LECTURES 
 
 OH 
 
 History of Agriculture 
 
 AND 
 
 RURAL ECONOMICS 
 
 HUNT 
 
ALBERT R. MANN 
 LIBRARY 
 
 New York State Colleges 
 
 of 
 
 Agriculture and Home Economics 
 
 AT 
 
 Cornell University 
 
W/ /M 
 
 Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924000953392 
 
LECTURES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 History of Agriculture 
 
 AND 
 
 RURAL E80NOMK3& 
 
 By THOMAS F. HUNT, M. Sc, 
 
 Professor of Agriculture, and Dean of the College of Agri- 
 culture and Domestic Science, Ohio State Uni- 
 versity, Columbus, Ohio. 
 
 COLUMBUS, OHIO; 
 
312957 
 
 Copyright, 1899, 
 
 BY THOMAS F. HUNT, M. Sc, 
 
 (All rights Reserved.) 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It has been the practice of the writer to give a brief course of 
 lectures on the History of Agriculture to Junior and Senior Stu- 
 dents in the Four-Year Course in Agriculture Jin order to cement 
 together the reading in the library which they are required to 
 do. (Appendix A). A still briefer course of lectures has been 
 given on Rural Economics in order to help the students in -work 
 ing oat apian in farm management. (Appendix C). At the 
 close of the spring term of this year the students asked permis- 
 sion to have the lectures printed, and an edition limited to one 
 hundred copies has been issued by them. If any of these copies 
 should fall into the hands of any one besides the writer's stu- 
 dents, he trusts they -will take into consideration the purpose for 
 which the matter has been prepared. 
 
 There is no special reason for printing the lectures on the His- 
 tory of Agriculture and the lectures on Rural Economics tegeth- 
 er, except the desire of the students to have these lectures be- 
 tween the same covers. 
 
 No one can appreciate more fully than the writer the imperfect 
 character of this sketch of agricultural progress, and the author 
 promises himself that should the proper leisure come to him, he 
 will endeavor at some future time to give the History of Agri- 
 culture a setting more in keeping with its importance. 
 
 June 3, 1899. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 (PART I) 
 
 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Chapter I— Egyptian Agriculture. 
 Chapter II — Egyptian Agriculture. 
 Chapter III— Grecian Agriculture. 
 Chapter IV— Roman Agriculture. 
 Chapter V— Roman Agriculture. 
 Chapter VI— British Agriculture. 
 Chapter VII— British Agriculture. 
 Chapter VIII— British Agriculture 
 
 Chapter IX— American Agriculture. 
 Chapter X — American Agriculture. 
 
 Chapter XI— American Agriculture. 
 Chapter XII— American Agriculture. 
 Chapter XIII — American Agriculture. 
 Chapter.XIV— American Agriculture. 
 
 ( PART II ) 
 
 RURAL ECONOMICS. 
 
 Chapter XV— The Farmer's Capital. 
 
 Chapter XVI — Grain Farming. 
 
 Chapter XVII— Animal Husbandry. 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 Appendix A— Sources of Information. 
 
 Appendix B— A select list of Rural Books. 
 
 Appendix C— A Problem in farm management. 
 
 Appendix D— The Extent of Agriculture in the United States- 
 Appendix E— Cereal Production in the United States. 
 
HISTORY OF 
 
 Agriculture and Rural Economics. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 You are supposed to have reached trie last term of the 
 senior year of the four years' course in agriculture. You 
 have studied the various breeds of live stock, their pro- 
 duction by breeding and feeding, and their care and man- 
 agement. You have studied animal mechanism, or those 
 principles which relate to the animal as a prime motor. 
 You have studied the origin and use of soils, as well as their 
 improvement through drainage, tillage, and manures. You 
 have studied farm crops, their history, kinds, seeding, cul- 
 tivation, and harvesting. You have studied the principles 
 that underlie the selection of a farm, and you have studied 
 its equipment in the way of roads, fences, buildings and 
 tools. You have made somewhat careful study of the plans 
 for the most economical housing of stock and grain. You 
 have also studied the manufacture of milk into dairy prod- 
 ucts. You have made a careful study of garden and fruit 
 crops. Through chemistry and botany you have made a 
 thorough study of plant and animal growth. You have 
 studied the diseases which attack plants and animals, and 
 their remedies. You have also made a study of the insects 
 which attack plants and animals, and the means for their 
 prevention or eradication. All these things you have 
 studied somewhat thoroughly although not exhaustively, 
 as a part of a four years' course in agriculture. Many other 
 things not so closely related to technical agriculture you 
 have also studied. The question therefore arises as to 
 whether there is anything left in agriculture for you to 
 study. Are there ans*- phases of the industry of agriculture 
 that have as yet been untouched ? 
 
 In order to get a clearer insight into this question, let us 
 first have a few definitions. What do we mean by the term 
 agriculture ? The word agriculture is derived from the 
 Latin "ager" meaning field, plain, or open space, and 
 " cultura," meaning cultivation. In contradistinction to 
 the word agriculture we have the term horticulture, from 
 the Latin "hortus" meaning a yard or enclosure, and 
 "cultura" meaning cultivation. In this sense therefore ag_ 
 
 " ". ;_"-- ■'ield while horticulture 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 means cultivation of the garden. The reason for the use 
 of these words in this sense arises from the practice of 
 Roman agriculture. The farm homestead in Roman agri- 
 culture was known as the " villa." This farm steading was 
 often a very elaborate affair, including many buildings, and 
 enclosures for the growth of fruits and vegetables. Out- 
 side of the villa lay the extensive unenclosed areas on 
 ■which farm crops were raised, such as wheat, barley, and 
 some of the legumes. The tillage of these unenclosed areas 
 was therefore known as agriculture, while the growth of 
 the crops in the enclosed area was known as horticulture. 
 "We retain these terms in a somewhat similar sense 
 to-day. "When we speak of the department of agriculture of the 
 university we use the term very much in the same sense, except 
 that in addition to the tillage of the field, is the division of ani- 
 mal industry. But when we speak of the school of agriculture 
 of the university we use the term in a far ■wider sense. What is 
 this wider meaning ? In order to understand it we ■will have to 
 resort to a few fundamental principles in economical science. 
 
 What gives anything its value? Dr. Gregory* illustrates value 
 by means of a triangle. In the centre of a triangle he ■writes 
 "value," on one side of the triangle "utility," on the other side 
 
 "effort," on the base of the triangle "ownership." Around 
 this triangle he draws a circle. On this circle, next to 
 "utility," he -writes "-wants," on the side next to "effort," 
 "■work," and at the base, "-wealth." Man is a being of 
 wants. He -works for the purpose of supplying those -wants. 
 The result or accumulated products of -work is -wealth. The 
 value of anything depends upon its having utility, on the effort 
 that it takes to produce it, and in addition, -whether it is capable 
 of ownership. It may be insisted upon that wealth is only the 
 accumulated products of -work. If a man can only produce 
 what he consumes from time to time, no -wealth can result, but 
 if he can produce more than he consumes, wealth results. If he 
 
 *Dr. Gregory's Political Economy, p. 31. 
 
INTRODUCTION. VII 
 
 sells more than he has to buy he gets rich, and if he 
 buys more than he has to sell, he becomes bankrupt. What is 
 true of the individual is just as true of the nation. The reason the 
 United States is so wealthy is that she produces much more farm 
 products than she needs. For example, we produce as much In- 
 dian corn per inhabitant as Europe does of all cereals combined. 
 
 For a thing to have value it must supply some want. The pro- 
 duction of mud pies is not profitable because they have no util- 
 ity and do not satisfy any desire after they are made. A thing 
 to have value must require effort. Air is of vast importance and 
 its utility is unquestioned, but for the most part it is procured 
 without effort. In some cases, however, as for example, -where 
 buildings are ventilated by- artificial means, air may be said to 
 have value, because it requires effort. "Water in a running brook 
 has no value because it can be procured without effort, but in 
 the city water pipes or in irrigation ditches of the West it has 
 value because of the effort required to procure it. The fact that 
 a thing in order to have value must be capable of being owned 
 is illustrated by our patent and copyright laws. Until recently 
 the products of the author's work in this country was of no value 
 to him in European countries, because any one could print the 
 book -without asking leave. The international copyright law now 
 prevents publishers from printing books which have been copy- 
 righted in another country. Thus the author receives compen- 
 sation for his labor and his work therefore has value. Suppos- 
 ing a thing to have utility and capable of ownership, the value 
 of the thing is sometimes said to be the cost of replacing the 
 object. If a person chances to pick up a gold nugget while pass- 
 ing along the mountain side the value of it would not depend 
 upon the effort he had bestowed in procuring it but it would be 
 due to the cost of reproducing it. So the value of the wheat the 
 farmer has to sow would be said to be the cost of reproducing 
 the wheat. It is in fact however rather the average value of the 
 cost of the production which determines value as we do not 
 know how much it would cost to reproduce it. Some years ago 
 in the United States we got more for a bushel of wheat than it 
 cost us to produce it because the average cost of producing it in 
 other countries was greater, while again other years we get less 
 than it costs us to produce it because it costs other countries less 
 on the average than it costs us. The average price of a bushel 
 of wheat therefore becomes the average cost of producing it 
 throughout the world. 
 
 My purpose however, is not to illustrate this economic circle 
 of want, work, and wealth, but to point out that all wealth is 
 due to work, and is the accumulated products of work, and that 
 therefore agricultural wealth is due to the work that it took to 
 produce it. Let us then inquire what position agriculture holds 
 in the production of wealth. It is sometimes claimed that the 
 farmer is the only producer. It is true that the world is depend- 
 ent upon the farm for subsistence, but in any civilized country 
 
VIII 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the people are dependent upon many other occupations besides 
 that of the farm. 
 
 All the work of the world may be divided into four or at best 
 five different classes. Following the classification given by Dr. 
 Gregory,* there are, aside from the services rendered 
 by lawyers, doctors, ministers, teachers, and various 
 personal servants, three forms of work: First, changes 
 in substance or natural products, second, changes in 
 form or mechanical products, and third, changes in place or 
 exchange of products. Under the head of exchange of products, 
 we have exchange between owners simply, which is trade, 
 such as is indulged in by ordinary merchants; second, exchange 
 between both owners and places, under which we have com- 
 merce, and third, changes in place but not in ownership, in 
 •which we have simply transportation. Under changes of form 
 or mechanical products we have what is generally understood 
 as manufacture. Under changes in substance, or natural prod- 
 
 ' Vital animal and vegetable materials 
 for food, clothing and shelter, 
 
 (Agriculture) 
 
 M 
 PS 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 02 
 
 o 
 
 Changes in Substance, /Ohemical 
 or 
 Natural Products. 
 
 Ores, rocks, coal, salt, etc. 
 Mining and Metallurgy, 
 
 (Drugs and chemical prod- 
 ucts. 
 
 Ohemical manufacturing. 
 
 /Changes in Forms, ., „ , 
 
 \ Manufacturing. 
 
 \Mechanical Products. 
 
 Ohanges in Place, 
 
 ' Between owners simply, 
 
 Merchandising. 
 
 1 Exchange of Products. 
 
 /Between owners and place, 
 
 Commerce. 
 
 Ohanges in place, 
 
 Transportation. 
 
 ♦Gregory's Political Economy, p. 207. 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 ucts, we have two general divisions, vital and chemical. Un- 
 der the head of chemical products we have the rocks, coal, salt, 
 and similar substances from -which is derived mining and the 
 metallurgical arts. "We have also drugs and other chemical 
 products from -which are derived chemical manufactures. 
 
 Under vital products we have animal and vegetable foods and 
 materials, or in other words, vital products supply food, clothing, 
 and shelter. That form of -work -which supplies those natural 
 products -which are the basis of food, clothing, and shelter, is 
 agriculture. Outside of the people who are simply the servants 
 of the industrial classes we may therefore divide the industries 
 of the world into three classes, agriculture, manufacture, and 
 transportation. The following table shows the number of per- 
 sons engaged in gainful occupations in the United States ac 
 cording to the census of 1890: 
 
 Farm and garden 8,375,979 
 
 All the professions 944,323 
 
 Domestic and personal service 4,360,506 
 
 Trade and transportation 3,325,962 
 
 Manufacturing and mechanical industries 5,091,669 
 
 It -will be perceived that agriculture deals with -what -we may 
 term the gifts of nature, and -we may therefore state that agri- 
 culture consists in so guiding and arranging the gifts of nature 
 that the vital forces will produce in abundance products in a 
 form useful to mankind, and is engaged in for the purpose of 
 profit. All products found here by man in their natural state, 
 are gifts of nature. For example, the land, the air, the -water, 
 and the plants and animals which are found growing -wild. In 
 its natural state land is a gift of nature just as much as air and 
 -water. Land acquires value only by the labor and the improve- 
 ments which are the result of the labor -which has been put 
 upon it. The guiding and arranging of the gifts of nature has 
 put a value upon it. So the seeds -which -we sow and the 
 animals which we grow were once gifts of nature, but by man's 
 guidance they have been -wonderfully changed and greatly im- 
 proved, so that the seeds we now sow have a value. The 
 accumulated ages of guidance have so improved them that in 
 many instances -we no longer know the -wild type -which was a 
 gift of nature. Corn, -wheat and barley are familiar illustrations 
 of this fact. Plants and animals -were not made; they were 
 simply guided or arranged in such a manner that the vital 
 forces caused them to be improved. 
 
 It is -worthy of note here that of the three great classes of in- 
 dustries -which absorb the energies of mankind, agriculture is 
 the only one that deals -with living things— -"with vital forces. 
 The products of agriculture are the products of living things. 
 The reason for manufacturing and transportation having 
 already reached a much higher state of development is the fact 
 that their improvement depends upon physical laws which are 
 capable of much more exact demonstration. "When develop- 
 ment began in the middle ages it is a -well known fact that it 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 began in manufacturing first and not in agriculture. The reason 
 for this is because advancement in civilization proceeds along 
 lines of least resistance. Did it ever occur to you why the 
 Mississippi River did not run straight from St. Paul to New 
 Orleans ? Through your study of drainage you are aware that 
 if the channel were straight the fall would be much greater and 
 the resistance much less; secondly, the channel -would carry 
 much more -water than it now does. "Why then should the river 
 not be straight instead of being so tortuous ? The reason is that 
 when rain falls upon the earth it proceeds along the lines of least 
 resistance. Water started to run in the way that it was easiest 
 to run, and running against an obstacle, it simply ran in another 
 direction, and so on, until it reached the Gulf of Mexico, proceed- 
 ing along the lines of least resistance. It has been just so with 
 civilization. 
 
 "We are often told that if the farmer -would apply the same 
 business methods to agriculture that are applied in manufactur- 
 ing and in mercantile pursuits, his success would be equally 
 great. "Without question, business methods in farming are not 
 only desirable but essential. But the same business methods 
 that will apply in manufacturing -will not apply in farming. 
 In the case of the manufacturer, when it rains he has a roof over 
 his workmen and the -work is not interrupted ; when it grows 
 dark in the evening he can light his lights, and still the -work 
 continues ; if it gets cold he has his fires and the men are com- 
 fortable. Thus knowing the number of working days there are 
 in the year, he knows how many hours his men can work each 
 day, and how many hours they can work each year, but it is not 
 so in agriculture. A few years ago we had twenty-one days of 
 rain in thirty -one days in May. The next year between the fifth 
 day of June and the fifth day of September there -was not one- 
 half an inch of rainfall at any one time. There is then a great 
 variation in the working efficiency of men employed in agri- 
 culture. 
 
 It is much the same in the use of machinery. One man by the 
 use of the shoe-pegging machine invented by Professor Robinson , 
 can in one year peg many thousands of shoes. The first cost of 
 this machine may be very great, but the manufacturer can use 
 it ten hours a day or even twenty -four hours a day, every work- 
 ing day in the year, and thus the capital employed for the 
 amount of work done is not great. On the other hand the 
 farmer buys a self-binder, and probably in Ohio the average 
 farmer with $125 invested in a self-binder, does not use it more 
 than six days each year. 
 
 Taking this broad view of agriculture to be all those industries 
 which deal with living things, we may divide agriculture into 
 several classes. The following table* will serve as an outline : 
 ♦Gregory's Political Economy, p. 208. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 ' Grain Farming— Cereals and Grasses ] 
 Plantations-Cotton, Sugar, Tobacco, J" Agriculture 
 
 Plant Production J 
 
 < Truck Farming, Market Gardening— "| 
 (Soil Culture) Vegetables. I Horticulture 
 
 Fruit Growing — Fruits. J 
 
 ^ Forestry— Trees, Shrubs. £ Arboriculture 
 
 ! Stock Raising— Work, Meats, Fats, Hides. 
 Stock Feeding— Meat, Fats. 
 Stock Breeding-Animals. 
 Dairy Farming— Butter and Cheese. 
 Sheep Husbandry — Wool Raising. 
 Poultry Raising— Eggs. 
 Bee Keeping— Honey. 
 Mixed Husbandry. 
 
 It will be seen at a glance from this outline that agriculture 
 may be divided into plant production and animal production, 
 or may be, as is generally the case, a combination of these two 
 classes, known as mixed husbandry. 
 
 Having thus hastily reviewed the field of agriculture, -we are, 
 perhaps, now in a position to consider whether there is any- 
 thing left for you to study in agriculture. Perhaps I can make 
 this clearer by asking, what should a professor of agriculture 
 teach ? The following tabular statement may help us under- 
 stand the scope of the instruction that may be given : 
 
 1. Processes of agriculture. 
 
 2. Description of varieties. 
 
 3. History of agriculture. 
 
 4. Comparative agriculture. 
 
 5. Agricultural statistics. 
 
 6. Rural economy. 
 
 By comparative agriculture, is meant the agriculture of other 
 countries as it exists to-day in comparison with our own. 
 Everyone interested in agriculture should have some intelligent 
 understanding of the proportions, of the industry and its relation 
 to other occupations ; hence the importance of agricultural 
 statistics. The processes of agriculture, that is to say, the meth- 
 ods of producing plants and animals, including the necessary 
 equipment and machinery for their production, you have al- 
 ready studied. You have also studied the varieties of plants 
 and animals used in agriculture. As yet, however, we have 
 barely touched upon the history of agriculture. 
 
