Sir Albert Howard was a prolific writer whose work spanned nearly five decades. While he is best known today for An Agricultural Testament (1940), his earlier technical writings from India—often co-authored with his wife Gabrielle Howard—contain the rigorous scientific data that underpins the entire organic movement. Below is a categorized list of his books, memoirs, and significant papers.
Here is an extensive bibliography of Sir Albert Howard’s work, organized by format and chronology. This list covers his early scientific reports in India, his major technical texts on composting, and his later philosophical works on organic agriculture.
Major Books
1909: Wheat in India: Its Production, Varieties and Improvement (Co-authored with Gabrielle L.C. Howard) Published by Thacker, Spink & Co., Calcutta. A detailed botanical survey and classification of Indian wheat varieties, marking the beginning of his partnership with his first wife, Gabrielle.
1924: Crop Production in India: A Critical Survey of its Problems Published by Oxford University Press. An analysis of the specific challenges of Indian agriculture, focusing on soil aeration, drainage, and the limitations of Western methods in a tropical climate.
1927: The Development of Indian Agriculture (Co-authored with Gabrielle L.C. Howard) Published by Oxford University Press. A broad overview of the economic and scientific development of agriculture in the subcontinent, advocating for a synthesis of traditional wisdom and modern science.
1929: The Application of Science to Crop Production (Co-authored with Gabrielle L.C. Howard) Published by Oxford University Press. Details the experiments carried out at the Institute of Plant Industry, Indore, laying the groundwork for his later theories on soil health.
1931: The Waste Products of Agriculture: Their Utilization as Humus (Co-authored with Yeshwant D. Wad) Published by Oxford University Press. Key Text. This is the technical manual for the Indore Method. It provides the precise chemical and physical instructions for manufacturing compost on a large scale.
1940: An Agricultural Testament Published by Oxford University Press. Key Text. His most famous work. It contrasts nature’s methods of soil management with modern chemical farming and formally introduces the organic philosophy to the Western world.
1945: Farming and Gardening for Health or Disease Published by Faber and Faber, London. (Later published in the US in 1947 as The Soil and Health). His final book, connecting the dots between soil fertility, crop quality, and human health. It argues that the “npk mentality” is responsible for the decline in public health.
Selected Technical Bulletins & Memoirs (India Period)
Most of these were published as “Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture in India” (Botanical Series).
- 1907: First Report on the Fruit Experiments at Pusa.
- 1910: The Economic Significance of Natural Cross-fertilization in India. (With G.L.C. Howard & Abdur Rahman Khan).
- 1910: Studies in Indian Fibre Plants. (With G.L.C. Howard).
- 1911: The Milling and Baking Qualities of Indian Wheats. (With G.L.C. Howard).
- 1913: The Improvement of Indigo in Bihar. (With G.L.C. Howard).
- 1915: Soil Ventilation. (Bulletin No. 52, Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa).
- 1921: The Imperial Agricultural Department in India. (A retrospective on the department’s work).
Pamphlets, Essays & Lectures (UK Period)
After retiring to England, Howard became a prolific campaigner. Many of these were printed as pamphlets or articles for journals.
- 1935–1947: News-Letter on Compost. (Periodical edited by Howard).
- 1938: The Manufacture of Humus from the Wastes of the Town and the Village. (Lecture to the Royal Society of Arts).
- 1939: Medical Testament on Nutrition. (Correspondence in the British Medical Journal supporting the Cheshire Panel of doctors).
- 1945: The War in the Soil. (Gardener’s Book Club, No. 9).
- 1947: The Animal as Our Farming Partner. (Article in Organic Gardening magazine).
- 1947: How to Avoid a Famine of Quality. (Article in Organic Gardening magazine).