Field, Forest and Farm

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Pages: 317

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About this book

Uncle Paul continues his summer walks and talks with his nephews, beginning with an explanation of bread, flour and the grinding of wheat under a millstone. The explanation of gypsum distinguishes the water driven out by heat from the sulphuric acid that remains, and describes the heated stone becoming plaster. The account of plaster describes powder absorbing restored water and hardening into a block with the solidity of gypsum that has not passed through the kiln.

The agricultural discussion gives a rule against sowing wheat twice in succession in the same field, extending the warning to other crops. The explanation attributes a plant’s poorer second year to the greater or lesser exhaustion of the ingredients that particular plant requires from the soil.

About the author

Jean-Henri Fabre

Jean-Henri Fabre (1823-1915) was a French naturalist and teacher celebrated for his patient, first-hand studies of insects. His multi-volume 'Souvenirs entomologiques' won him wide admiration, and he wrote many clear, engaging science books to bring the natural world to ordinary readers and children.