 It was Goethe -who said, "No one ever knows his mother 
 tongue until he knows something of a foreign language." This 
 is a fundamental psychological fact. One is conscious of his 
 existence only through contact with external things. We know 
 the size of an object only by comparison -with others of known 
 size. We know our own capabilities only by comparison with 
 those of others ; only by being matched by a foeman -worthy of 
 our steel. If, as claimed, one cannot have a proper knowledge 
 
XII INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of philosophy without a thorough study of the history of philos- 
 ophy, then the student of agriculture cannot have a proper 
 knowledge of agriculture without the study of history of agri- 
 culture, i 
 
 No attempt will be made in the lectures which follow to 
 give a complete history of agriculture, but the purpose is to 
 follow briefly that stream of civilization of -which we are 
 universally recognized to be a part. To this end, the history 
 of the agriculture of the following countries ■will be treated: 
 
 1 Egyptian, prior to the conquest of Egypt by the Persians, 
 
 B. C. 526. 
 
 2 Grecian, prior to the conquest of Greece by the Romans. 
 
 B. C. 146. 
 
 3 Roman, to the fall of the Roman Empire, 476, A. D. 
 
 4 British, to the close of the 17th century. 
 
 5 American to the present time. 
 
 The -word economy comes from the Greek words meaning 
 house and law; hence by economy we mean the law of the 
 household, or to give it a -wider and more modern significa- 
 tion, the law or rules by -which things are managed. By po- 
 litical economy we mean the principles and rules by -which 
 government is managed. Hence by rural economy we mean 
 the principles and rules applicable to farm management. We 
 thus come under the head of rural economy, to consider farm- 
 ing as a business. Heretofore in our discussions of agriculture 
 -we have considered it rather as a science, but now -we are to 
 consider the business of agriculture. In other words we are to 
 consider it in its true aspect. Agriculture is not a science; 
 neither is it a trade nor a profession, but rather an occupation. 
 There may be a science of agriculture, but grammar is not En- 
 glish, neither is political economy, government. The study of 
 grammar, of the science of government, and the science of ag- 
 riculture, is desirable. He -who -wishes to speak the English 
 language correctly should study grammar. He who wishes 
 to become truly a statesman should study the science of gov- 
 ernment. It is true, however, that people talk the English 
 language with fair accuracy -without any knowledge of gram- 
 mar, and that many people -who have studied grammar do 
 not talk correctly. Many politicians have never studied the 
 science of government; some perhaps have not the ability to 
 learn it. Yet they perform the most important duties of a citi- 
 zen, and -with the guidance and example of those who do know 
 something of the science of government, manage to perform 
 their duties fairly well. The application of this metaphor to 
 the study of agriculture is, I think, sufficiently obvious. 
 
 It is, perhaps, not out of place before an advanced class of 
 this character to call attention to the fact that the title profes. 
 sor of agriculture or the term department of agriculture is 
 an unfortunate one. There should be a college of agricul- 
 ture and a course in agriculture but not a department of agri- 
 culture; just as there is a college of law, or a college of medi- 
 
INTRODUCTON. XIII 
 
 cine, but not a department or professor of law or medicine. A 
 more logical division in many respects than the present one 
 into agriculture and horticulture, would have been the divis- 
 ion into plant production and animal production. Our pres- 
 ent terminology is an illustration of the influence of Roman 
 laws and customs. 
 
 This fault in organization of our agricultural colleges is now 
 pretts^ ■well recognized and an attempt is being made by the 
 American Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experi- 
 ment Stations to bring about a more logical and pedagogical 
 system of teaching. 
 
 This association has recommended} that all courses of stud- 
 ies in all universities and colleges established under the Land 
 Grant Act of 1862 and supported the Morrill act of 1890 should 
 teach the following general studies, -which should constitute 
 about two fifths of the -work required for a bachelor's degree: 
 
 Hours. 
 
 Algebra 75 
 
 Geometry -40 
 
 Trigonometry -40 
 
 Physics (class-room -work) 75 
 
 Physics (laboratory -work) 75 
 
 Chemistry (class-room work) 75 
 
 Chemistry, laboratory work, 75 
 
 English -. 200 
 
 Modern languages 340 
 
 Psychology 60 
 
 Ethics or logic -40 
 
 Political economy 60 
 
 General history 80 
 
 Constitutional law 50 
 
 Total 1,285 
 
 Taking this as a basis, the committee on methods of teach- 
 ing agriculture has recommended* the following additional 
 subjects to be included in a four-years' course in agriculture 
 leading to the degree of bachelor of science, as follows: 
 
 Hours. 
 
 Agriculture 486 
 
 Horticulture and forestry 180 
 
 Veterinary science, including anatomy 180 
 
 Agricultural chemistry, in addition to general require- 
 ments 180 
 
 Botany, including vegetable physiology and pathology. 180 
 
 Zoology, including entomology 120 
 
 Physiology 180 
 
 ' ^ on 
 
 Geology lzu 
 
 Meteorology " i; 
 
 Drawing 6 
 
 Total 1 .746 
 
 tt si in«».+ of \<rr Of-fi'-p nf Kxoerijraent Stations, Bull. 41, p. 52. 
 -...--- --_ ins Circ. 37. 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The committee on methods of teaching agriculture has 
 proposed* somewhat definite subdivision for the term Agricul- 
 ture as given in the above scheme as follows: 
 
 Agriculture < 
 
 Climate, soils, fertiliz. 
 ing and crops— plant 
 production. 
 
 Animal physiology & 
 animal production. 
 Agricultural industries 
 e. g., dairying, sugar 
 making. 
 
 Roads, drains, irriga- 
 tion systems, farm 
 buildings, etc. 
 General policy of farm 
 management, rural 
 
 law, agricultural book- 
 keeping, etc. 
 In this outline the history of agriculture is to find a place 
 
 under rural economy, although not strictly a related subject. 
 
 ♦See U. S. Dept. of Agr. Office of Experiment Stations, Circ. 33. 
 
 Agronomy, agricul- 
 ture, technical. 
 
 Zootechny, or animal 
 industry. 
 
 Agrotechny, or agri- 
 cultural technology. 
 
 Rural engineering, 
 farm mechanics, or 
 farm management. 
 
 Rural 
 farm 
 
 economy or 
 management. 
 
PART I. 
 
 History of Agriculture. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 There are three centers of early civilization, namely India, 
 Egypt and Central America. It is not our purpose to inquire 
 into their relative importance or antiquity, but to inquire what 
 were the essential conditions of their growth. Why did these 
 localities become peopled with persons of some advancement 
 in civilization before those parts of the world which now sup- 
 port the most advanced populations ? As long as man or a na- 
 tion must use his or its total energies in gaining a bare sub- 
 sistence there can be no progress. The prosperity of our nation 
 is due primarily to its great surplus of productions, and that 
 chiefly agricultural productions. In 1880 the United States 
 produced fifty bushels of cereals per capita while in Europe 
 less than sixteen bushels per capita were produced. If a man 
 earns one dollar and it costs him one dollar for mere subsist- 
 ence, no progress can be made. If he earns one dollar and it 
 costs him ninety -nine cents to live he can use one dollar in one 
 hundred for improvement or one man in a hundred may use all 
 his time in improving individuals of his race by ministering 
 to their physical wants, teaching them how to work to better 
 advantage, protecting the weak against the strong, or in mak- 
 ing rude implements by which more can be done by each man, 
 all of -which will result in turn that more men can devote 
 their time to the improvement of the race. This in fact is civ- 
 ilization. 
 
 When we come to study into these three centers of civiliza- 
 tion of which I have spoken, we find that the conditions were 
 favorable to a surplus of the requirements of life, with little la- 
 bor- The essential conditions for such a surplus among a bar- 
 barous people, are soil and climate, and more particularly cli- 
 mate, as climate largely makes soil. The Desert of . Sahara 
 would in all probability be a Garden of Eden if the climate 
 were favorable, as is shown by the oases, which are nothing 
 more than sub-irrigated districts. People are much more affect- 
 ed by climate than is usually realized, 'What item in the daily 
 papers of the United States to-morrow will be most universal- 
 ly read? I predict it will be the weather report. The body of 
 the people are greatly affected by the condition of the weather 
 
16 EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 from day to day, so much, so that a prominent member of the 
 legislature asserted to me that the passage of bills in the House 
 of representatives depended largely upon the weather. In these 
 centers of civilization the soil yielded in abundance and with 
 little labor and the climate 'was of such character as to require 
 but little protection for bodily comfort. Under no other condi- 
 tions nave people risen from barbarism to a civilized or even 
 semi-civilized condition. 
 
 No progress could be made in any temperate climate until peo- 
 ple advanced somewhat in the arts so as to be able to cope -with 
 the forces of nature. The discovery of America four thousand 
 years ago would have been of no value to civilization; indeed 
 the evidence seems to be that the Norsemen in the tenth centu- 
 ry A. D. not only discovered America but settled and for some 
 years lived in Massachusetts, but their advancement was not 
 sufficient to make a continued livlihood under the conditions of 
 the soil and climate possible. It is to be presumed that there 
 were as many inhabitants in this country as it would support 
 under their conditions of civilization when it was discovered 
 four hundred years ago, and yet it has been estimated that 
 there were in the United States at that time a less number of 
 persons than now live in Hamilton County, Ohio. • 
 
 People have developed along the line of least resistance. The 
 more the advance in the arts and sciences, the more they are 
 able to cope -with nature and subdue her and to make her useful 
 to mankind, and just as rapidly as nature is made more useful, 
 man makes further advance. What is meant by making ad- 
 vance is simply that more people can devote their time to the 
 improvement of the race. It -was only a f ew years ago that people 
 believed a large portion of the United States could never be in- 
 habited. How much of the United States west of the Alleghe- 
 nies would be a veritable -wilderness were it not for railroads , 
 steam-boats, the self-binder, and the host of other implements' 
 that have made it possible for men to subdue this great country 
 and make her yield a large surplus above present needs? In 
 this great valley is raised the larger part of the corn crop of the 
 ■world, and this crop it should be remembered, yields twice as 
 much food per acre as any other cereal grown. The addition, 
 therefore, of this great valley to the productive capacity of the 
 ■world, has been of great benefit to mankind. Does it not follow 
 that the three great stretches of country in South America, Af- 
 rica and Asia, may yet be inhabited by people? I predict that if 
 man ever becomes able to cope with the great forces of nature 
 in these localities, that the civilization -will be higher than has 
 heretofore been known, because nature is more lavish in these 
 lqcalities. It is because here forces are on such a grand scale 
 that man has been unable to cope ■with her. 
 
 These few broad general outlines taring us tb the study of an- 
 cient agriculture -with new light and new interest, especially 
 ■when we remember that it may be properly held that the histo- 
 
' EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 17 
 
 ry of agriculture is, in. some measure at least, the history of 
 
 civilization. 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL, OUTLINE :- 
 
 Within Egypt proper tliere is an area of about 1 00,000 square 
 miles* or a little more tlian Ohio and Illinois combined. In 
 1887 it contained a population of 5 1-2 million people, and its 
 principal export was cotton. This valley is watered by the Nile, 
 which, rises in the lakes Victoria and Alberta. The former con- 
 tains an area of 40,000 square miles— almost exactly that of the 
 state of Ohio, and is situated 1° 15' south of the equator. The 
 Nile empties into the Mediterranean sea at Rosetta and Dami- 
 etta at 31° 35 ■ North. The Nile is said to traverse 4100 miles 
 in going this distance, as compared with the Mississippi, which 
 traverses 3000 miles. , As the crows fly, the distance from "Vic- 
 toria Nyanza to the Mediterranean is 2000 miles, while from 
 Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico is about 1300 miles. The val- 
 ley of the Nile, however, is not ancient Egypt. The tillable area 
 of Egypt was only about 11,400 square milestbr about the size 
 of Belgium and is divided into two portions, the delta and the 
 valley proper. The delta is a triangular area, whose distance 
 bet-ween the mouth at Rosetta and Damietta is 120 miles, and 
 whose distance from the branch of the river at Cairo to the sea 
 is about 90 miles, the -whole area being estimated at about 7,000 
 square miles. This -was probably largely a grazing district. The 
 valley extends from Cairo south-ward about 520 miles to the 
 last of the ten cataracts near -which is the town of Assuan, the 
 ancient Syene. The average -width of tillable soil on either side 
 does not exceed two miles. This area occupies about 4,000 
 square miles and is generally recognized as the seat of the an- 
 cient civilization. 
 
 One of the minor districts of Egypt is the Fayoom. This inter- 
 esting district contains Lake Moeris, which is a natural basin 
 into -which the water of the Nile has been fed by a canal eight 
 miles long, and various sub-canals water this district, thus 
 bringing into use some 4,000 square miles of territory. This is 
 one of the most stupendous -works from an agricultural stand- 
 point, that has ever been performed in Egypt, and was supposed 
 to have been done in its early history. 
 
 The Nile is divided into two main branches towards its head- 
 waters; the Blue Nile rises in the highlands of Abyssinia. 
 Speaking of this, Rawlinson says: "In the dry season the 
 stream is small, but during the rainy season it brings with it 
 a vast volume of water heavily charged with earthy matter 
 of a red color, and contributes largely to the Nile and to the fer- 
 tilizing deposit which gives its productiveness to Egypt. 
 
 The White or True Nile at its junction -with the Blue, is about 
 two miles in width -when the -water is at medium height. From 
 this point it flows at first nearly due north, but after a time in- 
 clines towards the east and -where it receives its last tributary 
 
 Jlbid, p. 5. 
 
 *Rawlinson's Ancient Egypt, Vol. 1, p. 3. 
 
18 EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 the Atbara, has reached its extreme easterly limit, which is 
 east longitude 34° nearly. The latitude of the junction is 17° 37" 
 according to Sir Samuel Baker. Here, 1100 miles from its mouth, 
 the river has its greatest volume. Between Atbara Junction 
 and the Mediterranean not a single stream is received from eith- 
 er side, and the Nile runs on for 1100 miles through dry regions 
 of rock and sand, suffering a constant loss through absorption 
 and evaporation, yet pouring into the Mediterranean a volume 
 of water which has been estimated at 150,556 millions of cubic 
 meters a day in the low, and at 705,514 millions of cubic me- 
 ters a day in the high season. In latitude 17° 37" the volume 
 must be very much more considerable."* 
 
 In 1861 Sir Samuel W. Baker, explored the Atbara, the 
 last tributary to the Nile. "Writing during the early part of June 
 he says: "Many pools were of considerable size and of great 
 depth. In flood time a tremendous torrent sweeps down the 
 course of the Atbara, and the sudden bends in the river are hol- 
 lowed out by the force of the stream to a depth of twenty or 
 thirty feet below the level of the bed. Accordingly these holes 
 become reservoirs of water when the river is other-wise exhaust- 
 ed. In such asylums all the usual inhabitants of this large 
 river are crowded together in a comparatively narrow space. 
 Although these pools vary in size from only a f ew hundred 
 yards to a mile in length, they are positively full of life; huge 
 fish, crocodiles of immense size, turtles, and occasionally hip- 
 popotami, consort together in close and unwished for proximi- 
 ty. The animals of the desert— gazelles, hyenas, and wild asses- 
 are compelled to resort to these drinking places, occupied by the 
 flocks of the Arabs equally with the timid beasts of the chase. "t 
 Later he gives this graphic description of the arrival of the riv- 
 er "like a thief in the night": "On the morning of the 24th of 
 June, I stood on the banks of the noble Atbara at the break of 
 day. The wonder of the desert!— Yesterday there was a barren 
 sheet of glaring sand, ■with a fringe of ■withered bush and trees 
 upon its borders, that cut the yellow expanse of desert. For 
 days we had journeyed along the exhausted bed; all Nature, 
 even in nature's poverty, was most poor: no bush could boast a 
 leaf: no tree could throw a shade: crisp gums crackled upon 
 the stems of the mimosas, the sap dried upon the burst bark, 
 sprung -with the ■withering heat of the simoon. In one night 
 there was a mysterious change— wonders of the mighty Nile!— ' 
 an army of water was hastening to the wasted river; there ■was 
 no drop of rain, no thunder cloud on the horizon to give hope, 
 all had been dry and sultry; dust and desolation yesterday, to- 
 day a magnificent stream, some 500 yards in width and from 
 fifteen to twenty feet in depth, flowed through the dreary des- 
 ertl Bamboos and reeds, with trash of all kinds ■were hurried 
 along the muddy waters. Where were all the crowded inhab- 
 
 *Rawlinson's Ancient Egypt, Vol. I, p. 14. 
 
 fJBaker's The .Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, p. 2-t. 
 
EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 19 
 
 itants of the pool? TtLe prison doors were broken, the prisoners 
 were released, and rejoiced in the mighty stream of the Atba" 
 ra."* 
 
 Thus it -was that Sir Samuel W. Baker surmised that the rains 
 of Abyssinia were the source of the Nile. The mystery of the Nile 
 had been foreshadowed. 
 
 Enough has been said of the physical features of Egypt to 
 show why Herodotus, the Greek historian, (B. G. 484-420) who 
 is the main source of all our direct knowledge of ancient Egypt, 
 should have remarked that Egypt is the gift of the Nile. The 
 Nile begins to rise in June, continues to rise until September, 
 then falls until January. September 15th is said to have been 
 the Egyptian's New Year's day. The waters have receded suf- 
 ficiently by the latter part of October so that the seeding can be 
 accomplished. The powdered rock from the mountains of Ab- 
 yssinia through these overflows has produced a deposit -which 
 is thirty feet thick along the lower thousand miles of the Nile 
 and in this bed the Nile flows. II 
 
 In ancient times it was said that at Memphis, near the pres- 
 ent site of Cairo, a rise of 14 cubits caused joy, of fifteen, security 
 and sixteen delight.* If there -were but twelve cubits, a famine 
 might be expected. An excess -was equally disastrous. 
 
 "The mounds -which keep the water from the villages are over- 
 flowed or broken down; the cottages built of mud collapse and 
 are washed away; the cattle are drowned; the corn in the store 
 is spoiled, and the inhabitants -with difficulty save their lives by 
 climbing trees or making their way to some neighboring emi- 
 nence. Providentially the excessive inundations occur but sel- 
 dom. The uniformity which characterizes nature is no where 
 more observable than in Egypt and a rise of even two feet above 
 the average is of rather unusual occurrence.S" 
 
 In upper Egypt where the valley is narrow the rise is greater, 
 being 36 feet at Thebes and about 40 at Syene as compared -with 
 24 feet at Memphis, while in the delta district it varies from 4 to 
 20 feet.t 
 
 It is not to be understood that all the land is overflowed, but 
 much of it had to be irrigated, -which gave rise to stupendous 
 canals and irrigation ditches upon the part of the government- 
 The ancient Egyptians had reason to understand thoroughly 
 the relation of water to successful agriculture. 
 
 It is interesting to note in this connection that as early as 
 1872 Sir Samuel W. Baker called attention to the possibility 
 of controlling the waters of the Nile; so that the enormous vol- 
 ume of water that now rushes uselessly into the sea might be 
 led throughout the deserts of Nubia andLydia to transform them 
 into cotton fields that would render England independent of 
 
 ♦Baker's The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, p. 37. 
 
 IIErman's Life in Ancient Egypt, p. 9. 
 
 gKawlinson's Ancient Egypt, Vol. I, p. 21. 
 
 flbid. 
 
 tAn Egyptian cubit was 20.64 English inches. 
 
20 EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 America. I! The Duke of Connaught, the son of Queen Victoria, 
 has just laid the foundation stones for a great granite dam near 
 Assuan, -which -will be a mile and a quarter in length, seventy- 
 feet high and forty -five feet -wide. This dam will form a reser- 
 voir of about 670 square miles and it is calculated that the 
 ■water will irrigate about 2,500 square miles. It is hoped that 
 this enterprise -will make Egypt and Soudan the greatest wheat 
 and cotton growing region in the -world. 
 
 Ancient Egypt occupies about the same latitude as Florida . 
 There is one great difference, however, bet-ween Florida and 
 Egypt. While in Florida the rainfall is abundant, it scarcely 
 ever rains in Egypt. This is particularly true of upper Egypt, 
 in -which ordinary .showers occur only five or six times a year- 
 A continuous heavy rain for two or three days, says Rawlinson_ 
 is almost unheard of , and would cause the fall of many build- 
 ings, no provision being made against it. In lower Egypt, how- 
 ever, rain is not uncommon in the winter months. During the 
 summer the temperature ranges from 100° to 112° in the shade 
 during the daytime, and snow and frost are -wholly unknown 
 at any season of the year, the temperature rarely falling below 
 40° F. 
 
