Dr. Milton C. Sernett taught history at Syracuse University for three decades, retiring in 2005. He is the author of fourteen books and dozens of articles. This book is an outgrowth of his long interest in agricultural and local history. Sernett is also the author of two other books dealing with American's rural past: "Cradle of the Breed: Gerrit Smith Miller & the Kriemhild Herd" and "The Horse and Tractor Wars: Letters & Lessons from an Old Horseman." Dr. Sernett grew up in the farm country of northern Iowa. He now lives north of Cazenovia in Madison County, New York.