I am always reading and learning new things. I have hundreds of public domain books that I find relevant to what I do. People often disregard older ways and technologies at their own folly. Here are some free books that are public domain, so feel free to share with others. I will be adding to this constantly as I get more.
If you have a public domain book I don’t have listed that is relevant to small farming or homesteading please send it my way and I will add it to this collection. If you are the author of an ebook that would like to share let me know as well, I am always for sharing knowledge.
Currently these will only be organized by the general subject, later I will try to give a rating to each and list them in that order. I will label anything under 20 pages as a Pamphlet.
Book Categories:
Beekeeping
Cattle
Poultry
Other Livestock
General Homesteading/Farming
Gardening/Crops
Medical
Energy/Tech
Beekeeping:
- Rational Beekeeping & Disease Prevention
- Beekeeping North Carolina 1917 Pamphlet
- Beekeeping Pamphlet
- The Home Apiary Pamphlet
- How to Produce Extracted Honey 1904
Cattle Books:
- 30 Years Among Cows 1897
- The Beef Bonanza, or How To Get Rich On The Plains 1887
- The Cow 1922
- Feeding Cows for Profit 1914
- Effect of Pasture on Grade of Beef 1941
- Economic Factors in Cattle Feeding 1912
- Comparison of Methods of Preparing Corn and Clover Hay for Fattening Stress 1905
- Cattle Feeding in Relation to Farm Management 1925
- Beef Production 1908
- Beef Production in the East 1918
- Beef Mutton and Wool 1920
- A Technical Study of the Digestibility of Corn Stover Silage for Beef Cows 1927
- War Time Beef Production 1944
- The Utilization of Soft Corn in Beef Cattle Feeding 1928
- Summer Rations for Fattening Steers
- Short Fed Steers 1909
- Self Feeding Silage to Beef Cattle From Horizontal Silos 1959
- Progressive Beef Cattle Raising 1920
- Maintenance Rations for Beef Breeding Cows 1906
- How to Choose a Good Cow How to Select Cows 1882
- How to Choose a Good Cow 1911
- Hereford Cattle Premier Beef Breed of the World 1919
- Dexter Cattle ADCA Handbook
- Cattle and Dairy Farming 1887
- Cattle 1853
- A Handbook for the Man Who Keeps Cows for Profit 1912
- Everyman His Own Cattle Doctor 1814
- Small Dairy Innovators Pamphlet 2010
- Beef Cattle Production 1966 Pamphlet
- Finishing 2 Year Old Steers with Grass and Grain Pamphlet 1940
- A Low Cost Shelter and Feed Storage Unit for Beef Cattle Pamphlet 1959
- Dairy Farming 1915
- American Dairying A Manual For Butter and Cheese Makers-1876
- Cattle Their Breeds Management and Diseases-1836
- Silvopasture Handbook 2008
- Dairy Farming 1862
- Dairying Exemplified 1787
- Dairy Farming 1912
- Dairy Farming 1911
- Dairy Farming What Cows to Buy How to House Feed….. 1912
- Milch Cows and Dairy Farming 1867
Poultry:
- A Technical Study of the Growth of White Leghorn Chickens 1931
- Breeding Rearing and Fattening All Kinds of Poultry 1819
- Care and Incubation of Hatching Eggs 2000 pamphlet
- Common Sense on Poultry Raising 1906
- Constructing a Plywood Incubator Pamphlet 1997
- Controlling Newcastle Disease in Village Chickens 2001
- Culling Hens Pamphlet 1997
- Economic Aspects of Retailing Chicken Meat 1953
- Egg Quality Pamphlet
- Housing for Layer Production Pamphlet 2001
- Incubating and Hatching Eggs Pamphlet 2001
- Progressive Poultry Raising 1920
- Raising Chicks Artificially 1906
- Science Applied to Poultry Raising 1920
- Successful Poultry Raising 1915
- Sustainable Chicken Production Pamphlet 1998
- The Chicken Broiler Industry 1971
- The Chicken Business in California 1951
- The Kellerstrass Way of Raising Chickens 1909
- The Minorca Fowl 1893
- The Structure of the Fowl 1915
- The Sussex Fowl 1920
- Beetons Book of Poultry and Domestic Animals: Showing How to Rear and Manage Them-1870
- How to Begin and Survive a Commercial Gamebird Farm
- Farm Poultry 1912
- Game Farming for Profit and Pleasure 1915
Other Livestock:
- Care and Management of Rabbits-1920
- Feeding Pigs on Pasture 1924
- Domestic Animals 1959
- Domestic Animals a Pocket Manual of Cattle Horse and Sheep Husbandry 1858
- Introduction To Missouri Fishes 2011
- Our Domestic Animals in Health and Disease Volume 1 1871
- Our Domestic Animals in Health and Disease Volume 2 1871
- Our Domestic Animals Their Habits Intelligence and Usefulness 1907
General Homesteading/Farming:
- Foxfire 1
- Foxfire 2
- Foxfire 3
- Foxfire 4
- Ten Acres Enough
- Household and Farmers Cyclopedia 1878
- Successful Farming; A Ready Reference On All Phases Of.. 1916
- Farmers Cyclopedia of Agriculture 1904
- Biennial Report Kansas State Board of Ag 1913
- Farming 1918
- Annual Iowa Year Book of Agriculture 1908
- Farm Practice in Northeast Missouri 1908
- Elementary Agriculture 1916
- Principles of Agriculture 1891
- Cyclopedia of American Agriculture vol 1 1907
