Descriptionary

saxhorn a brass instrument similar to a flugelhorn but having a funnel-shaped mouthpiece, used in marching bands.

shakuhachi a Japanese flute, blown like a recorder and made of bamboo.

shofar an ancient instrument made of a ram's horn, used for more than 3,000 years to signal the New Year in Jewish religious services.

sousaphone a large bass tuba or helicon.

uilleann pipes Irish bagpipes.

valve any one of the valves or pistons on a brass instrument (except trombone) engaged to produce a different pitch.

woodwinds collective term for all the wind instru­ments that were originally made from wood, but now including the saxophone, flute, piccolo, oboe, English horn, bassoon, clarinet, and basset horn.

farming

acre

a square of land measuring approximately 209 feet (61 m) per side.

auger a spinning, spiral shaft that is used to convey grain in and out of storage bins.

baler a machine that compresses and ties hay or straw into rectangles or round bales to facilitate storage.

barn raising the erection of a new barn with the help of neighbors, family, and friends, a popular event in rural America.

bin any storage unit, often concrete or corrugated metal, for grain.

biochemicals environmentally friendly chemicals derived from natural sources, including enzymes, hor­mones, and pheromones, for use as insect repellants or to prevent insect mating and growth.

biosolids either animal manure or sewage from sewage treatment plants, spread on fields to fertilize crops.

bocage farmland divided into fields by hedges and small trees, especially in France.

broadcast to spread seeds in a uniform manner.

bunker silo a horizontal silo built above or below ground.

bushel

common unit of volume for the measure­ment of dry grains or produce, which may vary in weight according to the crop. A bushel of wheat, for example, weighs 60 pounds (28 kg), and a bushel of corn weighs 56 pounds (25 kg).

CCUPATIQNS

byre a cow barn.

cash crops any crops intended to be sold for money, as distinguished from crops grown to feed livestock or to be consumed by the farmer's family.

cereal grains the grains typically used in the manu­facture of cereals, specifically barley, oats, rice, and wheat.

cock a cone-shaped pile of hay or straw. Also known as a haycock.

combine a large harvesting machine that cuts, threshes, cleans, and bags grain.

commodity any agricultural goods.

compaction compression of soil by tractors or other large farm machinery.

compost

decomposing organic matter used as fertilizer.

contour farming plowing and planting that follows the contours of uneven terrain to help prevent water runoff and soil erosion.

corncrib a storage building having slatted sides for the drying of corn.

cover crop a fast-growing crop sown to prevent erosion of the soil.

cow path a walled or fenced pathway leading from the barn and past crops to pasture for cows.

croft a small subsistence farm—usually compris­ing no more than 5 acres—in Scotland. The term is sometimes applied to small farms in other countries as well.

crop dusting applying pesticides on crops by air­plane, helicopter, or other means.

cultivate to develop soil with plowing and fertilizer in order to grow crops.

cultivator an implement that breaks up the soil and uproots weeds around crops.

custom harvester any company with equipment and transport vehicles hired by a farmer to harvest and deliver crops.

disk

to cut up the soil with rotating disks.

disk harrow a harrowing implement employing metal disks to break up the soil.

domesticate to tame, raise, and breed animals, usu­ally for profit.

draft animal any animal, such as a large horse or ox, bred or used for pulling.

drill an apparatus pulled behind a tractor that cuts a groove in soil, drops seeds, and then covers the soil.

dry farming collective term for the methods used to raise crops where there is little rainfall and no irrigation. The crops chosen are those well-adapted to near-drought conditions; moisture-stealing weeds are carefully culled, and a mulch is placed over the soil to keep moisture from evaporating too quickly in the sun.

elevator a conveyor system that carries hay bales to the upper story of a barn.

erosion the running or blowing off of soil, espe­cially topsoil, caused by wind, rain, overgrazing by livestock, or too frequent cultivation.

extension agency from an agricultural university, a research and educational branch set up to serve local farmers.

fallow barren; to leave a field unseeded after plowing.

federal crop insurance insurance provided to farmers from the U.S. government to protect against unforeseen hardship, such as storm damage, early frosts, plant diseases, pests, etc.