 Agriculturally considered, man has arisen from savagery to 
 civilization through several stages. During the first stage man 
 obtained subsistence from eating fruits, including nuts and from 
 roots, during the second stage by hunting and fisning, during 
 the third stage by herding of flocks, and during the fourth by 
 tillage of the soil. Cain -was a keeper of flocks, Abel a tiller of 
 the soil. We begin the history of Egyptian agriculture in the 
 fourth stage, namely, that of tilling the soil. The conditions 
 were a warm equitable climate, -without rain, thus requiring 
 and receiving practically no protection of the body. Children 
 of both sexes -wore no clothing before the age of puberty. A soil 
 in -which nature prepared a seed bed, fertilized and irrigated it, 
 and at first so-wed the seed. Nature thus indicated to man how 
 to raise crops, and man merely imitates nature's handiwork. 
 Birch, in his history of Egypt, says "No country could have been 
 better fitted for the cradle of the human race, blessed with a 
 rainless sky, a fertile soil, an incessant supply of water, and 
 protected by its conformation from the disaster of early con- 
 quest, it possessed all that -was necessary for the happiness 
 and safety of its population." 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY :-Although an arbitrary date, it is usu- 
 al to begin the history of Egypt about 2700 B. C. or a little more 
 than 4500 years ago. According to this mythical history, 
 Manes about 2700 B. C. conquered lower Egypt. During "the 
 2000 years of -which -we -will treat of Egyptian agriculture, 
 twenty-six dynasties of Pharaohs or kings -were supposed to 
 have reigned. This period is divided into three divisions,— The 
 Old Empire, 2700 B. C. to 2080 B. C, The Middle Empire, 2080 
 to 1525 B. C, and the New Empire, 1525 to 526 B. C. The 400 
 ||Baker'9 The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, p. 383. 
 
EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 21 
 
 years of the Middle Empire may be styled tlie Dark Ages of 
 Egypt. During this time the country is supposed to have been 
 ruled by a foreign race known as the Shepherd Kings, and de- 
 scribed as rude and barbarous people. For a brief statement of 
 the political history of these ancient people the student is re- 
 ferred to Barnes' Brief History of Ancient, Mediaeval, and Mod- 
 ern peoples, or any similar work. 
 
 One of the most striking features as bearing upon the agri- 
 culture of Egypt is the division of the people into castes. The 
 usual division is into four castes, --1, the sacerdotal caste, most- 
 ly princes of the royal family; their privileges were worship, 
 justice, levying and collecting taxes, and the entire civil admin- 
 istration: 2— the military caste, who were charged -with the 
 maintenance of order at home and abroad; 3— the agricultural 
 caste, -who were subjected to taxes in kind for the support of 
 the king and upper classes. The fourth class included arti- 
 sans, merchants, and ■workmen of all kinds. Within the castes 
 the trades were hereditary within families. This was not 
 without exception, however, for Brugsch, one of the leading 
 Egyptologists, says "Neither descent nor family hampered the 
 rise or career of the clever. Many a monument sacred to the 
 memory of some nobleman who had held high rank at court, 
 has the simple and laudatory inscription, 'His ancestors were 
 unknown people.' " According to some writers there were two 
 general classes, the upper and the lower. To the upper be- 
 longed the king, the royal family, the priests and the soldiers. 
 The upper classes possessed the land over which they exacted 
 tribute. 
 
 Of the lower classes Barnes says: "All the free population not 
 belonging to the priesthood or the military -was divided into 
 three general classes, which were again subdivided, each trade 
 or occupation having its own rank, and inhabiting a certain 
 quarter of the town. The highest of these classes included 
 the husbandmen or farmers, huntsmen and Nile boatmen. 
 Next in rank were the artisans, tradesmen, mechanics and 
 public weighers; while the lowest class was made up of herds- 
 men, fishermen, polterers, and common laborers. Swine 
 herds were the most despised of all men, and were forbidden 
 to enter the temples." If you doubt that we receive our civil- 
 ization from Egypt, tell me how -we come by our popular an- 
 tipathy for hogs . 
 
 "As the entire land of Egypt," this writer proceeds to say, 
 "was owned by the king, the priests and the soldiers, the low- 
 er classes had no real estate, but they had strongly marked de- 
 grees of importance depending upon the relative rank of the 
 trade to -which they were born and their business success. No 
 artisan could meddle in political affairs, hold any civil office 
 or engage in any other employment than the one to which 
 he had been brought up, under a severe penalty. Every man 
 was expected to have some regular means of subsistence, a 
 
22 EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE, 
 
 written declaration of which was deposited periodically with 
 the magistrate. A false account or an .unlawful office was 
 punished by death.* 
 •Barnes' Brief History of Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Peoples, p. 21. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 While Egypt was the seat of a considerable ancient civiliza- 
 tion there can be little doubt that its extent and grandeur was 
 formerly at least, greatly overestimated. Agriculture was the 
 principal industry and in a way was held in high esteem, as is 
 shown by the fact that the agricultural caste stands next to 
 the military. Labor was performed largely by hired laborers 
 or slaves, although some farms were tilled by peasants. The 
 small cultivator was held up to ridicule by ancient -writers, and 
 it is said that he was not only held in contempt by the privi- 
 leged classes, but even by their servants and slaves. 
 
 There does not seem to be any historical evidence with re- 
 gard to the size and equipment of the farm. Inasmuch, how- 
 ever, as the Nile valley -which was a strip 500 miles long -with 
 about two miles of tillable soil on each side, supported a com- 
 paratively dense population, it is to be assumed that in this por- 
 tion of Egypt plant culture rather than animal industry, -was 
 the rule. The size of the farm -would therefore be small. It is 
 stated that each soldier was allowed eight acres, from which 
 he exacted tribute. In the Delta region the conditions are less 
 favorable to plant culture and more favorable to animal pro- 
 duction. 
 
 ANIMALS:- Horses -were not known in Egypt prior to the 
 conquest of Egypt by the Shepherd Kings in 1900 B. C. As hors- 
 es were introduced about this time I deem it probable that 
 they were introduced by the Shepherd Kings, and that these 
 latter came from Asia, which -was undoubtedly the region 
 -whence the horse came to ~Egypt. As pointed out by Dar- 
 win, the instinct of the horse to paw away the snow for food, 
 is evidence of his northern habitat. The horse, stallions rath- 
 er than mares, -was used for war and for shows but scarcely 
 ever for ordinary labor. There is evidence that they were both 
 ridden and driven during the New Empire, although probably 
 to a limited extent. Within Egypt traffic was largely by boats, 
 while for traffic -with the outside world camels were much 
 better suited and were universally used. 
 
 That the donkey, the carnal perhaps excepted, was the prin- 
 cipal beast of burden from prehistoric times, seems unques- 
 tioned. It seems equally -well settled that the home of the 
 Wild Ass is in the headwaters of the Nile and it is probable, there- 
 fore, that he was first domesticated by the ancient Egyptians. Ba- 
 ker shot a male -wild ass -which was about 14 hands high, 
 
24 EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 had shoulders more sloping than the domestic ass and the hoofs 
 were wide, firm and broad as those of a horse fifteen hands 
 high. He says: "Those who have seen donkeys only in their 
 civilized state have no conception of the beauty of the wild or 
 original animal. It is the perfection of activity and courage 
 and has a high bred tone in its deportment and high active 
 step when it trots freely over the rocks and sands -with the 
 speed of the horse and when it gallops over the boundless des- 
 ert."* 
 
 "While the horse has been improved through domestication, 
 the donkey seems to have deteriorated. Mules -were apparent- 
 ly unknown during the New Empire4 
 
 The African -wild ass is now eaten by the natives of the coun- 
 tries in -which it lives. "Was it a source of food supply for the 
 ancient Egyptians ? Monteney Jephson of the Emin Pasha ex- 
 pedition says that there are great herds of donkeys in the dis- 
 trict to the east of the Dinka country which the natives only 
 use for milking, and not as beasts of burden.t In prehistoric 
 times the horse is supposed to have been one of the most im- 
 portant sources of food supply to the Europeans. In more 
 southern climates flesh of all kinds, however, -was a less im- 
 portant source of food. 
 
 Oxen, sheep, goats and swine were reared. The ox, -which 
 belonged to the same species as the present cattle of India, viz: 
 Bos Indicus, -was much admired and even revered by the Egyp- 
 tians.S Instead of being held in contempt, the cow -was sacred 
 and the bull -was -worshiped. 
 
 Both sexes -were used for labor, and the flesh of the males 
 was eaten. Beef and veal are said to have been common arti- 
 cles of food. Besides being used for draft, oxen were used for 
 treading in and treading out the grain. Selection in breeding 
 was practiced. Cattle are described as long horned, short 
 horned, and hornless, the last probably being the least com- 
 mon. The males were not castrated. 
 
 If the fields -were fenced they -would scarcely have had castes 
 of herdsmen, shepherds and swineherds. The branding of cat- 
 tle suggests a condition not dissimilar to that of our -western 
 plains. There would seem to be nothing to prevent the herding 
 of domestic animals in the comparatively desert region east of 
 the Nile. Erman contends that not only the Delta region but a 
 considerable part of the Nile valley proper was swampy and 
 covered -with forests, and that during the Old Empire -was 
 used only for herding domestic animals. H Horses -were said to 
 have been constantly in stables and fed on straw and barley. 
 Since it scarcely ever rains in Egypt and since frosts are un. 
 
 *Baker's The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, p. 39. 
 tErman's Life in Ancient Egypt, p. 492. 
 fFlowers' The Horse, p. 90. 
 gErman's Life in Ancient Egypt, p. 436. 
 lErman's Life in Ancient Egypt, p. 15. 
 
EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 25 
 
 known, the use of stables must have been for the purpose of 
 shelter against the burning rays of the sun. When the Nile 
 overflowed, animals of all kinds ■were placed upon artificial 
 raised ground and fed upon •wheat straw and leguminous fod- 
 der raised for the purpose. As an illustration of the care taken 
 ■with the food of cattle, it is stated that cattle were fed by pla- 
 cing rolls of dough in their mouths.* 
 
 Sheep are said to have yielded fleece and lambs twice a year. 
 They -were also kept for their milk, from 'which cheese ■was 
 made, but they were seldom used for food. Outer garments 
 ■were made of wool, linen being used next the skin. It is said 
 to have been unlawful to enter a temple with a ■woolen gar- 
 ment. Hoskyns suggests that the climate of Egypt ■was not 
 suited to sheep and that they were never as important in Egypt 
 as in the nations farther east.* 
 
 Upon the tomb of one individual, it is recorded that he was 
 the owner of 835 long-horned and 220 hornless cattle, 760 don- 
 keys, 974 sheep and 2234 goats.t According to Rawlinson the 
 220 hornless cattle is rendered 220 cows. Notice the signifi- 
 cance of these numbers. Neither horses nor swine -were men- 
 tioned. What this fortunate individual did -with 2234 goats 
 does not seem entirely certain. The long haired goats are not 
 represented on the monuments; hence they -were not kept for 
 their fleece. It is to be assumed, although there is no proof, that 
 they formed the principal milk supply of the ancient Egyptians. 
 
 Swine, although evidently raised in large numbers, -were con- 
 sidered unclean and to eat them was forbidden, except on cer- 
 tain days according to some autnors, -while others think that 
 only priests were forbidden to eat them, -which seems more 
 probable. It hardly seems possible that hogs would have been 
 domesticated and kept in considerable numbers unless some 
 one ate them 
 
 It is not strange that with several million people living within 
 two miles of a river one mile wide and intersected by innumer- 
 able canals and irrigation ditches, that -water fowls should be 
 raised. Geese -were most abundant and their feathers were 
 used for making pillows and cushions. The common fowl -was 
 unknown to the ancient Egyptians. A.s wild birds were abund- 
 ant, it is probable that they were not domesticated until rather 
 
 late. 
 
 Rawlinson points out that there was no very clear distinction 
 between domesticated animals and wild animals in early Egyp- 
 tian times. Many animals which are only known to us as -wild 
 animals were reared at that time. It seems probable that the 
 process of domestication was going on during this time, in 
 some cases with success, and in other cases with failure. 
 
 PLANTS:— The ancient Egyptians cultivated four cereals as 
 bread stuffs, -wheat, barley, sorghum or dourra (Holcus sor- 
 
 tlbid, p. 438. 
 
 *Hoskyn's History of Agriculture, p. is. 
 
 Ar»«..,n'o T ,fn in Ancient Ku-vnt. n. 441. 
 
26 EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 ghum), and common millet, (Panicum millicaeum). From the 
 abundance with which these cereals -were raised, Egypt was 
 known as the exhaustless granary of the world. The wheat 
 pictured upon the monuments is always bearded, and is said to 
 be commonly white. The barley was of the six rowed kind 
 (Hordeum hexastichion). Barley was probably quite as impor- 
 tant a crop as wheat, and perhaps more so. It was used for 
 bread making and for making beer, and feeding live stock. In 
 Europe it is to-day the principal cereal feed of hogs. 
 
 There seems to be some confusion with regard to sorghum 
 and millet. While unlike in general appearance they are 
 closely allied botanically and climatically. Both are grown 
 to-day for their seeds, although known generally only for fodder 
 purposes in America. The seeds of both were used as human 
 food in prehistoric times and I deem it probable from the research - 
 es of Be Candolle that both were cultivated by the ancient Egyp- 
 tians. They seem to have been the stable food of the lower 
 classes. Speaking of the importance of sorghum, Be Candolle* 
 says: "It is one of the plants most commonly cultivated by the 
 modern Egyptians under the name of dourra, and also in cen- 
 tral Africa, India and China. It is so productive in hot countries 
 that it is a stable food of immense populations in the old world." 
 The antiquity of the cultivation of sorghum and millet, as well 
 as of wheat and rice is shown by this statement of Be Candolle :t 
 "The Chinese, who grew wheat 2700 B. C, considered it a gift 
 from heaven. In the ceremony of sowing annually five kinds 
 of seed, institutedby the Emperor Shennung or Shinnong, wheat 
 is one species, the others being rice, sorghum, citerea Italica 
 and soy." Citerea Italica is another species of millet. The con- 
 spicuous difference between the citereas and the panicums is 
 that the former bears its seeds in a spike while the latter is pan- 
 icled. Broom corn and the sweet sorghum of this country is 
 panicled, while the modern Egyptian dourra is spiked and the 
 monuments so represent it in ancient times. Inasmuch as bot- 
 anists are not agreed in the matter, a layman may conclude 
 that the sorghums and the millets are descended from a single 
 wild but unknown species. 
 
 All the cereals were sown broadcast; wheat and barley were 
 sown in November and dourra sometimes in the same month. 
 
 A concise statement of tillage operations is given by Rawlin- 
 son, whom I quote: 
 
 "Though there was no season of the year in which agricultur- 
 al labors were suspended in Egypt, yet the special time for the 
 activity of the husbandman which may consequently be re- 
 garded as the commencement of the agricultural year, was up- 
 on the subsidence of the waters. As the most elevated lands, 
 which were those nearest the river, began to reappear, which 
 was generally early in October, preparations were at once made 
 for the sowing of the grain upon the alluvium just deposited. 
 
 *De Candolle's History of Cultivated Plants, p. 380. 
 flbid, p. 3515 
 
EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 27 
 
 According to Herodotus, there were parts of Egypt where it was 
 unnecessary to use either plow or hoe; the seed was scattered 
 upon the rich Nile deposit, and was trodden in by beasts, - -sheep , 
 goats or pigs, --after -which the husbandman had nothing to do 
 but simply await the harvest. This state of things must, how- 
 ever, in every age, have been exceptional. For the most part 
 upon ordinary lands it was necessary, or at any rate desirable, 
 to make some preparation of the ground; and the plow, or the 
 hoe, or both, -were put into active employment over the greater 
 part of the territory. 
 
 The plow used was of a simple character. It consisted of the 
 indispensable plowshare, a double handle, and a pole or beam, 
 whereto the animals that drew the implement were attached. 
 The beam and stilt were fastened together by thongs or by a 
 twisted rope, -which kept the share and beam at a proper dis- 
 tance, and helped to prevent the former from penetrating too 
 deeply into the earth. It is uncertain whether the share was 
 ever shod with metal. Apparently it -was simply of -wood, 
 which may have been sufficient with a soil so light and friable 
 as the Egyptian. There -were of course no wheels and no colter. 
 In general character the implement did not much differ from 
 that of the modern Turks or Arabs. Its chief peculiarity -was 
 the rounded sweep of the stilt and handles, -which (to judge the 
 monuments), was nearly though not quite, universal. 
 
 The plow was commonly drawn by two oxen or two cows, 
 which -were either yoked to it by the shoulders or else attached 
 by the horns. In the former case a somewhat elaborate ar- 
 rangement of shoulder pieces and pads -was employed; in the 
 latter, the cross-bar in -which the pole terminated was simply 
 lashed -with four thongs to the base of the horns. Sometimes 
 a single ploughman guided the plough by one of the han- 
 dles -with his left hand, while in his right hand he carried a 
 whip or goad. More often the implement gave employment to 
 two laborers, one of whom held the two handles in his hands, 
 •while the other drove the animals with -whip or goad, and 
 no doubt turned them -when the end of the furrow was 
 reached. 
 
 In soils -whose quality -was very light and loose, the hoe took 
 the place of the plough. Three or four peasants provided with 
 hoes went over the ground about to be sown, and sufficiently 
 prepared the surface by a slight "scarification." The hoe, like 
 the plow, was of wood. It consisted of three parts, --a handle, a 
 pick or blade, and a twisted thong connecting them. It -was 
 sometimes rounded, sometimes sharpened to a point, but never 
 (so far as appears), sheathed -with metal at the end. The shape 
 -was curious, and has been compared to our letter A. It required 
 the laborer to stoop considerably to his work and cannot be re- 
 garded as a very convenient implement.*" 
 
 Barley required four, and wheat, five months, to ripen. The 
 barley harvest -would therefore begin in March and the wheat 
 
 *w„,„iin=r.Ti'« Ancient EevDt, Vol. I, p. 101. 
 
28 EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 harvest in April. Sorghum seems generally to have been sown 
 in April, and probably harvested in July. Two crops a year may 
 have been raised on the same land, probably the wheat in the 
 winter and sorghum or millet in the summer. Wbeat and bar- 
 ley were headed with a toothed sickle or cut lower down and 
 bound into sheaves. The inscriptions on the monuments show 
 the heads both ways. 
 
 The cultivation of flax is prehistoric. The mummies are 
 wrapped in yards of linen and the scanty clothing of the ancient 
 Egyptians -was also of linen. X) ntil recently flax -was a very 
 important source of clothing. It is only since the invention of 
 the cotton gin in 1792 by Eli Whitney, that flax has taken a 
 secondary place. Almost all writers about Egypt name cotton 
 as one of the products of the ancient inhabitants. I believe 
 however that De Candolle is correct when he says that it is 
 evident that cotton 'was never, or very rarely cultivated by the 
 ancients. I believe that no legume -was raised in Egypt 
 during the Old Empire which we' now raise in this country, ex- 
 cept experimentally. It seems certain that they did not raise 
 any of the clovers or any of the beans or peas which we raise. 
 The bean if raised, -was the broad, or English horse bean (Faba 
 vulgaris). They did raise lentils (Erbum lens), ■which was the 
 food of the common people, and lupines (Lupinus termis), 
 which may also have been grown for fodder for live stock. 
 
