When author Edmund Morris left the Philadelphia business world in the early 1800s and bought a small farm in the New Jersey countryside, he was so pleased with the results of his venture that he decided to tell others how he accomplished it.
His simply written chronicle -- one of the most popular books of its time -- emphasizes that agricultural success depends not on how much you grow but on what and how. Between thoughtful discussions of choosing the location, selecting crops, and planting an orchard, he contrasts city and country life, despairs over weeds and raising pigs, counts his...