The second of a seven-volume series, The Literature of the Agricultural Sciences, this book analyzes the trends in published literature of agricultural engineering during the past century with emphasis on the last forty years. It uses citation analysis and other bibliometric techniques to identify the most important journals, report series, and monographs for the developed countries as well as those in the Third World.

Tiddens' job is to track (one might suspect, to advance) the financial prospects for American companies cultivating aquatic plants and animals. He surveys the support currently available from state and federal governments and scientific institutions and urges that more is needed.