 Donkeys and oxen were used in treading out the grain. Dur- 
 ing the Old Empire donkeys -were generally used, but later only 
 oxen -were used. Ten donkeys or three oxen were usually em- 
 ployed at a time.t No buildings were needed for this purpose. 
 Earth floors in the open field about fifty feet in diameter an- 
 swered every purpose. The grain -was fanned by the ■wind. 
 Granaries built of mud were not uncommon. The "scribe" of 
 the granary and the measurer of corn were important person- 
 ages. 
 
 While Rawlinson and Erman maintain that the labors of the 
 Egyptians -were continuous and even incessant, Hereen main- 
 tains that when the harvest is over, 'which for wheat and 
 barley 'would have been in April, there ■was nothing to do but 
 to wait for the next flood. "This relief from labor," he states, 
 'must have produced, in a few years, an incalculable influence 
 on the character of the inhabitants, by enabling them to de- 
 vote so long a time to their improvement and religious feasts.}" 
 
 Sorghum was pulled up by the roots. The seed was removed 
 by a comb-like stripper not unlike the crude forms used in the 
 United States for removing broom- corn seed. The chick pea 
 (Cicer arietnum) was probably also used for the same pur- 
 pose, as -was the chickling vetch (Lathyrus sativus.) 
 
 Among the vegetables raised by the Egyptians were the two 
 alliums; namely, onions and garlic. The government ration of 
 forced laborers on the monuments was said to have consisted 
 
 tErman's Life in Ancient Egypt, p. 432. 
 tHereen's Historical Researches, Vol, II, p. 344. 
 
EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 29 
 
 of onions, garlic and radish.es, an appetizing but not a very- 
 substantial diet. The olive -was principally in the Fayoom dis- 
 trict, while the vine -was also grown in this district and also 
 upon the lighter soil along the edge of the desert where the 
 supply of water was carefully regulated by means of tanks.* 
 
 The following is a list of the plants cultivated in ancient 
 Egypt, given principally on the authority of De Candolle: 
 
 1 Wheat— Triticum vulgare. 
 
 2 Barley— Hordeum hexastichon. 
 
 3 Sorghum or dourra—Holcus sorghum. 
 
 4 Millet —Panicum miliaceum. 
 
 5 Flax— Linum usitatissimum. 
 
 6 Horse bean—Faba vulgaris. 
 
 7 Lentils— Erbum lens. 
 
 8 Lupine— Lupinus termis. 
 
 9 Chick-pea— Cicer--Arietnum(?) 
 
 10 Chickling Vetch— La thyrus sativus (?) 
 
 11 Castor Oil plant— Ricinus communis. 
 
 12 Date-palm— Phoenix dactylifera. 
 
 13 Fig— Ficus larica. 
 
 14 Olive— Olea europea. 
 
 15 "Vine—Vitis vinifera. 
 
 16 Pomegranate—Punica Granatum. 
 
 17 Water-melon- -Citrullus vulgaris. 
 
 18 Onion—Allium cepa. 
 
 19 Garlic— Allium sativum (?) 
 
 20 Radish— Raphanus sativus (?) 
 
 Naturally there is no reference to the use of manures of any 
 kind by the ancient Egyptians. Irrigation was extensively 
 practiced, many canals and ditches being constructed to facil- 
 itate the passage of the water, Inasmuch as the banks of the 
 Nile are higher than any point of the level soil lying on either 
 side, it is only necessary to raise the water to the top of the 
 bank and from there it would be conveyed by gravity to any 
 part of the land on either side of the Nile. The ordinary hand 
 sweeps, such as used at the present time on many farms for 
 raising -water from shallow wells, were largely used for this 
 purpose. Loudon also describes the process of raising water by 
 the means of a suitable vessel to which two straps -were at- 
 tached. One laborer grasped each strap, and standing opposite 
 each other -with the vessel between them they lowered it 
 into the stream; then, pulling against one another, raised the 
 water to the level of the bank. 
 
 Besides the plow the only tillage implements of -which -we 
 have any knowledge, -were the harrow and the roller, the 
 latter being depicted in a farm scene on the monuments. 
 
 I close tnis discussion of Egyptian agriculture by a quotation 
 from Birch,§ depicting the private life of the Egyptian lord: 
 
 "In private life the Egyptian lord led a charmed life—his es- 
 SEgypt from Earliest Times to B. C, 300, p. U. 
 
30 EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 tate was cultivated by slaves, his household full of domes- 
 tics; the barber, the waiting maid, the nurse, appear as neces- 
 sary adjuncts to his household, as the steward -who presided 
 over the distribution and the clerk who checked the expenses 
 of his daily life. Each priest or noble had in his establishment 
 all the trades necessary for his ease and comfort; the glass 
 blower, the gold worker, the potter, the tailor, and baker, and 
 the butler. His leisure or ennui was charmed by the acrobat 
 and the dancer, the harpist and the singer; games of chance 
 and skill -were played either by him or in his presence. The 
 chief occupation of the period, or at all events that most often 
 represented in the tombs, was the inspection of the farm. The 
 noble of the fourth dynasty 'was a great hereditary landed pro- 
 prietor. He had the pride of a patriarch in his flocks and herds , 
 his numerous slaves or servants, his household of artisans and 
 his boats on the river Nile. His domesticated animals were 
 not so numerous as at a subsequent period. He had dogs, cats, 
 and apes, for his companions. For riding he had only the ass; 
 ■with the horse he was unacquainted, nor had the wheeled car- 
 riage as yet been invented. The gazelle, the antelope, the ibex, 
 the leuceryx, varieties of the gazelle family of ruminants, were 
 known to him, as also was the ox, the short, long-horned and 
 the hornless varieties. An Egyptian lord no more disdained 
 the hyena for food than a modern epicure the semi -carnivorous 
 bear, but he abhorred that universal animal, the pig, and neg- 
 lected the sheep ; veal and beef, not pork and mutton, -were the 
 principal meats that appeared at his table. The different kinds 
 of venison already mentioned -were much prized, and the 
 chase of these animals one of his most loved occupations; 
 of the birds of the air and waterfowl he had a choice about as 
 numerous; cranes and herons he sometimes ate, but his prin- 
 cipal poultry consisted of different kinds of ducks and geese, the 
 chenalopex or vulpanser amongst them. The domestic fowl 
 was unknown to him; it had not been brought by the hands 
 of the tributaries to the valley of the Nile, -where it never ap- 
 pears in Pharaonic times. The dove and the pigeon, however, 
 passed into the fleshpots of Egypt. The insipid fish of the Nile, 
 ■were notunknown to him. His bread was made of barley, but 
 conserves of dates and various kinds of biscuits or pastry di- 
 versified his diet; and of fruits he had grapes, figs, dates; of 
 vegetables the papyrus and onion and other greens. Wine and 
 beer were both drunk at the period in addition to milk and 
 ■water. His dress -was simple, consisting of pure -white linen, 
 but gold collars, bracelets and anclets -were in use. As yet he 
 ■wore no sandals, but he carried a -wand or -walking stick as a 
 sign of dignity or authority. Simple but elegant furniture min- 
 istered to his requirements. Stools, chairs, footstools, couches 
 and headrests or -wooden pillows,- -the use of these rests is still 
 retained in Africa— appear in the furniture of his elegantly 
 built house. The principal flower was the lotus nymphaea, for 
 
EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 31 
 
 there were no roses in those days in Egypt. The lotus was 
 held as a nosegay in the hand, and twined as a garland around 
 the head, or wreathed the wine and the water vase. He en- 
 joyed all the pleasures of existence, and delighted more in the 
 arts of peace than war. In his religious belief the idea of a fu- 
 ture state, and probably of the transmigration of souls, was ev- 
 er present in his mind, while--and his long life was one prep- 
 aration for death --to be devoted or pious to the gods, obedient 
 to the wishes of his sovereign, affectionate towards his wife 
 and children were maxims inculcated for his domestic or in- 
 ner life. Beyond that circle his duties to mankind were com- 
 prised in giving bread to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, 
 clothes to the naked, oil to the wounded and burial to the 
 dead. On the exercise of good works he rested his hopes of 
 passing the ordeal of the future and great judgment, and 
 reaching the Aahlu or Elysian fields and Pools of Peace of the 
 Egyptian paradise. Such was the idea of a good Egyptian, 
 and the favorable side of the picture ; the other is not detailed, 
 but may be imagined."§ 
 
 Sin preparing this article on Egyptian Agriculture, the following works 
 were consulted: 
 
 Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Agriculture. 
 
 Kawlinson's Ancient History, Vol. I. See Chap. I, II and VI. 
 
 Rawlinson's Ancient History. 
 
 Birch's Egypt from the Earliest Times. 
 
 Barnes' History of Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Peoples. 
 
 De Candolle's Origin of Cultivated Plants. 
 
 Erman's Life in Ancient Egypt. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 GRECIAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 IPREVIOUS TO THE CONQUEST OF GREECE BY THE ROMANS, B. C. 146.] 
 
 Ancient Grecian agriculture can be presented briefly. It is dis- 
 cussed here not on account of its own importance, but rather be- 
 cause it was one of the steps in the onward progress of agricult- 
 ure. 
 
 The modern kingdom of Greece occupies 19,965 square miles, - 
 an area almost exactly one-half the size of Ohio. The northern 
 limit of Greece is in the same latitude as the stone which is 
 southwest of the Main Building of the Ohio State University . 
 Hellas or Greece is roughly a triangle -whose base is on this lat- 
 itude and ■whose apex is 250 miles south or about in the same 
 latitude as that of the southern boundary of Kentucky. Its 
 greatest width is 180 miles. 
 
 This peninsula is characterized by the number of its mountains 
 and the extent of its seashore. No part of this territory is more 
 than ten miles from the mountains or hills nor more than 
 forty from the sea. 
 
 Its numerous shore islands, also, were often of great fertility. 
 It has a greater seashore in proportion to its population than any 
 other country of southern Europe. Those parts of the seashore 
 ■which furnished the best harbors are on the east, -while on the 
 Italian peninsula they are on the -west. Greece faces the east; 
 Italy faces the west, a fact of great significance in the history 
 and development of the two countries. In contradistinction to 
 Egypt, which has a single river of great length and large vol- 
 ume, the rivers of Greece are many, but neither of great length 
 nor volume. Owing to the bareness of the mountains and the 
 lightness of the soil, the volume of water carried varies great- 
 ly. Sometimes they are raging torrents, while at other times 
 the beds of some of the rivers are used for roadways.* Some of 
 the rivers disappear on the way to the sea; some disappear 
 completely; -while the water of others is entirely consumed in 
 irrigating the land. The soils of lower river valleys were 
 largely alluvium. Large and rich deposits -were brought down 
 from the limestone mountains by the floods. The course of 
 the streams was controlled in many cases by artificial means 
 for the protection of the farmer. The dependence of the inhab- 
 itants upon the rivers is shown by the number of interesting 
 
 32 
 ♦Abbot's History of Greece, p. 5. 
 
GRECIAN AGRICULTURE. 33 
 
 legends about them. The climate varies -with the topography 
 of trie country, but in many parts it is delightful, being de- 
 scribed as "mild -without being enervating. This is doubtless due 
 to the freedom of the air from fogs and clouds." 
 
 Again, speaking of the influence of the country upon Greek art 
 Abbot says: ""Without attempting to connect too closely the 
 Greek sense of artistic beauty with the scenery amid which 
 the Greeks lived, it is not unsafe to draw the conclusion that 
 in a country where all delight in outdoor life was entirely re- 
 pressed, such a sense, even at present, would have quickly 
 perished." 
 
 And again he says: "The nature of the country had also a 
 powerful effect on the development of Greek politics. The 
 whole land -was broken up by mountains into a number of val- 
 leys more or less isolated; there was no central point from 
 -which a powerful monarch could control it. Hence Greece was , 
 above all other countries, the home of independence and free- 
 dom. Each valley and even the various hamlets of a valley, 
 felt themselves possessed of a separate life, -which they were 
 jealous to preserve. No doubt these communities -were small, 
 and the desire to maintain their independence was from one 
 point of view a source of national weakness. Hellas was nev- 
 er a united nation, the healthy spirit of independence degener- 
 ated into jealousy and selfishness. War might break out at any 
 moment between neighboring cities, and in almost the lifetime 
 of one man every leading state had been the friend and enemy of 
 every other. On the other hand, it was only by this minute sub- 
 division that the Greeks became conscious of the true meaning 
 of civic life. Every man was of some importance in so small a 
 number, he -was needed for defense and counsel; it was his du- 
 ty to leave behind him a citizen to take his place ; he was not 
 lost in a crowd or the mere instrument of another's will. In 
 Greece therefore, for the first time in antiquity -we find liberty 
 and self-restraint forming the conditions of political life. This 
 was the great gift of Hellas to the world. Previously there had 
 been nothing but monarchs, armies, subjects, slaves."* 
 
 The mountains divide the area into numerous natural divis- 
 ions bet-ween -which land communication -was generally dif- 
 ficult. There -was therefore a great variety of soil and climate. 
 These numerous natural divisions resulted in there being more 
 than two dozen countries held together during their early his- 
 tory by no political ties, constantly at war with one another. 
 There -was, however; a certain bond bet-ween these countries 
 especially against a common enemy. This doubtless -was due 
 in part to the similarity in language and customs. In these 
 days, military and maritime industries rather than agriculture, 
 flourished. "We may be assured that it was more popular to go 
 to war or to sea than to farm. However the natural conditions 
 were all more favorable to a higher civilization than -were those 
 of Egypt, provided the people had risen to a certain stage of 
 
34 GRECIAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 civilization. Egyptian conditions were necessary as prepara- 
 tion for those of Greece. The mountains presented, obstacles to 
 
 be overcome but were not of such a character as to overawe the 
 
 inhabitants. The conditions were such as to make effort nec- 
 essary, but at the same time such as the people were capable of 
 
 surmounting. The character of the seashore was such as to 
 make comparatively important commerce possible with simple 
 water crafts. Under such conditions much of the livelihood 
 would be obtained from the sea. According to our broad defi- 
 nition, this is a form of agriculture. Fishing is farming. Doubt- 
 less the farmer does not appreciate this fact When his son goes 
 fishing to the detriment of the corn crop. Some of you, perhaps 
 all of you, have been inclined to think I have made too much 
 of the influence of the forces of nature upon the development 
 of the human race. I am, therefore, glad of the opportunity to 
 make these numerous quotations from Abbot: "The influence 
 which a country exercises over the inhabitants varies with 
 the civilization of the people, but even in a highly civilized na- 
 tion, climate and scenery have a subtle influence more impor- 
 tant in the early years of life than in the later. We know the 
 Hellenes felt this deeply. Every Athenean thanked the gods 
 that he was not heavy and stupid, like his northern neighbor , 
 the' Hog of Boeotia;' and in Arcadia, music -was universally used 
 as an antidote to the harsh influence of the climate of the 
 hills.' * * * The Greeks enjoyed their climate and their coun- 
 try. They loved an outdoor life; every man on his own farm, 
 watching the growth of his vines and fig trees, or resting on 
 the violets by the spring. It -was -with much vexation of spirit 
 that the Atheneans in the country broke up their homes and 
 transferred themselves to the city to escape the invasion of the 
 Peleponnesians, nor did the city ever recover from the ruins of 
 a vigorous peasantry. * * * The warm climate, -which made 
 comparatively little ■ demand on physical endurance, joined 
 ■with the poorness of the soil, tended to create among the 
 Greeks a degree of frugality such as we can hardly realize. A 
 few olives, bread and -wine, were enough for the support of life. 
 Luxury -was not indeed unknown among them, but rarely took 
 the grosser shapes which -were common in Rome. And in most 
 parts of the country the bright air and perpetual change of 
 scenery saved the inhabitants from the depression which seeks 
 relief in excess * * * ,"t 
 
 The history of Europe began in Greece, --when and how no 
 one knows. The Egyptians belong to the Hamitic race of Cau- 
 casians. The Greek settlers of whom history tells us, were of 
 the Aryan race, to -which -we ourselves belong. The first of 
 these Greek settlers -were called Pelasgians, and are described 
 as a simple agricultural people. They -were subsequently .con- 
 quered by the -warlike race known as the Hellenes. The blend- 
 ing of these two races produced the Greeks of historic times. 
 The Egyptians settled in .Greece ten centuries before Christ and 
 
 tAbbot's History of Greece, Vol. I, p. 17. 
 
GRECIAN AGRICULTURE. 35 
 
 added to the civilization of the adopted country, and two cen- 
 turies later, the Greeks planted numerous colonies on the Italian 
 peninsula, and thus the tide flows on. 
 
 About the only record we have of Grecian agriculture is from 
 the writings of Hesiod, -who was contemporaneous with Ho- 
 mer, the Tenth Century, B. C, and wrote a poem entitled "Works 
 and Days." Among other ■writers from whom items have been 
 culled, are, Xenophon, Herodotus, and Theophrastus. Xenophon 
 lived from 431-355 B. C, and was a noted general, and we are 
 told by history that "a decree of banishment having been passed 
 against him in Athens, his Spartan friends furnished him -with 
 a beautiful country residence about two miles from Olympia 
 where he spent the best years of his long life." He is the au- 
 thor of fifteen works which are still in existence, though his 
 principal book is the Anabasis. His agricultural works are his 
 economics and a book on horsemanship. 
 
 The esteem in which agriculture ■was held at the time Of 
 Hesiod, especially by the Spartans may be indicated by the fact 
 that Hesiod was known by the Spartans as the poet of the He- 
 lots, in contrast with Homer, the delight of the ■warriors. It is 
 said however, that in Athens, his poems, as well as those of 
 Homer, formed a part of the school education of the day. 
 
 There is no statement as to the size of the farm, but inasmuch 
 as it is said that "in Hesiod's time almost every citizen was a 
 husbandman and had a portion of land which he cultivated him- 
 self with the aid of his family and perhaps one or two slaves , 
 and that the products -whether for food or for clothing, -were 
 manufactured at home,"t it is to be supposed that the farms 
 were mostly of small size. Laws restricting the size of the 
 farm would indicate, however, that some large farms may have 
 existed. Some lands were enclosed, as the following law, which 
 is quoted by Loudon, indicates: 
 
 "He who digs a ditch or makes a trench nigh another's land, 
 shall leave so much distance from his neighbor's as the ditch or 
 trench is deep." 
 
 "If any one makes a hedge near his neighbor's ground, let 
 him not pass his neighbor's landmark. If he builds a wall he is 
 to leave one foot between himself and his neighbor, if a house, 
 two feet. A man building a house in a field, must must place it 
 a bow -shot from his neighbor's, "t 
 
 There were laws restricting the digging of wells so as not to 
 injure another man's supply. 
 
