Blog Posts by Subject: Agriculture

PP23119 - Hypericum plant named 'Bosafir'Here are scans of the color plates of U.S. Plant Patents received at SIBL for the weeks of October 2 and 16, 2012. Images for the week of October 9 will be added later.

PP23035 - Coreopsis plant named 'Star Cluster'Here are scans of the color plates of U.S. Plant Patents received at SIBL for the weeks of September 11, 18 and 25, 2012.

PP22847 - Poinsettia plant named 'NPCW10184'Here are scans of the color plates of U.S. Plant Patents received at SIBL for the weeks of June 26, and July 3 and 10, 2012.

PP22781 - Strawberry plant named 'Puget Crimson'Here are scans of the color plates of U.S. Plant Patents received at SIBL for the weeks of June 12 and 19, 2012.

For additional Plant Patent plates for 2012, 2013 and 2014, these have been listed, with links, in the table posted here.

As before, please be careful in using these — they're really not appropriate to use for prior art or other similar searches. Otherwise, please 

PP22768 - Hibiscus plant named 'DUP-FXL'Here are scans of the color plates of U.S. Plant Patents received at SIBL for the weeks of May 22, 29 and June, 2012.

For additional Plant Patent plates for 2012, 2013 and 2014, these have been listed, with links, in the table posted here.

As before, please be careful in using these - they're really not appropriate to use for prior art or other similar searches. Otherwise, please 

Hydrangea plant named 'Hokomano' - PP22696Here are scans of the color plates of U.S. Plant Patents received at SIBL for the weeks of May 1, 8 and 15, 2012.

For additional Plant Patent plates for 2012, 2013 and 2014, these have been listed, with links, in the table posted here.

Clematis plant named 'UNAI 005'Despite the shift from the Patent and Trademark Depository Library designation to our new Patent and Trademark Resource Center status, one vestige of over 140 years of being a patent depository remains. Color images for Plant Patents are only available in print, and are still being received here at SIBL in paper format. This seems like a good opportunity to take a look at some of the most recent ones we've received here, and so we've done a bunch of QAD color image scans. 

George M. Rommel, an early twentieth century animal husbandman and farm expert, was not one to shy away from novel solutions to agricultural challenges in America. In 1905, he championed the import from Bermuda of a breed of “woolless” sheep to address America’s “alarming appetite for lamb” (Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/5/1905). And he was always on the lookout for potential new uses for leftovers from agricultural enterprises. It should not, therefore, come as a surprise that his book on agricultural refuse industries, 

Charles Darwin died 130 years ago today, leaving an intellectual legacy which has profoundly influenced the general course of Western thought. He is best known for his work On the Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871), both of which introduced radical new ideas for the time concerning the origins of humans and all life. Darwin's 

The United States Sanitary Commission records might not be the first port of call for anyone interested in studying 19th-century American agriculture or the culinary arts, but the visit could well repay the effort. 

From the first days of its existence, the USSC concerned itself with identifying suitable ingredients for a soldier's diet. A healthy diet kept men in fighting strength and in good spirits, prevented disease, and helped them recuperate more quickly from wounds and sickness. The Commission and 

Green used to think her story was written. The day her beloved city was burned to the ground seemed to be the end of things. Her mother, her father, and her beautiful sister were gone. The boy she loves is far away searching for his own family. The past is filled with dangerous memories and the future seems like a distant hope. So Green tries to focus on the present.

As her village tries to rebuild, Green tends her garden and collects the stories of the survivors. When Green sets out to find the Enchanted–women the village calls witches–in the hopes of 

Thomas Jefferson Park, 1939 Photo: Max UlrichIn the smoldering heat of summer, one of my greatest pleasures has been to find reprieve in New York City’s lush and thriving community gardens. For all the grandeur of the city’s more widely celebrated green spaces like Central Park and Prospect Park, there are hundreds of small-scale urban oases nestled in formerly decrepit lots across the five boroughs.

At one community garden that I visited in Alphabet City, a woman was simmering curry over the communal grill. “I love to cook outside in the 

After a disaster destroys the city she loves and kills her family, fifteen-year-old Green is left with nothing; the life she once had turned to ashes just like the ashes covering her once lush garden.

Shocked by the loss and destruction, Green turns inward. Her clothes become armor. She closes her eyes against the loss and the rebuilding taking place all around her. She closes her heart to love or friendship.

But, little by little, love and friendship make their way into her life. As she struggles to survive Green finds unlikely friends, love, and 

“If you want a garden of your own, but have no yard--- If you wish you had some way of growing plants all through the year, even though you live where winters are long an cold--- If you want a garden small enough that you can care for it easily--- This book is for you.”

These are the opening lines of Flowerpot Gardens by Clyde Robert Bulla, an elegant little guide to container gardening from 1967, with botanical illustrations evocative of silhouettes.  This book is one of a handful of 

Food, Inc. is the latest and one of the most successful films to investigate the politics of produce- exactly who is controlling what we consume and the consequences of unethical industries- but it is certainly not the first.

Filmic instruction and guidance on what and how to grow farm products, from cows to crops, dates back practically to the beginning of film itself. However, it wasn’t until post-WWII consumerism and the advent of artificial foods (Tang, anyone?) and the subsequent social upheaval that films began to 

The NYPL Photography Collection has one of the largest collections of Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographs outside of the Library of Congress. I’m not sure what it is about these images—though given the economic times I’d say they are due for a resurgence—but they continue be some of the most 

Last weekend I took a trip to Michigan for a few days. A highlight of the trip was a visit to a farm museum in Dearborn--Greenfield Village. The place itself is more than farm, however; it's an odd and bustling tribute to Henry Ford's vision of American ingenuity and inventiveness, with some traditional technologies like farming, milling, wool carding, and pottery mixed in. (The Library has plenty of books about

(from the 1909 edition of Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management.)

In just a little over a week, we are all invited to take a daytrip to Rhinebeck, NY, to take part in the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival. It’s sponsored by the Dutchess County Sheep and Wool Growers, and it will be in full swing Saturday Oct. 20th from 9am to 6pm, and Sunday Oct. 21st from 10am to 5pm.