designed to meet the highest scientific standards, the vocabulary has nevertheless been kept as uncomplicated as possible so that the work is fully accessible to the informed gardener as well as to the professional botanist. This new edition has been thoroughly reorganised and revised, bringing it into line with modern taxonomic knowledge. Although European in name, the Flora covers plants cultivated in most areas of the United States and Canada as well as in non-tropical parts of Asia and Australasia. Volume 3 contains accounts of 47 families, including those formerly included in the Leguminosae (Mimosaceae, Caesalpiniaceae, Fabaceae) as well as the large and important Rosaceae. Also included are those families formerly covered by the name Saxifragaceae (Saxifragaceae in the strict sense, Penthoraceae, Grossulariaceae, Parnassiaceae, Hydrangeaceae and Escalloniaceae).

The European Garden Flora is the definitive manual for the accurate identification of cultivated ornamental flowering plants. Designed to meet the highest scientific standards, the vocabulary has nevertheless been kept as uncomplicated as possible so that the work is fully accessible to the informed gardener as well as to the professional botanist. This new edition has been thoroughly reorganised and revised, bringing it into line with modern taxonomic knowledge. Although European in name, the Flora covers plants cultivated in most areas of the United States and Canada as well as in non-tropical parts of Asia and Australasia. Volume 4 contains accounts of 82 families, mostly rather small, but including the Primulaceae (with Primula as its largest genus) and Ericaceae (with Rhododendron, the largest genus in the Flora).