 "Those -who lived -within half a mile of a public -well might 
 use it, but beyond that distance he must dig a well for himself; 
 yet if no water could be found at 60 feet, he might take four 
 gallons twice a day from his neighbor's well."S 
 
 It is supposed that the village farm system existed. The cul- 
 tivated areas near the village would be enclosed while common 
 
 fLoudon's Encyclopedia of Agriculture, p. 12. 
 ♦Loudon's Bncyclopedia of Agriculture, p. 10. 
 gAbbot's History of Greece, Vol. I, p. 423. 
 
36 GRECIAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 pastures lay beyond. 
 
 The character of the farm buildings does not seem to be 
 known, although we are told that those of the Pelasgians were 
 rude, massive stone structures of which some remains still ex- 
 ist. That there were farm buildings for housing live stock ap- 
 pears from the statement of Loudon that in winter both oxen 
 and mules were fed under cover on hay, straw, mast, and the 
 leaves of vines and various trees. Horses, asses, mules, cattle, 
 swine, sheep and goats were raised. The mountain sides fur- 
 nished large amounts of pasture and the herd ing of flocks en- 
 gaged the attention of many. Hesiod spent his boyhood's days 
 in tending his father's flocks. In his calendar he says that 
 the eleventh and twelfth days of the month are favorable to 
 shearing sheep and for harvest, but the twelfth is the better of 
 the two. "Few are aware that the 27th day is best for opening 
 a cask, for breaking in an ox, mule or horse, and for launching 
 a ship- -one commends this day and another that, but Jew know 
 the truth." Bees were raised. According to one of Solon's 
 laws swarms of bees must be settled three hundred feet at least 
 from an existing hive. 
 
 The hippodrome is of historic Grecian interest. Oxen and 
 mules were used for labor, oxen mostly, and they -were yoked 
 by their horns. Of the cereals, wheat and barley were raised, 
 while oats and rye "were pretty certainly not raised. Flax was 
 cultivated in the Mediterranean basin from the earliest time. 
 It is supposed to have originated in this basin and was largely 
 cultivated by the Greeks. Hemp is a crop that has been culti- 
 vated from earliest times and probably -was sparingly cultiva- 
 ted by the Greeks. It was not cultivated in Egypt. The apple, 
 the vine, the fig and the olive, "were cultivated, and the onion 
 •was known to the ancient Greeks. Solon's laws prevented ol- 
 ives and figs nearer than nine feet of a neighbor's border and 
 no one -was allowed to cut down more than two olive trees in a 
 year on his estate under pain of a fine of 100 drachmas.* 
 
 Among the plants raised by the ancient Egyptians but not by 
 the ancient Greeks are the date palm, common sorghum, the 
 castor oil plant and the -watermelon. The following plants 
 were cultivated which -were not cultivated by the ancient 
 Egyptians:— turnip, beet, cabbage, lettuce, chicory, alfalfa, er- 
 villa, hemp, cherries, plum, almond, pear, apple, quince, garden 
 pea, kidney bean and poppy. While the Egyptian lupin (Lu- 
 pinus termis) was not raised in Greece, the common lupin (Lu- 
 pinus albus) was raised. It is said to have been used for green 
 manuring, the first reference we have seen to this practice. 
 The use of manure is said to have been introduced by the Greeks, 
 one of the older kings being represented as spreading manure 
 with his own hands. Cabbage and kidney beans were prob- 
 ably not introduced until near the close of the period of which 
 we are treating. 
 
 •Abbott's History of Greece, Vol. I, p. 423. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Italy possesses those conditions of climate and soil which 
 make an advance in agriculture over that of Egyptian agricult- 
 ure possible; but it also presupposes an ability on the part of 
 the people to cope with natural forces. People would never 
 have been able unaided, probably to till the soil of Italy. Hav- 
 ing learned some of the arts of husbandry they were able to 
 make good use of the fertile areas of Italy, and the greater regu- 
 larity of climate, and its less intense heat contributed to the 
 higher civilization. 
 
 Those of you who have studied Roman history, are familiar 
 witn the story of the founding of Rome in 753 B. C. According 
 to this legend Rome was founded by the Latin race of people 
 •with Romulus as first king, There were several races of people 
 in Italy at this time, among them the Greek colonies. Two 
 classes of people were recognized by the government, the pa- 
 tricians, or nobles, and the plebeians or common people. Lou- 
 don says of these times: 
 " "The Roman nation originated from a company of robbers 
 and runaway slaves "who placed themselves under their leader, 
 Romulus. This chief having conquered a small part of Italy, 
 divided the land among his followers by what is known as the 
 Agrarian law, and allowed two jugera to every citizen. After 
 the expulsion of the kings, in the 6th century, B. C, 7 jugera 
 were allowed." A j ugerum consisted of an area of 240 by 120 
 Roman feet, or 28,800 Roman square feet. The Roman 
 foot, is practically equivalent to the English foot, and 
 thus one j ugerum -was about 5-8 of an English acre. 
 
 Two jugera therefore were about 1 1-4 acres; seven jugera 
 would therefore be about 4 3-8 acres. The custom of 
 distributing the conquered lands by giving seven jugera to ev- 
 ery citizen continued to be observed in later times, but -when 
 the soldiers had each his share, the remainder was sold in lots 
 of various sizes, often to 50 jugera, and no person was prevent- 
 ed from acquiring as large a land estate as he could, until 377 
 B. C, when a law was passed by Stolo II, plebeian consul, that 
 no one should possess more than 500 jugera, --about 300 acres. 
 This law appears to have remained in force during the greater 
 part of the Roman power. Whatever might be the size of the 
 estate it was held by the proprietor as an absolute right without 
 any acknowledgment of any superior power, and passed to his 
 
3 8 ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 successors agreeable to testament if lie made one, and if not, by- 
 common law, to bis nearest relatives."* 
 
 It was during the earlier period of tbe history of Rome that we 
 have the interesting legend of Cincinnatus, who although a pa- 
 trician, lived on a farm of four jugera -which he cultivated with 
 his own hands. Twice he was called to serve his country,--once 
 as consul and again as dictator. He gained a great victory 
 against the enemies, and then having freed Rome from dan- 
 ger, --so the legend runs,- -immediately resigned his great office 
 and returned to his labors, followed by the applause and bless- 
 ings of all his countrymen.. This -was 458 B. C. Whatever the 
 accuracy of the legend , it is taken to illustrate the spirit that 
 is supposed to have actuated the citizens of Rome during the 
 earlier centuries of its existence. Perhaps some day our poster- 
 ity may have a similar legend -with regard to Uncle Jerry Rusk, 
 who was called from the farm to be governor of Wisconsin and 
 after-ward to the high office of Secretary of Agriculture of the 
 government, and after having filled the positions acceptably, re- 
 turned to his former occupation, 
 
 Whatever may have been the facts with regard to these con- 
 ditions during the earlier centuries of Rome, -we find a very 
 different state of affairs during the time of Cato and that of Pal- 
 ladius. The conditions then were about as follows: 
 
 The proprietor was frequently a non-resident living in the 
 city, and leaving the direct management of the place to a bail- 
 iff. The bailiff carried on the -work -with two classes of help--- 
 freemen, -who were paid -wages, and slaves. Both classes -were 
 maintained and clothed by the proprietor. 
 
 In Columella's book on husbandry there is a chapter entitled: 
 "Of What Size and Build of Body the Slaves Must be Which are 
 to be Assigned to Every Particular Work." 
 
 Columella treats this subject -with much the same spirit -with 
 -which -we -would consider the care and management of our milk 
 cows. While in the time of Cincinnatus, the farm -was very 
 limited in size, and of necessity the proprietor tilled it with 
 his own hands, in this latter time the estates were of large 
 size and consisted of two portions, a small enclosure containing 
 all buildings, sometimes very elaborate, known as the villa, 
 and the outlying unfenced farm lands. As heretofore explained, 
 we get the two words agriculture and horticulture from the 
 Latin ager, meaning open plain, field or acre, and from hortus, 
 meaning enclosure, yard or garden. The villas -were divided 
 into three parts, the urbana, the rustica, and the fructuaria, or 
 as Mr. Mitchell remarks, we would say in our day, the mansion 
 house, the laborers' cottages, and tbe outbuildings. The stu- 
 dent may find examples of these villas in Donald G, Mitchell's 
 "Wet Days at Edgewood," on pages 37 and 66; in Loudon's En- 
 cyclopedia of Agriculture, on page 19, and in Daubeny's Ro- 
 man Husbandry, pages 47 and 54. The villa as pictured in 
 Loudon's Encyclopedia is truly a grand affair. The plan repre- 
 
 *Louclon's Encyclopedia of Agriculture, p. 13. 
 
ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 39 
 
 sents the praetorium near the confluence of two rivers. The 
 praetorium is simply another name for a fine country residence. 
 From our knowledge of the history of the time we may assume 
 that the proprietor lived m the city and had a still finer house 
 there, and indeed, he may have had, as did Pliny, several coun- 
 try places similar to the one here described. The two rivers 
 mentioned are connected by a canal in such a way that the 
 praetorium is entirely surrounded, and we may assume that 
 the bridges by -which access to the praetorium and grounds 
 about it was secured, -were draw-bridges. Across the 
 canal is the farm house and offices, a building of considerable 
 proportions. This stands in an enclosed square, along three 
 sides of which lay the garden and orchard and the meadows. 
 Cornfields, vineyards, and olive grounds are beyond the enclos- 
 ure. Other features of this plan are a park* for the wild beasts, 
 a museum, a small wooded island for peacocks, an apiary, a 
 place for swans, another for geese and their keeper, still anoth- 
 er for poultry, under the name of ornithon. In the orchard is a 
 building called a cochlerium, which -we may assume was a 
 building for raising snails, while in the garden is a building 
 for the rearing of door mice. Near the grain fields is a thresh- 
 ing floor and barns, and on one of the rivers is a mill driven hy 
 water. A little to one side, but nearer to the farm house than 
 the praetorium, is a temple of Ceres. Ceres was the goddess of 
 grain and tillage, and is sometimes spoken of in this later day 
 as the goddess of agriculture. Perhaps the fact that the Ro- 
 mans worshipped Ceres rather than some other heathen god or 
 goddess is an indication of the esteem in which agriculture 
 was held by the Romans.* The place which we have just de- 
 scribed may have been the country place of some high official 
 and wealthy citizen, like our ex-Vice-President and ex-Govern- 
 or Morton, who comes within that definition of an agricultur- 
 ist in contradistinction to a farmer, which is that an agricul- 
 turist is a man who farms to spend money, while a farmer is 
 a man who farms to make money. Undoubtedly, however, 
 these grand estates were much more common then than they 
 are in our day although, unless the there is a radical change 
 in our economic conditions, they will probably be just as com- 
 mon in our country a hundred years hence. 
 
 The extent to which the agriculture of the country had 
 changed is fully illustrated by comparing one of these villas 
 with the two jugera of land granted to each person in the early 
 history of Rome. Valerius Maximus remarks that those think 
 themselves very much confined whose houses are not more ex- 
 tensive than the fields of Cincinnatus. According to Pliny, Lu- 
 cullus was chastized by the censors because he had more 
 ground to sweep than to plow.S 
 
 It is probable that these estates and tneir villas lay along 
 
 SDaubeny's Roman Husbandry, p. 41i. 
 
 «„ naiibpnv's Koman Husbandry, p. 46. 
 
40 ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 public highways and in favored positions, and that large por- 
 tions of the country lay unused. There never was anything in 
 Italy analogous to our American plan of having farm houses 
 dotted all over the country,on every 100, 200, 300, 400 or 500 
 acres of land, as the case may be, with the country regularly 
 cut up by systems of roads. Probably there existed roads be- 
 t-ween important towns, and along these roads, especially near 
 the towns, were the villas. 
 
 The most important -work on Roman agriculture extam is 
 "De Re Rustica," written by L. Junius Moderatus Columella, and 
 consisted of twelve books, describing the husbandry of the 
 times. Columella -was born in Spain, but spent most of his 
 time apparently in Italy. These books appear to have been 
 ■written in 56 A. D., and were translated into English in the 
 18th century, presumably by Dickson. The volume to which 
 I. have access, through the kindness of Dr. Townshend, has the 
 imprint of London, 1745. The contents of this book -swill give 
 us a fair idea of Roman agriculture in the first century of the 
 Christian era. But -we must remember that the Roman Empire 
 of the First Century of the Christian era -was not the Rome of 
 the Seventh Century before Christ, or the Italy of today. 
 
 The Italian peninsula known to us to-day as Italy has a 
 length of about 720 miles and an average width of about 100 
 miles, and contains, including the islands along the seashore, 
 about 110,000 square miles, or rather less than three 
 times the size of Ohio. The Roman empire of the First 
 Century of the Christian era included most of Europe, part 
 of Africa, and a portion of Asia. Rawlinson, in his Ancient 
 History, gives the boundaries of the Roman Empire as follows : 
 "On the north, the British Channel, the German Ocean, the 
 Rhine, the Danube, and the Euxine; on the east, the Eu- 
 phrates and the Desert of Syria; on the south, the great African 
 desert; and on the -west, the Atlantic ocean. It extended from 
 east and -west, a difference of 50 degrees, or about 2700 miles 
 between Cape Finisterre and the vicinity of Erzeroum. Its aver- 
 age breadth -was about 15°, or above 1000 miles. It comprised 
 the modern countries of Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, "Wes- 
 tern Holland, Rhenish Prussia, part of Baden and Wurtemburg, 
 most of Bavaria, Switzerland, Italy, the Tyrol, Austria, part 
 of "Western Hungary, Croeatia, Slavonia, Servia, Turkey in Eu- 
 rope, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Idumaea, Egypt, Cy- 
 reniaea, Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria, and most of Morocco. Its area 
 may be roughly estimated at a million and a half square miles. 
 
 It may be helpful to remember that this area, -which repre- 
 sents the larger part of the civilized area of the eastern conti- 
 nent of to-day, is somewhat less than half the size of the United 
 States. The government of this vast territory was somewhat 
 analogous to the present British possessions. The entire em- 
 pire outside of Italy, -was divided into provinces -which paid 
 tribute to Rome proper. 
 
ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 41 
 
 Columella -was evidently an experienced farmer and had trav- 
 eled largely throughout the Roman empire. Thus tne agricul- 
 ture which he describes may be taken to represent the agricul- 
 ture of Europe in the First Century of the Christian era. We 
 may get some idea of this agriculture by considering hastily 
 this volume of Columella's. The first book consists of general 
 matters pertaining to agriculture, such as the most approved 
 situations and qualities of land and the wholesomeness of 
 countries, and the rules which they who would live in the 
 country and apply themselves to husbandry, ought to f ollow. 
 For successful farming Columella says there are three condi- 
 tions necessary-— knowledge, capital and fondness for the pur- 
 suit. With regard to the selection of land, he says that there 
 are two things chiefly to be considered---the wholesomeness 
 of the air and the fruitfulness of the place, "of -which, if either 
 the one or the other should be -wanting, and not-withstanding 
 anyone should have a mind to dwell there he must have lost 
 his senses, and ought to be conveyed to his kinfolk to take care 
 of him." To these two principal things he adds as no less 
 necessary to be examined and considered, the road, the -water 
 and the neighborhood. Truly, it would be difficult to improve 
 upon such advice tc-day 
 
 The second book describes the growing of ordinary grain and 
 fodder crops, including manuring and harvesting. Three books 
 are devoted to the growth of fruits, particularly to the grape 
 and the olive. Four books are devoted to the raising of live 
 stock. The tenth is in verse and treats of the culture of gar- 
 dens. The eleventh book also treats of the culture of gardens j 
 although in prose. The twelfth and last book treats principal- 
 ly of domestic economy, or the affairs of the household, and 
 includes such things as making vinegar, preserving fruits, sail- 
 ing of swine's flesh, etc., there being fifty -seven separate chap- 
 ters on these and similar subjects. The method of making 
 cheese and preserving it; is described, but I find nowhere any 
 mention of butter, although the manufacture of butter must 
 have been known at this time. He describes many methods of 
 curdling milk in cheese making, but says "It is commonly 
 curdled -with a lamb's or kid's runnet." 
 
 Horses, asses, mules, horned cattle, sheep, and swine, -were 
 all raised. All writers agree, I believe, that at this time horses, 
 were principally used in war, in hunting, and in public games, 
 and seldom used for -work. However Columella divides horses 
 into three sorts, those which furnish horses for the circus and 
 sacred games, the mule breed, the foals of which were purchased 
 at a noble price, and the vulgar breed, which produces ordinary 
 males and females. Brood mares -were frequently kept in large 
 troops, changed from mountain to coast according to the sea- 
 son, and carefully kept apart from males, except in the breed- 
 ing season; when Columella advises bringing them together 
 lest they conceive by the -winds and engender an offspring 
 
42 ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 which, is sure to die in three years. This appears to have been 
 generally believed at this time.* Columella says it is right to 
 break a horse for domestic use when he is two years old, but 
 for public games when he is three years complete. This would 
 seem to indicate that horses were used somewhat for ordinary 
 labor. Oxen, however, ■were the principal motive power on 
 the farm. Oxen -were not much used for their flesh, nor were 
 cows apparently much used for milking, although both sexes 
 were used for labor. Castration of cattle was practiced. He 
 speaks of two methods of yoking oxen, one by fastening the 
 yoke to the horns, and the other with the yoke around the 
 neck; and says that fastening the yoke to the horns is rejected 
 by almost all, for the cattle can exert themselves to use greater 
 efforts with their necks and breasts than -with their horns, and 
 by this method they tug and strain -with the whole bulk and 
 weight of the body; but that they are put to great torment by 
 pulling back their heads and turning their faces exactly up- 
 wards, and that with a very light plowshare, they scarcely 
 ■wound the uppermost part of the earth. He says the plowman 
 must not let the oxen stop half-way before he come to the turn- 
 ing, but let him give them a little rest at the end of the furrow 
 so that the ox, -with hope of rest may with greater agility pull 
 the -whole length; but to draw a longer furrow than 120 feet 
 is hurtful to the cattle, for -when it exceeds this measure, they 
 are fatigued more than they ought to be. The idea of resting 
 a team every 120 feet would make a Western farmer smile, 
 ■whose furrows are not infrequently 80 rods long— -over ten 
 times this length. 
 
 Next to the ox, the mule -was mostly used for labor, although 
 largely probably for pack animals. Two kinds of mules ■were 
 bred, one the product of the ass and mare; the other the product 
 of the stallion and the female ass. ■ The first is described as 
 looking more like the ass, and the latter as looking more like 
 the horse. 
 
 Columella says, (p. 299) "Nevertheless there is none of this 
 kind of cattle that is more excellent and valuable either -with 
 respect to their disposition and temper or the form of their body 
 than that which is begotten of the he-ass; such as are conceived 
 and procreated of a horse, although they take their name from 
 their sire, being called 'hinni,' are in all things more like their 
 dams. Therefore it is most advantageous to destinate a he-ass 
 for procreating the mule kind, the breed of which is found by 
 trial to be of more stately appearance. Nevertheless he ought 
 not other-wise to be approved from his aspect, but by his being 
 of very large body with a strong neck, robust and broad ribs, 
 musculous and vast chest, brawny thighs, compact legs, and of 
 a black or spotted color. For the mouse-color as it is very com- 
 mon in a he-ass is not very suitable also in a mule. Neither 
 let the outward appearance of a four-footed beast in general 
 deceive us if we behold him such as -we approve. For in the 
 
 *Daubeny's Roman Husbandry. 
 
•ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 43 
 
 same manner as the spots which are in the tongues and pal- 
 ates of rams are found in the most parts in the fleeces of the 
 lambs; so if the he-ass carries hairs of a different color in his 
 eye-lids or ears, he procreates an offspring of divers colors also." 
 
 That sheep -were highly esteemed in Roman husbandry is ev- 
 ident from the following: 
 
 "After the greater quadrupeds, sheep cattle are of the second 
 kind, which may be of the first kind if you have regard to the 
 greatness of the profit redounding from them. For this class of 
 cattle chiefly protects us against the elements of the cold and 
 furnishes comely and magnificent coverings for our bodies. 
 Moreover it not only satiates the country people with abun- 
 dance of milk and cheese, but also garnishes the tables of the 
 elegant -with agreeable and numerous dishes. To some nation? 
 indeed which are entirely destitute of corn, it furnishes their 
 •whole sustenance." 
 
 He mentions the variety of sheep principally esteemed in 
 his time, and gives in the following language, what is supposed 
 by some to be the origin of Merino sheep: 
 
 "But experience has taught to produce and express other va- 
 rieties also in this kind of cattle. For at a certain time when 
 some wild and fierce colored beasts were brought from the 
 neighboring parts of Africa to the municipal city of Cadiz by 
 those -who entertain the people with public games and stows, 
 and M. Columella, my un^le, a man of quick discerning genius 
 and a famous husbandman, having bought some of them, car- 
 ried them to his own lands and -when they -were tamed, ad- 
 mitted them to couple -with covered sheep. These at first 
 brought forth bristly lambs of the color of their sire, and after 
 they themselves being put upon Tarentinian sheep, generated 
 rams of a finer fleece. Moreover whatever was after-wards 
 conceived by them resembled the color of the sire and grand- 
 sire, but the delicacy and softness of the dam." 
 
 Sheep were divided into two general classes, the soft and the 
 delicate, and the rough and bristly. It is probable that sheep 
 ■were much more used for milk than for mutton. Goats -were 
 also raised, and from the description of the food required for 
 their maintenance, the fact that goats in New York City live 
 off the bill -boards would seem to be not a newly acquired 
 characteristic. They were evidently kept for milk, because 
 Columella says that if one wishes over and above plenty of 
 milk, you must give them elm seed or shrub trefoil or ivy, or 
 you must throw tops of the mastish-tree, also of other small 
 leaves, before them. 
 
 As the method of making cheese is described in connection 
 with and directly following the chapter on goats, it is to be as- 
 sumed that the milk was used largely for this purpose. 
 
 Swine were raised. Columella asserts that in all kinds of 
 four-footed beasts the shape and form of the male is chosen 
 with great care because the progeny is more like the father than 
 the mother. "Wherefore in fine cattle also certain of them must 
 
44 ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 be approved which, are choice for the largeness of their whole 
 body, and such as are rather square than those which are long 
 and round with a hanging down belly and vast buttocks, 
 but not so long legs and hoofs, or of a large and glandulous 
 neck with short snouts and turned upwards. Swine are divid- 
 ed into two classes, — those which have hair, and those -which 
 do not. Sows of the longest size and make are approved. Mast 
 or acorns were put into water cisterns, -which would look very 
 much like putting them into a silo in our day. They were also 
 fed beans and similar legumes when their low prices permit- 
 ted. 
 
 Book 8 is devoted to poultry, -with the exception of the last 
 two chapters, -which are devoted to fish. Fish culture, Colu- 
 mella says is "carried on and managed with sedulity and 
 care." Besides ordinary poultry, the Romans raised geese, 
 ducks, teals, peacocks, swans, turtle-doves, pigeons, hares, 
 snails, and door-mice. 
 
 That feeding and fattening poultry received great attention 
 is indicated by the instructions given by Columella; 
 
 Their pen should be warm and almost dark, -with no room to 
 turn, but with two apertures, one for them to put out their 
 heads, the other their tails and buttocks to protrude. The floor 
 is to be strewed -with clean straw or soft hay: the feathers re- 
 peatedly brushed and every kind of filth removed. Their food ' 
 must be barley meal mixed with -water, the quantity gradually 
 increased to the largest amount the fowl can digest. It is then 
 given limited liberty. The food is sweetened and. some add 
 wine to render the fowl more tender. Pigeons had their wing 
 feathers cut to prevent flying, and their legs tied or broken to 
 prevent their moving about in the coop.* 
 
 Book 9 is devoted exclusively to bees and bee culture -with the 
 exception of one chapter on making parks and showing up 
 ■wild cattle in them. This -was before the days of cane and beet 
 sugar. Honey -was then the chief source of sugar. 
 
 *Daubeny's Roman Husbandry, p. 187. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 PLANTS:— The smooth, or beardless kinds of -wheat seem to 
 have been, much more common than the bearded, for Colum- 
 ella says: "The chief and most profitable grains for men are 
 common wheat and bearded wheat. We have known several 
 kinds of common wheat, but of these -we most chiefly sow what 
 we call the red wheat because it excels both in -weight and 
 brightness. The white -wheat must be placed in the second 
 rank, of -which the best sort in bread is deficient in -weight." 
 He says that the ordinary common -wheat and bearded wheat 
 must be kept, because it rarely happens that any land is so sit- 
 uated that -we can content ourselves -with one sort of seed, 
 some part of it happening contrary to our expectation,- --to be 
 either -wet or dry. But common ordinary -wheat thrives best in 
 a dry place, and bearded -wheat is less infested by moisture. Do 
 we find this to be true to-day? "Wheat -was usually sown in 
 the fall, although in some situations it was sown in the spring. 
 
 There have been some advances made in botany since Col- 
 umella's time, for among several sorts of pulses or legumes 
 named as most useful are beans, lentils, peas, kidney beans, 
 tares (probably vetches), hemp seed, millet, panic, lupines, 
 linseed, and barley. 
 
 Two kinds of barley are described, the barley -with six rows. 
 or horse barley, and the barley with two rows, which is said to 
 be of extra whiteness and weight, so that when mixed with 
 ■wheat it makes an excellent food for the family. Linseed is 
 said to be hurtful to lands and requiring the fattest place and 
 moderately moist. 
 
 After describing the various kinds of supposed pulses, Colum- 
 ella says that we must take navews and turnips into consider- 
 ation, for both of them fill the bellies of rustics. Nevertheless 
 turnips are the more useful because they yield a greater in- 
 crease, and they are food not .only for man but for oxen also, es- 
 pecially in Gaul where this kind of root affords nourishment 
 for the aforesaid cattle during the winter. By navews proba- 
 bly rutabagas -were meant. 
 
 Among the crops raised for fodders are named, medj.c, probab- 
 ly -meaning Lucerne, vetches, bitter vetch, chick-pea, barleyi 
 oats, and -wheat. 
 
 Persons who think of sowing alfalfa in the United States 
 should be interested in what our Roman writer has to say 
 about the same plant. Speaking of the several sorts of fodders, 
 
 45 
 
46 ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 lie says, the herb medic is the choicest, because ■when it is 
 sown, it lasts ten years. It can bear to be cut down four times> 
 sometimes also six times in a year, because it dungs the land. 
 All emaciated cattle whatsoever grow fat with it because it is 
 a remedy for sick cattle, and a jugerum of it is abundantly suf- 
 ficient for three horses the -whole year. It is sown as we shall 
 hereafter direct. About the beginning of October cut up. the 
 field wherein you design to sow medic next spring and let it 
 lie all winter to rot and grow crumbly. Then about the first of 
 February plow it carefully a second time and carry all the 
 stones out of it, and break all clods. After about the month of 
 March, plow it the third time, and harrow it. When you have 
 thus manured the ground, make it in the manner of a garden, 
 into beds and divisions ten feet broad and fifty feet long, 
 so that it may be supplied by water -with paths and there may 
 be an open access for weeders on both sides. Then throw old 
 dung upon it and sow in the latter end of April. Sow it in such 
 a proportion that a cyathus of seed may take up a place 10 feet 
 long and 5 feet broad. After you have done this, let the seeds 
 that are thrown into the ground be presently covered with 
 earth -with wooden rakes. This is a very great advantage to 
 them because they are very quickly burnt up ■with the sun. 
 After sowing, the place ought not to be touched with an iron 
 tool, but as I said it must be raked with wooden rakes, and 
 ■weeded from time to time lest any other kind of herb destroy 
 the feeble medic. You must cut the first crop of it somewhat 
 later, after it has put forth some part of its seeds. After-wards 
 you are at liberty to cut it down as tender and young as you 
 please after it has sprung up and to give it to horses, but at 
 first you must give it to them more sparingly until they be 
 accustomed to it, lest the novelty of the fodder be hurtful to 
 them, for it blows them and creates much blood. Water it 
 very often after you have cut it. Then after a few days when 
 it shall begin to sprout -weed out of it all plants of a different 
 kind. When cultivated in this manner it may be cut down six 
 times in a year and it ■will last ten years." 
 
 In this quotation we find about the only reference there is in 
 the book with regard to the yield of crops, ■wherein he states 
 that a jugerum of alfalfa is abundantly sufficient for three 
 horses the -whole year. It -will be observed also that he uses 
 the word "manure" in its early sense, meaning to cultivate, and 
 there is no doubt at all that to make alfalfa successful, in the 
 state of Ohio -would require quite as much of an effort as it did 
 in Italy in the time of Columella, and it is not likely that the 
 results -would be any way nearly as satisfactory. De Candolle 
 (Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 102), says that Cato does not 
 speak of Alfalfa, but that it is mentioned by Varro, Columella, 
 and Virgil. He therefore concludes that the Romans cultiva- 
 ted it from the beginning of the First or Second Century. 
 
ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 47 
 
 The tare or common vetch. ("Vicia sativa) is the second fodder 
 plant mentioned by Columella, and according to De Candolle 
 was cultivated in Italy as early as the time of Cato, which he 
 believes to be the earliest known period of its cultivation. This is 
 a very common annual legume, raised at the present time in 
 Great Britain as a fodder and soiling crop, but it is not the tare of 
 the Bible, ■which is supposed to have been Lolium temulentum, 
 which is to-day a common weed in the wheat fields of Califor- 
 nia, and oddly enough it is believed by. the farmers there that 
 ■wheat changes into this plant. 
 
 The following is the only reference in the book to oats: "The 
 same method is to be observed in the sowing of oats, •which, 
 being sown in autumn, are partly cut for hay or fodder -while 
 they are green, and partly kept for seed." Oats, it •will be re- 
 membered is a comparatively recent addition to cultivated 
 crops, and was probably introduced into Italy about the time 
 of Columella. 
 
 Minute directions are given for the preparation of the soil, the 
 time of seeding and the quantity of seed to be used, special re- 
 gard being paid to the signs of the moon. The quantity of seed 
 sown does not seem to have varied much from modern customs, 
 but it was recognized then as now, that rich soil requires less 
 seed than poor soil. Even then it -was recognized that legu- 
 minous crops benefited the soil, but some supposed pulses or leg- 
 umes were said to be hurtful. Virgil is quoted as saying: "A 
 crop of flax and oats and poppies, steeped in Lethe's drowsy 
 stream, burns up the ground." "Nor," adds Columella "is there 
 any doubt that the land is worse both by these seeds as also 
 by millet and panic." Panic was undoubtedly only another 
 variety of millet, of which there are several known to-day- 
 Panic and millet were used for food just as they are to-day in 
 many parts of Asia. Columella says "they must be ranked 
 among corns, though I have assigned them to a place as leg- 
 umes or pulses for in many countries the persons are supported 
 with victuals made of them. Bread is made of millet, which 
 before it grows cold, may be eaten without any dislike. Panic, 
 bruised in a mortar and freed from bran, and millet also, makes 
 soup not at all disliked especially with milk." 
 
 Minute directions are given -with regard to laying down mead- 
 ows, and from the following quotation it will be seen that 
 something of a rotation was folio-wed: 
 
 "Therefore having plowed up in summer the place we have 
 destinated for the meadow and manured it over again during 
 the autumn, we -will sow it to turnips or navews or even beans, 
 and then the following year with corn. The third year we will 
 plow it carefully, and entirely root out the stronger roots, bram- 
 ble bushes and trees. Then we will sow tares upon it, mixed 
 with seeds of hay. Then with hoes and rakes we will pound 
 and break all the clods and level it by drawing a hurdle or 
 Harrow over it and dissipate all the hillocks, which for the 
 
48 ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 most part the harrow makes at the turnings. But it is not 
 proper to cut down these tares before they are fully ripe and 
 have dropped some of their seeds on the grounds that lie un- 
 der them. After cutting the grass he says we must place the 
 water, if we have the convenience of water, providing the 
 earth is dense and closer than ordinary. He advises against 
 the use of water in case the land, is loose. It ■will be seen from.' 
 this that irrigation -was practiced to some extent, and that 
 seeds of hay -were sown, although they were probably such as 
 were obtained from the hay -loft, and were not sown from a 
 particular kind of grass. 
 
 No mention is made of rye, which is also compared with 
 wheat of comparatively recent origin, and first came into us e 
 largely in Russia and in Germany, 'which even in our day, 
 raise much the larger part of all the rye raised in the ■world. 
 Pliny seems to have been the first -writer to have mentioned 
 rye. The common clover does not seem to have been cultiva- 
 ted. 
 
 The following list of plants -were cultivated in Egypt from 
 2700 B. C. to 526 B. C; in Greece from 1000 B. C, to 146 B. C; 
 or in Rome or the Roman Empire from 753 B. C. to 476 A. D., or 
 in two or mire of these countries. The letters before the plants 
 indicate the length of time these plants have been cultivated, 
 but not necessarily in the countries named; thus A indicates 
 the plants have ben cultivated for more than 4000 years; B not 
 known to have been cultivated more than 4000 years but are 
 known to have been cultivated more than 2000 years. These 
 plants may have been cultivated more than 4000 years, but it 
 is not known. C indicates that the plants have been cultivated 
 less than 2000 years. These facts are given on the authority of 
 De Candolle.* 
 
 The letters folio-wing the name of the plants indicate the 
 country or countries in -which they -were raised during periods 
 named above. 
 
 The plants are classified in accordance with parts customari- 
 ly used at that time. When several parts of the plant are used 
 the one most commonly used determines the classification. 
 PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR SUBTERRANEAN PARTS. 
 E. G. R. 
 G. R. 
 G. R. 
 E. G. R. 
 E. G. R. 
 
 PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR STEMS AND LEAVES 
 Vegetables. 
 
 A. Cabbage G. R. 
 
 B. Celery R. 
 
 *De Candolle's Origin of Cultivated Plants. 
 
 A. 
 
 Radish 
 
 B. 
 
 Turnip 
 
 B. 
 
 Beet 
 
 B. 
 
 Garlic 
 
 A. 
 
 Onion 
 
ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 49' 
 
 B. 
 
 Lettuce G. R. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 Chicory G. R. 
 
 
 
 Fodder. 
 
 B. 
 
 Lucerne or Alfalfa 
 
 . G. R. 
 
 B. 
 
 Ervilla 
 
 G. R. 
 
 B. 
 
 Chickling vetch 
 
 E. G. R 
 
 C. 
 
 Vetch 
 
 R. 
 
 
 Fibre. 
 
 A. 
 
 Flax 
 
 E. G. R. 
 
 B. 
 
 Hemp 
 
 G. R. 
 
 PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THE] 
 
 A. 
 
 Vine 
 
 E. G. R. 
 
 B. 
 
 Cherries 
 
 G. R. 
 
 B. 
 
 Plum 
 
 G. R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Apricots 
 
 R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Peach 
 
 R 
 
 A. 
 
 Almond 
 
 G. R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Pear 
 
 G. R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Apple 
 
 G. R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Quince 
 
 G. R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Pomegranate 
 
 E. G. R. 
 
 C. 
 
 Melon 
 
 R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Watermelon 
 
 E. R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Olive 
 
 E. G. R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Fig 
 
 E. G. R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Date Palm 
 
 E. 
 
 PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THE 
 
 
 Nutritious. 
 
 B. 
 
 Broad Bean 
 
 E. G. R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Lentil 
 
 E. G. R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Chick pea 
 
 E. G. R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Egyptian Lupin 
 
 E. 
 
 B 
 
 Lupin. 
 
 G. R 
 
 B. 
 
 Garden pea 
 
 G. R. 
 
 ? 
 
 Kidney Bean 
 
 G. R. 
 
 ? 
 
 Chestnuts 
 
 R. 
 
 A 
 
 "Wheat 
 
 E. G. R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Barley 
 
 E. G. R. 
 
 B. 
 
 Rye 
 
 R. 
 
 B. 
 
 Oats 
 
 R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Common millet 
 
 E. G. R. 
 
 A. 
 
 Common Sorghum E. 
 
 
 Various Uses. 
 
 B. 
 
 Poppy 
 
 G. R. 
 
 B. 
 
 Cotton 
 
 R. 
 
 A 
 
 Castor Oil Plant 
 
 E. 
 
 MANURES:-- Three kinds of landare mentioned, "Champain,' 
 hilly and mountainous. Each of these kinds is divided into six 
 
50 ROMAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 different species, namely fat or lean, or as we would say, rich 
 or poor; loose or dense, or as we would say, light or heavy! 
 and moist or dry. ""Which qualities compounded and mixed 
 alternately with one another make very many varieties of 
 land." The loose, crumbling soil is said to be the best, "For to 
 cultivate is no other than to open and loosen and ferment the 
 earth; therefore the same land which is both fat and loose, 
 and crumbling, yields the greatest profit because at "the time 
 that it yields the most it requires the least, and what it re- 
 quires is done at very little labor and expense." 
 
 Drains are divided into two kinds, blind or hidden, and open 
 drains. Blind drains should be three feet deep and half filled 
 with stone or gravel, or in case one did not have gravel, 
 boughs were to be used. , 
 
 Minute directions are given with regard to the time of plow- 
 ing, and the following quotation shows the early use of the 
 word manure. "Let fallow land be so reduced into dust by 
 plowing it over and over again that when we use it it may re- 
 quire very little or no harrowing at all, for the ancient Romans 
 said that land was ill -manured which wanted harrowing after 
 the seed was sown." 
 
 Stress is laid upon the desirability of not having any balks 
 in plowing. "The term prevaricare, as Pliny informs us, was 
 first applied to a peasant who ploughed crooked, and afterward 
 transferred to a witness in the law courts who deviated from 
 the truth; and as the ridge thrown up by the plough was 
 called 'lira,' the verb 'delirare,' originally signified, to make an 
 irregular ridge and was afterward applied to those "whose 
 mental faculties were in an abnormal conditipn."* 
 
 Manure was used abundantly and the kinds of manure de- 
 scribed depend upon the animals from which it came, and 
 its preservation and distribution are fully discussed. It appears 
 that it was the rule then to place the manure in piles as it was 
 drawn to the field, as we frequently see done yet. 
 
 Loudon gives a list of the agricultural implements used by 
 the Romans. He quotes Dickson as saying they had ploughs 
 with mould boards and without mould boards, -with and with- 
 out coulters, with and without wheels, with broad and narrow 
 pointed shares, and with shares not only with sharp sides and 
 points, but also with high raised cutting tops. Loudon adds 
 that amid all this variety of plows no one has been able to de- 
 plot in its simplest form that in use among the Romans. The 
 illustrations of plows given by the different authorities as hav- 
 ing been used in Roman agriculture are not of plows which are 
 known to have existed, but they are illustrations of what the 
 artists thought might have existed from the descriptions given. 
 