- Cyclopedia of American Agriculture Vol 2-1909
- Cyclopedia of American Agriculture Vol 3 1922
- The Construction of Concrete Fence Posts 1910
- Dry Farming 1909
- Facts for Farmers; Compost, Animals, Buildings, Crops, Irrigation 1865
- Diseases of Domestic Animals and Poultry…. 1915
- Farm Appliances a Practical Manual 1913
- Feeds and Feeding 1916
- Farm Implements and the Principles of their Construction 1859
- Farm Economy A Cyclopedia of Agriculture for the Practical Farmer 1915
- Farm Buildings With Plans 1917
- Farm Machinery And Farm Motors 1908
- Farming Costs 1921
- Rotational Grazing Pamphlet 2010
- Elements of Agricultural Chemistry 1860
- Experimental Agriculture 1849
- Farming for Boys How to Begin How to Proceed and what to Aim At 1869
- Soils and Fertilizer 1916
- Fox Trapping a Book of Instruction Telling how to Trap Snare Poison and Shoot 1906
- Garden Farming 1913
- Homesteading two Prairie Seasons 1918
- Insects Affecting Domestic Animals – an Account of the Species of Importance in North America 1896
- Life in the Back Woods – a Guide to the Successful Hunting and Trapping of all Kinds of Animals 1875
- Jacques New Manual of the Garden Farm and Barnyard 1870
- Meat Curing and Sausage Making 1922
- Mink Trapping a Book of Instruction Giving Many Methods of Trapping 1906
- Practical Farming 1907
- Practical Farming and Gardening – Money Saving Methods in Farming 1914
Gardening/Crops:
- Sawdust Mulches For Larger Crops Better Soils 1955
- Hydroponics 1977
- Hydroponics for the Home Gardener
- Backyard Composting 1975
- Basic Soil Improvement for Everyone 1983
- Biochar and SCAD
- Progressive Farming 1949
- Basic Book of Organic Gardening
- Duckweed Pamphlet 2010
- Vegetable Garden Encyclopedia
- A-B-C of Gardening-1915
- American Grape Training-1893
- Beginners Book of Gardening-1911
- Integrated Agri Aquaculture Systems 2003
- Integrated Agriculture-Aquaculture Farming Systems 1979
- Gardening For Fun and Food 1977
- Pearl Millet 1903 Pamphlet
- Managing Cover Crops Profitably Hairy Vetch 2007 Pamphlet
- Forage Crops Other Than Grasses 1900
- Fertilizers How to Make Them -1885
- Fruit Farming for Profit a Practical Treatise 1911
- Forest Planting 1893
- Red Clover Pamphlet
- Forage Crops 1900
- Garden Guide the Amateur Gardeners Handbook 1917
- Garden Vegetables and how to Cultivate Them 1866
- Grape Culture and Wine Making in California1888
- How to Grow Vegetables and Garden Herbs – a Practical Handbook and Planting Table for the Vegetable Gardener 1911
- How to Succeed with the Home Orchard 1920
- Injurious Insects of the Orchard Vineyard Field Garden Conservatory Household etc with Remedies for Their Extermination 1883
- Irrigation and Drainage 1918
- Irrigation for the Farm Garden 1893
- Modern High Farming 1886
Medical:
Where There Is No Dentist 2009
Energy/Tech:
- Tubular Plastic Bio-Digesters 2002
- The Biogas Bio Fertilizer Business Handbook Manual 1982
- Guide to Residential Wood Heating 2002
- A Chinese Biogas Manual 1976
- Application of Biomass-Energy Technologies 1993
- BioFuels for Transportation 2006
- Biogas Pamphlet
- Fuel Gas From Cow Dung
- Fuel From Farms
- Hydrogen Wind BioDiesel and Ethanol
- Biogas Plants in Animal Husbandry
- Biogas Technology in the 3rd World
- Design and Operation of a Full-Scale Anaerobic Dairy Manure Digester
- Practical Building of Methane Power Plants
- The Anaerobic Digestion of Livestock Wastes to Produce Methane
- Biogas and Waste Recycling
- Biogas Systems in India 1983
- Compost, Fertilizer, and Biogas Production from Human and Farm Waste in China
- Distillation of Alcohol and De-Naturing
- Running a Biogas Programme
- Village Technology Handbook
- Burning Brick in Down Draft Kilns 1905
Thanks for the great resource. I’ll be watching your site with great interest
Thank You,
-Joseph
I just want to mention I am just new to blogs and honestly loved this blog site. Very likely I’m likely to bookmark your website . You amazingly have exceptional article content. Thanks for sharing with us your website.
Thanks
Great site. put me dow as a believer. Pretty good gardener and composter. Looking at meat chickens and eggs. Had cattle before, but commercial way not p[rofitable. Looking at Dexter or Lowline. Add me to your list and thanks a million for your site.
Thanks, I sent you an email Ken.
I tried to open different homesteading site but it always opened to a blank page.
Wgat am I doing wrong?
Sorry I am not sure what you are asking
Here is a link to “The Homestead” by Roberts – 1902: https://archive.org/details/farmsteadmakingo00robe/page/n10/mode/2up
Part-way down the page is a link for the pdf.
You have a wonderful collection here!
Thank You
It’s refreshing to pull wisdom from past authors who paved the way for modern thought while also influencing various fields you engage with regularly. Thank you for this!