"Homemade Contrivances and How to Make Them: 1001 Labor-Saving Devices for Farm, Garden, Dairy, and Workshop" (Skyhorse Publishing, $14.95): If you feel the need to learn how to reinforce a stone wall, press hay, make a device to clean a horse's hooves or build a dam for a pond, this book is a great starting point. This is an updated version of a book first published in 1897 and retains much of the old-fashioned language, with all its plainspoken charm. The book reminds us of just how much work a pre-industrial farm requires while giving us information on contraptions we can build if we're so inclined. You may not want to know how to use hogs to convert straw into manure for fertilizer but the advice on building a trellis for tomatoes is useful and timeless. The book makes for wonderful reading with its insight into our agricultural past.
- PAM ROBINSON