 Daubeny translates Virgil's description of the plow as fol- 
 lows: "In the first place the elm is forcibly bent in the woods 
 
 *Daubeny's Roman Husbandry, p. 122 
 
ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 51 
 
 into the hinder portion of the pole and receives the form of a 
 crooked plough. To the end of this are joined a beam eight 
 feet long, two earth boards and share-beams with a double 
 back. The light lime tree also is cut down beforehand, and the 
 tall beech, as a handle or plough-tail, which shall turn or di- 
 rect the carriage from behind. "§ 
 
 One man with two oxen was expected to plow from one-half 
 to one and one-half yoke per day. By a yoke was meant 
 an area of 120 feet square, equal to about one-third of an acre. 
 
 Among the tools mentioned is the harrow, of -which they 
 had several sizes, the hand-rake, hand hoes of- several forms, 
 a sort of shovel or spade, the axe, the adze, several kinds of 
 reaping hooks including the serrated sickle used in earlier 
 times in this country. 
 
 In the opinion of Hoskyns, owing to the small size of the 
 farms in the early days of Rome, spade husbandry must 
 have been the usual practice rather than tillage by means of 
 plows. The grains, wheat and barley, were generally reaped 
 with the sickle; in some cases it -was pulled up by the the 
 roots and in other cases the heads -were clipped off with a pair 
 of shears. 
 
 The mode of reaping wheat in Gaul deserves special mention, 
 as the first reference to anything analogous to a reaping ma- 
 chine. 
 
 "In the plains of Gaul they use this quick way of reaping, 
 
 and without reapers cut large fields with an ox in one day. 
 For this purpose a machine is made carried upon two -wheels. 
 The square surface has boards at the sides which sloping out- 
 ward make a wider space above. The board on the forepart is 
 lower than the others. UP orl it there are a great many small 
 teeth, -wide, set in a row answering to the height of the ears of 
 the corn and turned upwards at the end. On the back part of 
 this machine two short shafts are fixed, like the poles of a lit- 
 ter. To these the ox is yoked with his head to the rn.ach.ine> 
 "When this machine is pushed through the standing corn, all 
 the ears are apprehended by the teeth and heaped up in the 
 hollow; part of it being cut off from the straw which is left be- 
 hind, the driver setting it higher or lower as he finds it nec- 
 essary, and thus by a few goings and returnings the whole 
 field is reaped. | 
 
 Grain was threshed with flails or tramped out with cattle or 
 horses. Sometimes a thick wooden board studded under, 
 neath with ironspikes or sharp flints was drawn over the 
 wheat or barley to separate the grain from the straw. 
 
 Homer's description of a harvest scene is thus translated by 
 Daubeny : 
 
 SDaubeney's Roman Husbandry, p. 100. 
 
 ILoudou's Encyclopedia of Agriculture, p. 20. 
 
52 ' ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 "Another field rose high with waving grain: 
 With bended sickles stand the reaper train: 
 Here stretoh'd in ranks thelevell'd swaths are found, 
 Sheaves heaped on sheaves, here thicken up the ground. 
 "With sweeping stroke the mowers strow the lands; 
 The gath'rers follow, and collect in bands; 
 And last the children, in whose arms are borne 
 (Too short to gripe them) the brown sheaves of corn. 
 The rustic monarch of the field descries 
 With silent glee, the heaps around him rise. 
 A ready banquet on the turf is laid 
 Beneath an ample oak's expanded shade. 
 The victim ox the sturdy youth prepare; 
 The reaper's due repast, the women's care."* 
 *Daubeny's Roman Husbandry, p. 138. 
 
 Works of reference on Roman Agriculture: 
 
 Columella's Twelve Books of Roman Husbandry. 
 Daubeny's Roman Husbandry, 
 Hoskyn's History of Agriculture. 
 Loudons Encyclopaedia of Agriculture. 
 DeCandolle's Origin of Cultivated Plants. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 It has been said "As to Rome all ancient history converges, 
 so from Rome all modern history begins." "We have now 
 traced the history of agriculture, albeit very briefly and very 
 imperfectly through 3000 years, namely from the founding of 
 the Old Empire in Egypt, 2700 B C, to the fall of the Roman 
 Empire in 476 A. D. "We have found in these ancient times 
 every domesticated animal with which we are familiar save 
 one, and that a comparatively unimportant animal, viz., the 
 turkey. Moreover we have found that their domestication was 
 in each case prehistoric, To be sure, two were added to the 
 particular stream of civilization which -we are studying at a 
 subsequent period, viz: the horse in Egypt and the common 
 fowl in Greece, and yet we can not doubt that their domesti- 
 cation, too, was prehistoric. "While these domesticated animals 
 existed from the earliest historic times, the use to -which they 
 are put has been greatly modified. The horse has as yet but 
 rarely been put to an economic use, unless their use 
 in -war and the production of mules can be considered. 
 .Among the barbaric tribes in the northern part of 
 Europe the horse had from prehistoric times been a 
 source of food; and, indeed, at a date later than the pe- 
 riod we are discussing, the mark of distinction between a 
 heathen and Christian -was the eating of horse flesh by the 
 former. Generally speaking, I think -we may be assured that 
 meat of any kind formed but little part of the ordinary diet of 
 the Egyptians, the Greeks or the Romans. It was used on the 
 occasion of festivals and by the wealthier classes. The com- 
 mon people subsisted mainly on barley, sorghum and millet 
 seed, beans, lentils, garlic and onions. In Egypt the date palm, 
 in Greece and Italy some of the tree fruits probably softened 
 their diet slightly. The olive was used for anointing rather 
 than food; the vine, for the exhilaration it produced rather than 
 for its nutriment. "Wine, beer, and milk were the common bev- 
 erages. That the milk was pure may be assumed from the fact 
 that it was common practice to drive the herd of goats to the 
 door of the customer and milk the desired supply while the 
 customer waited. It may be remarked that the beer here re- 
 ferred to was not hopped. As we shall see, hops are a later 
 acquisition. The donkey was preeminently the beast of bur- 
 den; the ox, either sex, that of draft, particularly the plow. 
 Ploughing, it must be remembered, was about the only farm op- 
 eration requiring draft. Carts were not unknown to the 
 ancient Greeks and Egyptians, but roads were almost un- 
 
 53 
 
54 BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 known. On the other hand, the roads of the Romans were re- 
 markable both in their extent and character. The following is 
 a description of the methods of building these roads: 
 
 "In building a road the line of direction was first laid out, 
 and the breadth, which was usually from 13 to 15 feet, marked 
 by benches. The loose earth between the trenches having been 
 excavated till a firm base -was reached, the space was filled up 
 to the proposed height of the road, -which was sometimes 20 
 feet above solid ground. First was placed a layer of small 
 stone; next broken stone cemented with lime; then, a mixture 
 of lime, clay and beaten fragments of brick and pottery, and 
 finally a mixture of pounded gravel and lime, or a pavement 
 of hard flat stones, cut into rectangular slabs or irregular poly- 
 gons. Along these roads milestones were erected."! 
 
 Their chief object, however, -was for military purposes and 
 it was along these roads the villas were to be found. - 
 
 ■While the vegetables -were known to Greeks and the Ro- 
 mans, such as turnips, beets, cabbage, celery and lettuce, I am 
 convinced that except the the onion and garlic the vegetables 
 did not form the staple articles of diet they do with us. One 
 vegetable of vast economic importance has since been add- 
 ed—the potato. The tree fruits were generally well known at 
 the close of this period, but the small fruits, strawberries, rasp- 
 berries, blackberries, currants and gooseberries were un- 
 known. 
 
 The majority of our most important cultivated plants from 
 an economic sense have been cultivated for more than two 
 thousand years. I do not recall at the moment any econom- 
 ically important plant except timothy, -which has not been 
 cultivated for more than 2000 years. But notwithstanding 
 this fact there is a great difference bet-ween the plants raised 
 by the Roman Empire and those now raised by the American 
 Republic. 
 
 Either economically or agriculturally considered, the four 
 chief products of the Roman Empire -were -wheat, barley, the 
 olive and the vine. "With us they are corn, -wheat, oats and cot- 
 ton, to -which ought to be added as no less important, the hay 
 crop. The wheat crop constitutes less than one-fourth the value 
 of these four crops. Our potato crop equals our barley crop in 
 area and far exceeds it in value and importance. Rye is -with 
 us as important a crop as is barley, although the former was 
 scarcely known to ancient civilization. Buck-wheat and to- 
 bacco, both in the aggregate important crops, we have added. 
 
 Roughly speaking, Egypt lies between 24° and 31° N. Lati- 
 tude, Greece between 36° and 40o, Italy between 38° and 46°, 
 Great Britain between 50° and 60°. Thebes, the favorite capi- 
 tal of the Middle Empire of Egypt, was approximately 25° N. 
 latitude, 32° E. longitude; Athens was 38° N. latitude, 24° E. 
 tBarnes' General History, p. 2S2. 
 
BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 55 
 
 longitude; Rome is 42o N. latitude, 12 1-2° E. longitude; London 
 51 1-2° N. latitude. The capital of the -world has moved over 
 2000 miles -west and nearly 2000 mile's north-ward. I regret 
 that I cannot give you the average annual temperature and 
 average annual rainfall of these countries, but a little reflection 
 ■will show you -what a difference in climate there must have 
 been and still exists in these several countries. In the valley 
 of the Nile frost is unknown; in parts of England the most rigid 
 winter lasts from November to April. "While in Egypt a heavy 
 rain may occur once in a century, in England the cause of 
 every famine, Rogers asserts, is due to an excess of rainfall. Do 
 you have an idea these things affect the agriculture of a coun- 
 try? "What cosmopolitan things wheat and barley must be to 
 thrive both in Egypt and England. DeCandolle asserts, those 
 of you -who have read him -will remember that there is no evi- 
 dence that plants have been affected by climate within historic 
 times, and I believe he is correct.* 
 
 "We modify the climate of our domestic animals by shelter, 
 more or less humane and more or less brutal. 
 
 Nevertheless the climate of England's greatest city, London, 
 is not to be compared with our New York or Chicago. In Jan- 
 uary the temperature at London seldom goes below 32°— a con- 
 dition -we find in New Orleans, and seldom goes above 80° F. 
 in July, a condition -we do not find in New Orleans or else- 
 where in this country except at high altitudes. 
 
 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland has an area 
 of 122,161 square miles; England and Wales, 58,311; Scotland 
 31,326; Ireland, 32,524 square miles. The area of England and 
 Wales combined is a little more than that of Illinois. Either 
 Scotland or Ireland is a little less than Indiana, and the total 
 area of the United Kingdom is three times that of Ohio. Fi- 
 nally its area about equals that of Italy. The greatest length 
 of Great Britain is 600, the greatest -width 320, its least 30; 
 the greatest length of Ireland is 300, its -width 200 miles. 
 
 The mountains of Great Britain are on the -west, the drainage 
 of its -waters are toward the east. On its principal river, the 
 Thames, the tide rises for sixty miles, hence London is virtually 
 a seaport town. What difference think you it would have 
 made to London, had the mountains been on the east, and the 
 drainage toward the -west? 
 
 About a century before Columella -wrote his De Re Rustica, or 
 twelve books of Good Husbandry describing the Agriculture not 
 only of Italy but much of Europe, Caesar, the Governor of Gaul, 
 crossed the English Channel and landed at Kent, England. For 
 the first time Great Britain breaks into history. The 
 British Islands -were unknown to Herodotus, the Greek his- 
 torian, who -wrote in the fifth century B. C. They -were only in- 
 *De Candolle's Origin of Cultivated Plants p. 400. 
 
56 BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 differently known to Strabo, the Roman Geographer, at the be- 
 ginning of the Christian era. In Caesar's time, the country was 
 described as a wild -waste of rough boggy pasture and impen- 
 etrable forest. In Kent, Caesar found a people with 
 some degree of civilization, but in the interior of 
 Britain he found a fierce, barbarous, warlike people, 
 whom he describes as living on meat and milk. Hoskyns 
 states they also lived on roots. In other words, in Great Britain 
 Agriculture, that is field culture, had not yet begun, but the 
 people were Agriculturally in the third stage of progress, the 
 pastoral stage. Caesar did not conquer the sturdy Britons, but 
 a century later when Columella was busy writing of the great 
 art of peace, Agricoia, by'force of arms and good governorship, 
 made Britain a Roman province. The immortal Roman roads' 
 were constructed. Roman villas were planted along them and 
 Agriculture under the influence of the Romans flourished. 
 
 The effect of law on Agriculture was illustrated in this case. 
 As a Roman province Britain had to pay tribute to the Roman 
 government in grain. If their crops of grain -were deficient 
 they were compelled to buy the grain from the government 
 storehouses at extortionate prices. Under these circumstances 
 they 'would try to raise enough. 
 
 The influence of the Roman settlement is shown by the fact 
 that cities were founded, among them London, which have 
 had a continued existence ever since. 
 
 But this is not the only way in -which the Romans contrib- 
 uted to the civilization of the Britains. 
 
 Caesar not only carried the Roman arms into Great Britain 
 but also into Germany. Remember that in the days of Roman 
 splendor most of Europe and a part of Asia and Africa paid 
 tribute to her and in a measure took part in her civilization. 
 The Roman Empire fell apart like a rotten stone into several • 
 fragments but her laws, her customs and her civilization clung 
 to the several divided states like the sand to the fragments of 
 the stone. 
 
 Following its true progress, the -western -world had fallen into 
 the hands of the barbarians, Teutonic or Germanic races, our 
 horse eating ancestors. During the six centuries of the blackest 
 night these Teutons ruled Europe, but -while the -world seemed 
 to have stood still throughout this time, out of this period of in- 
 cubation has been hatched civilization far greater than any- 
 thing that had been heretofore known. 
 
 In this northern territory there arose an agriculture -which 
 ■was destined at a later date to exert a very great influence on 
 agriculture and hence the progress of the world. I refer to the 
 agriculture of the Low Countries, the Netherlands, to what 
 corresponds in general to Holland and Belgium. Through the 
 influence of its agriculture, as we shall see later, combined, of 
 
BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 57 
 
 course, -with, other forces, the yield of wheat in Great Britain 
 ■was brought to yield in place of fourfold, fifteenfold; cattle were 
 greatly improved; desert lands were made fertile; health 
 among the people took the place of scurvy and leprosy, and the 
 population increased from two and a half millions to twenty- 
 five millions, or tenfold. Do you think agriculture has no in- 
 fluence on the well Toeing of mankind? Is it any -wonder that 
 a wise government should tax the entire people, for the purpose 
 of developing agriculture? 
 
 There were four conquests of England: 
 
 Roman conquest by Agricola, in 78 A. D. 
 
 Anglo Saxon conquest, Horsa and Hengist, 449 A. D. 
 
 Danish conquest, Canute, in 1017 A. D. 
 
 Norman conquest, William the Conquerer, 1066 A. D. 
 
 Great Britain was one of the last countries to come under the 
 sway of the Roman Government and the first to crumble away 
 from it, which it did in the fifth century, when swarms of Ger- 
 man tribes, mostly Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians, invaded 
 the country. They did more than conquer it; they overwhelmed 
 the -whole island except "Wales. Tribes from Denmark and 
 Norway also entered at the north oi England. For six centuries, 
 or until the Norman conquest, these tribes murdered and 
 plundered one another. 
 
 Nevertheless, the amalgamation of these people produced the 
 Anglo-Saxon or English-speaking ancestors and they have re- 
 mained, under whatever form of government may since have 
 existed, the people of Britain. 
 
 The grazing of herds and flocks seems to have been the prin- 
 cipal means of subsistence, both on the part of the Anglo- 
 Saxons and the remaining Britons or Welsh. All the cattle of 
 a village (observe this term village), though belonging to dif- 
 ferent owners, were pastured together in one herd, under the 
 direction of one person, with proper assistants, whose oath, in 
 all disputes about cattle under his care, was decisive. Their 
 plows were rude and no one was allowed to use a plow who could 
 not make one. Plowing was restricted to oxen by law. Even 
 in those days it was thought advisable to enact laws for the 
 promotion of agriculture, as csrtain privileges were allowed to 
 any person who laid dung on a field, cut down a wood, or 
 folded cattle on another's land for a year. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxons committed the cultivation of the land to 
 the natives whom they had reduced to a state of practical 
 slavery. The effect of this, on the esteem in which agriculture 
 was held, is obvious. 
 
 The island was divided among the Saxon princes, -who in turn 
 divided their shares into two portions, called inlands and out- 
 lands. The former were those lands about the mansion house 
 of the owner, -who farmed it by slaves under the direction of a 
 
68 BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 bailiff, for the purpose of raising provisions for his family. The 
 outland -was rented to farmers who paid rent usually in kind j 
 As stated by Loudon, "The rent in these times -was established 
 by law, and not by the owners of the land. By the laws of Ina. 
 King of the "West Saxons, who flourished in the end of the 
 seventh and beginning of the eighth century, a farm consist- 
 ing of ten hides, or plough lands, was to pay the following rent 
 viz: ten casks of honey, three hundred loaves of bread, twelve 
 casks ot strong ale, thirty casks of small ale, two oxen, ten 
 wethers, ten geese, twenty hens, ten cheeses, one cask of but- 
 ter, five salmon, twenty pounds of forage and one hundred 
 eels."* 
 ♦Loudon's Encyclopedia of Agriculture, p. 36. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 The conquest of England by the Normans in the eleventh cen- 
 tury contributed to the improvement of agriculture. Unlike 
 the Anglo-Saxons, the Normans had a fondness for agriculture. 
 They came also from the fertile and well cultivated tract of 
 country in northern France, and transferred their former 
 methods to their new made home -with some degree of success. 
 
 The clergy promoted agriculture at this time, by threatening 
 excommunication to all those who molest or interrupt persons 
 engaged in the labors of husbandry. The value derived from 
 perfect securits'" to those who cultivate the land cannot be easily 
 estimated. 
 
 But little is ' known of the details of agriculture for 
 the first two centuries after the Norman Conquest. Be- 
 ginning with the middle of the thirteenth century, 
 Professor James E. Thorold Rogers, Professor of Po- 
 litical Economy in the University of Oxford, has in a 
 masterly manner collected a fund of information concerning 
 the agriculture of England covering a period of somewhat more 
 than 300 years. The leisure time of this able and distinguished 
 professor for sixteen years has been devoted to the preparation 
 of two volumes covering the history of the last half of this 
 period. We may, perhaps, be able to expend forty minutes 
 profitably in a resume of the whole period of mediaeval agri- 
 culture. This period of which we speak will comprise, then, 350 
 years, ending about the time of the beginning of the reign of 
 James I. of England in 1603 or what is more important to us, 
 about the time of the first permanent settlement in America in 
 the beginning of the seventeenth century. The evidence of this 
 period rests on the writings of Rogers and Prothero. In what 
 follows I get my material mostly from them. Sometimes the 
 language will be theirs and sometimes my own. 
 
 During this period we have evidence that communication be- 
 tween the different parts of England was far more free and 
 full than it was formerly supposed to have been, as the cus- 
 toms and habits of the people and the methods of farm culture, 
 were very similar in many respects. 
 
