Cottage Economy

Book excerpt: A son of humble circumstance (his father was an innkeeper), a champion of the working class, and an early anti-corporate activist, William Cobbett was most vociferous in his ideas about what makes for a happy and productive peasant. In this 1821 classic of self-reliance and the efficient usage and management of the small farm, Corbett shares his instructions and philosophies regarding. the brewing of beer (and why the notorious "tea" is not an acceptable substitute). the making of bread (and why the "modern custom of using potatoes" to serve the same dietary purpose is deplorable). the keeping of cows, pigs, bees, geese, and other useful creatures. the growing of straw for making hats and bonnets. the building of an ice house. and much more.British journalist and radical WILLIAM COBBETT (1762-1835) published the weekly newsletter Political Register and is also the author of Advice to Young Men (1829), The Progress of a Ploughboy to a Seat in Parliament (1830), and Rural Rides (1830).