 We now come again to the Roman Villa consisting of pro- 
 prietor, bailiff, freemen and slaves. We have seen that these 
 villas were planted in Great Britain, but during the 1000 years 
 that have intervened since their planting, they have almost or 
 quite grown out of recognition. They had been mod- 
 ified by the feudal system, of the middle ages. We 
 have not the time and this is not the place to trace the growth 
 
 59 
 
60 BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 of this system, although, it would be extremely interesting to 
 do so. It will suffice for the present purpose to state the con- 
 ditions as they existed. 
 
 In place of the Roman patrician proprietor holding absolute 
 rights over his villa, we have an English lord holding certain 
 modified rights over his village or manor. Part of the domain is 
 rented under conditions presently to be described. In place of 
 slaves we have serfs, men -who can only be sold -with the land 
 and not apart from it and who can under certain conditions 
 constantly growing easier from generation to generation, pur- 
 chase this right to change their condition. In the place of 
 the temple of Ceres in the Roman villa, we find the Christian 
 church and the rector. All the inhabitants of this modern villa, 
 now known as the manor or village, till the soil. The king 
 himself -was not only a land owner, but through his bailiff, a 
 farmer. To-day the Queen and the Prince of "Wales take the 
 prizes at the Royal Agricultural Society Shows. The parson, 
 the miller, the blacksmith and the laborer, whatever his rela- 
 tion to the landlord, has certain privileges which make him 
 independently a producer. The dairywoman who makes the 
 butter for the landlord and Lord of the Manor, has certain priv- 
 ileges of pasture and keeps cows or sheep, by which she in- 
 creases her income. For the most part these people, even the 
 servants, except occasionally during harvest, live in. separate 
 houses, or better, hovels, and these form a village. According 
 to Rogers, this village contained, during the thirteenth century, 
 from sixty to eighty persons. 
 
 By a manor or village is meant simply the total domain 
 over -which the lord exercised his feudal rights, -which he had 
 acquired in various -ways, principally through custom and 
 compact. 
 
 In the first place the lord cultivated a portion of his land 
 through his bailiff, as a non-residsnt land owner in our own 
 country might cultivate his farm by a farm superintendent. 
 
 Secondly, there were small estates within the manor pos- 
 sessed by freeholders -who paid quit rents, 
 
 Thirdly, there -were the lands of the villains. These held the 
 land under obligations to their lord to do military or other ser- 
 vice. The amount of service -was fixed. If the lord chose to ac- 
 cept it might be paid in money. The tenant or freeholder 
 might proffer service instead of money but its acceptance -was 
 at the pleasure of the lord. Besides these lands there was a 
 -waste or common over -which all tenants had a right to pasture. 
 
 The folio-wing account written by Loudon about 1830 gives 
 a good picture of the village or township as it appeared in the 
 thirteenth century: 
 
 "A very few centuries ago, nearly the whole of the lands of 
 Britain lay in an open, and more or less in a commonable state. 
 
BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 (See Fitzherbert on the Statute Extenta Manorii) Each par 
 or township-at least in the more central andnorthern distric 
 comprised different descriptions of lands, having been subj ect 
 during successive ages, to specified modes of occupancy, urn 
 ancient and strict regulations, which, time had converted 
 law. These parochial arrangements, however, varied sor 
 what in different districts; but, in the more central and gres 
 part of the kingdom, not widely; and the folio-wing statem 
 may serve to convey a generaLidea of the whole of what n 
 be termed common-field townships, throughout England: 
 
 "Each parish, or township, was considered as one coma 
 farm, though the tenantry were numerous. (See also Bla 
 stone's Commentaries, art. Tithing of Township.) Round ■ 
 village in which the tenants resided lay a few small enclosu: 
 or grass yards, for rearing calves, as a baiting and nurs 
 grounds for other farm stock. This was the common f armste 
 or homestall, which was generally placed as near the cente: 
 the more culturable lands of the parish or township as wa 
 and shelter would permit. 
 
 '■Round the homestall lay a suite of arable fields, includ: 
 the deepest and soundest of the lower grounds, situated ou- 
 water's way, for raising corn and pulse, as -well as to prodi 
 fodder and litter for cattle and horses in the winter season; a 
 in the lowest situation, as in the water formed base of a rive 
 valley, or in swampy dips, shooting up among the arable lar; 
 lay an extent of meadow grounds, or ings, to afford a supplj 
 hay for cows and working stock, in the winter and spr: 
 months. 
 
 "On the outskirts of the arable lands, where the soil v 
 adapted to the pasturage of cattle; or on the springy slope 
 hills less adapted to cultivation; or in the fenny bases of valle 
 ■which were too wet; or gravelly lands thrown up by wa 
 which were too dry; or hams, were laid out for milking cot 
 working cattle, or other stock -which required superior past 
 age in summer. 
 
 "The bleakest, -worst-soiled, and most distant lands of 1 
 township -were left in their native wild state, for timber a 
 fuel, and for a common pasture, or suite of pastures, for the mi 
 ordinary stock of the township, whether horses, rearing cat 
 sheep or swine, -without any other stint or restriction th 
 ■what the arable and meadow lands indirectly gave; every jo: 
 tenant or occupier of the township having the nominal pri 
 lege of keeping as much live stock on these pastures, in su 
 mer, as the appropriated lands he occupied -would maintain 
 winter. 
 
 "The appropriated lands of each township -were laid out w: 
 equal good sense and propriety. That each occupier mij 
 
62 BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 lying in different situations, the arable lands, more particularly^ 
 were divided into numerous parcels of sizes, doubtless, accord- 
 ing to the size of the given township, and the number and rank 
 of the occupiers. 
 
 "The whole was subjected to the same plan of management 
 and conducted as one common farm; for which purpose the 
 arable lands were divided into compartments, or "fields", of 
 nearly equal size, and generally three in number, to receive, in 
 constant rotation, the triennial succession of fallow, -wheat, or 
 rye, and spring crops— as barley, oats, beans and peas--thus 
 adopting and promoting a system of husbandry, ■which, how- 
 soever improper it has become in these more enlightened days, 
 was well adapted to the state of ignorance and vassalage of 
 feudal times. When each parish or township had its sole pro- 
 prietor, the occupiers being at once his tenants and his soldiers, 
 or meaner vassals, the lands were of course, liable to be more 
 or less deserted by their occupiers, and left to the feebleness of 
 the young, the aged, and the weaker sex; but the -whole town- 
 ship being, in this manner, thrown into one system, the care 
 and management of the live stock, at least, would be easier 
 and betterthan they -would under any other arrangement; and, 
 at all times, the manager of the estate was better enabled to de- 
 tect bad husbandry, and enforce that which -was more profit- 
 able to the tenants and the estate, by having the whole spread 
 under the eye at once, than he would have been had the lands 
 been distributed in detached, enclosed farmlets, besides 
 avoiding the expense of enclosure. Another advantage arose 
 from this more social arrangement, in barbarous times: the 
 tenants, by being concentrated in villages, were not only best 
 situated to defend each other from predatory attacks, but -were 
 called out by their lord, -with greater readiness, in cases of 
 emergency. Therefore, absurd as the common field system is, 
 in almost every particular, at this day, it was admirably suited 
 to the circumstances of the times in which it originated; the 
 plan having been conceived in wisdom, and executed with ex- 
 traordinary accuracy, as appears in numberless instances, even 
 at this distance of time."* 
 
 The folio-wing gives in some detail the communal use of land 
 •which -was common at this time: 
 
 "The arable land of the manor was generally communal, i. e., 
 each of the tenants possessed a certain number of furrows in a 
 common field, the several divisions being separated by balks 
 of unploughed ground, on which the grass -was sufferred to 
 grow. The system, which was all but universal in the thir- 
 teenth century, has survived in certain districts up to living 
 memory, though generally it gave -way to enclosures, effected 
 at a more or less remote period. The system has been traced 
 back to remote antiquity." 
 
 *I,oudon's Encyclopaedia of Agriculture p. 560. 
 
BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 63 
 
 The ownership of these several strips was limited to certain 
 months in the year, generally from Lady Day to Michaelmas, 
 and for the remaining six months the land was common pas- 
 ture. The communal cultivation had its advantages for the 
 poorer tenants, since the area of their pasture was increased. 
 But at the latter end of the seventeenth century it -was de- 
 nounced as a wasteful and barbarous system, and -wholly un- 
 stated to any improved system of agriculture. 
 
 "In Fitzherbert's treatise on surveying, a •work of the early 
 part of the sixteenth century, a description is given of these 
 communal districts. The work, though two centuries and a 
 half later than the period on -which I am speaking, deals -with 
 e. system -which is of immemorial antiquity; and -was probably 
 entirely unchanged from what had prevailed in the earlier 
 epoch. There is, he says, a field, which he calls Dale Furlong, 
 in -which the several inhabitants have "lands." In this field 
 the parson has two strips, the lord three, a tenant one, another 
 two a third one, the lord four, the prior two, the parson one, 
 a fourth tenant two, a fifth one, a sixth one, a seventh two > 
 tHe prior three, the lord two and one headland, the parson hav- 
 ing the other. The rest of the fields, of -which he gives four 
 names, are similarly divided. 
 
 "He then treats a long meadow containing 122 acres, -which 
 is similarly staked and bounded. This appears to be devoted 
 to hay, and the several tenants mow and stack their portions. 
 In this typical manor there are also closes of various dimen- 
 sions. Every husbandman, in addition to his share in the com- 
 munal field, has six of these closes, --three for corn, and the 
 others for pasture and hay. The rental of the communal land 
 is sixpence an acre, of the enclosed eightpence, the difference in 
 the value being derived from its being possible to letoxenlieon 
 it. This rent illustrates what I have said above as the average 
 rental of arable land. It is unchanged from the thirteenth to 
 the sixteenth century. 
 
 Besides his several closes, and his use after harvest of the 
 communal fields, the husbandman had access to three kinds 
 of common pasture:— 1--In many places, -where closes and 
 pastures exist in severalty, there is often a common close, 
 taken in out of the common or fields by tenants of the same 
 place--and I conclude by the action of the homage-for oxen, 
 kine, or other cattle, in -which close every man is stinted from 
 the lord down-wards. 2. -The plain champaign country, where 
 the cattle go daily before the herdsman, this lying near the 
 common fields. Here again each person who has the right of 
 use should be stinted; and a suggestion is made that the 
 principle of the stint should be determined by the extent of the 
 tenant's holding. 3. -The lord's outwoods, moors, and heaths, 
 which have never been under the plough. Here the lord 
 
©4 BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 should not be stinted, for the soil is his; but his tenants should'' 
 be, for they have no certain parcel of this district annexed to 
 their holdings, but only bit of mouth with their cattle. The 
 stint of cattle, we are told, is necessary in order to prevent the 
 rich man from buying sheep and cattle in tha beginning of 
 summer, getting them into condition and selling them, all the 
 •while sparing his own pasture, and so defrauding the poor 
 man. As an equitable adjustment of the stint, it is proposed 
 that the tenant's rights should be proportioned to the amount 
 of cattle which he can maintain in the winter from the 
 amount of hay and straw housed during the season from his 
 several holding. These passages make it clear that the inter- 
 est of the mediaeval tenant -was by no means limited to the 
 acreage -with which he is credited in the manor survey; and 
 that, under proper regulations, his common of pasture •was nec- 
 essary and valuable. 
 
 '■The division of communal fields into lands, or regular plots of 
 equal length and breadth, as far at least as the unit is con- 
 cerned, of -which the several owners had multiples, necessita- 
 ted, after the practice of tenant farming became general, an 
 accurate survey and terrier of the different interests in the field. 
 As long as cultivation was carried on by the owner, a great 
 deal of care and frequent visits -were necessary to prevent fraud 
 or encroachments, The owner of one strip in freehold might 
 be the tenant on a short term of years on another strip, and 
 ■would be strongly tempted to edge on his landlord's property. 
 This is curiously illustrated by some of the bad debts -which 
 land owners made in later times. They had defaulting tenants 
 whose property was insufficient to meet the debts which they 
 had incurred. But the remedy of distress, the common law 
 process, by -which the lord could recover his rent, appears to 
 have been available only on the land from -which the rent is- 
 sued; and if by any means the boundaries of it were lost or ob- 
 scured, the landowner might be unable to recover, because he 
 could not find the precise spot from wnich his rent issued. 
 Now it was a common practice in later times to let different 
 strips for various terms; and thus the tenant not taking his 
 holding in tne aggregate, but piecemeal, could -with diffi- 
 culty be dispossessed. It also became difficult to discover, 
 unless the area of the several strips -was accurately registered, 
 what plot was liable for over due rent. I have con- 
 stantly found, in the accounts presented by rent collectors, that 
 arrears extending over a long period of years, especially in 
 the fifteenth century, are described as not recovered because 
 the collector can not identify the land from which the rent is- 
 sues. It -was, I believe, to meet such contingencies as these 
 that the old remedy of distress was supplemented by the action 
 for cobenant and the action for debt; and thus that the rights 
 
BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 65 
 
 of the land owner have been made a far more secure debt than 
 they were under the ancient system. 
 
 "The system of communal tenure, it must be admitted, was 
 hostile to permanent or even transient improvement, because 
 it left the personal' advantage of outlay on such land insecure. 
 The argument may be pressed with great force in favor of the 
 tenant under the modern system; and it is certain, as -we shall 
 see hereafter, that as soon as ever it was possible to apply new 
 methods of cultivation, and to enhance by such methods the 
 natural capacity of the soil, the complaint arose that the land- 
 lord entered on the benefit of the tenant's improvements, de- 
 prived him of them by the exhaltation of rent, and therefore 
 discouraged agriculture. This complaint, which begins in the 
 sixteenth century, is exceedingly common in the seventeenth, 
 when English agriculture was making rapid progress."* 
 
 The buildings belonging to the lord consisted of manor house 
 and a grange, or as -we would say, the residence and the barn. 
 The manor house consisted of at least three principal rooms, 
 the hall and dormitory and the solar. The hall -was the room 
 for holding court and like uses ; the solar was the state cham- 
 ber or parlor built generally, as its name implies, towards the 
 south. The furniture of the manor house was scanty; glass 
 ■was rarely used. A table put on trucks like carpenters use 
 ■which was laid aside when out of use, a few stools, or a long 
 bench stuffed with straw or wool covered with a straw cush- 
 ion, with one or two chairs and a chest or two for linen formed 
 the hall furniture. A few brass pots for boiling, two or three 
 brass dishes, a few ■wooden platters or more rarely of pewter, 
 an iron candlestick, a kitchen knife or two, a box or barrel of 
 salt, a brass ewer and basin, formed the movables of the ordi- 
 nary house. The walls -were covered -with mattocks, scythes, 
 reaping hooks, buckets, corn measures, and empty sacks. 
 The dormitory contained a rude bed and but rarely sheets or 
 blankets, for the gown of the day was generally the coverlet 
 at night.} The dairy was annexed to the manor house and was 
 not greatly different from the old fashioned dairy of the pres- 
 ent time. Cheese and butter formed an important source of in- 
 come and were made by the dairy woman. The grange con- 
 tained grain kept in stock. It was either put in the building in 
 the sheaf or threshed and put in sacks. Threshing was then 
 the chief farm -work of winter. 
 
 The lord did not necessarily reside within the manor, but 
 there -was a manor house -which belonged to him and -was in- 
 habited by his bailiff. 
 
 Next to the lord, the most important person in the parish 
 was the rector. The revenues of a portion of the land of the 
 manor went to him in addition to his tithes and dues. Next in 
 
 'Roger's 'Work and Wages pp. 88-91. 
 
 JRodgers' History of Agriculture & Prices in England, p. 13. 
 
66 BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 importance to the rector -was the miller. Every parish had a 
 mill with water or wind as motive power. Rodgers says that 
 the miller figures in the legends and ballads of the time as the 
 opulent villager, who is keen after his gains and not over hon- 
 est in the collection of them. The residue of the tenants gen- 
 erally inhabited the principal street or road of the village. The 
 houses of the cottagers were also generally in the principal 
 streets. Occasionally the house of a tenant or cottager occupied 
 a remoter part of the manor. 
 
 The regular farm servants, after the bailiff, were the plow- 
 man and drivers, one to each plow, the carters, the cow or 
 ox herd, the pig-keeper, and the dairy -women. In case sheep 
 were kept, one or two shepherds were engaged. All these per- 
 sons had land and stock of their own. The dairy-woman often 
 purchased the calves. The shepherd had his own little flock 
 and was occasionally remunerated by permission to use the 
 lord's pasture. 
 
 "The houses of these villagers were mean and dirty. Brick- 
 making -was a lost art. Stone -was found only in a few places, 
 and, though cheap enough, was certainly not generally em- 
 ployed, even where it was plentiful and -within reach. The 
 better class of yeomen had timber houses-- -housebote -was a 
 customary right of the tenants- --built on a frame, the spaces 
 being either lathed and plastered within and without, or filled 
 with clay kneaded up with chopped straw. The floor -was the 
 bare earth, though it was sometimes pitched -with split flints. 
 The sleeping apartments under the thatched roof -were reached 
 by a ladder or rude staircase. A f ew chests -were ranged round 
 the walls, the bacon-rack was fastened to the timbers over- 
 head, and the walls of the homestead -were garnished with 
 agricultural implements. The ■wood fire -was on a hob of clay. 
 Chimneys were unknown, except in castles and manor hous- 
 es, and the smoke escaped through the door or -whatever other 
 aperture it could reach. Artificial light -was too costly for 
 common use, for the hard fats -were four times as dear as the 
 meats of animals, and a pound of candles could only have 
 been procured at nearly the price of a day's -work. 
 
 "The floor of the homestead -was filthy enough, but the sur- 
 roundings -were filthier still. Close by the door stood the mixen, 
 a collection of every abomination, --streams from -which, in 
 rainy weather, fertilized the lower meadows, generally the 
 lord's several pasture, and polluted the stream. Two centuries 
 and a half after the time of -which I am writing, the earliest 
 English -writer on husbandry comments on the -waste, the un- 
 wholesomeness and the agricultural value of these dunghills. 
 
 The house of the peasant cottager -was ruder still. Most of 
 them were probably built of posts wattled and plastered -with 
 clay or mud, with an upper story of poles, reached by a ladder."t 
 fRoger's Work and Wages p. 67. 
 
BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 67 
 
 LIVE STOCK.-- "With regard to the relative and absolute im- 
 portance of live stock, Rogers gives tlie inventories of eleven 
 estates for four consecutive years in the thirteenth century. 
 The average amount cf arable land in cultivation on the -whole 
 eleven estates for the four years -was 1448 1-2 acres. The eleven 
 estates maintained a total of 74 horses during this time, and 
 they are classified in the inventories into horses, stotts, and 
 affers. Rogers believes stotts and affers to be coarse, large 
 ponies. More than half the horse stock -was of this kind on 
 these estates. These inferior horses were supposed to have 
 been used for ploughing and other farm work. The total num- 
 ber of oxen and cows on ten of these estates was 215, one pos- 
 sessing none. Twenty -one calves are recorded, one calf to ten 
 adult animals. Three estates did not keep sheep, but the re- 
 maining eight estates maintained 1133 sheep and lambs, the 
 largest number being wethers. With his usual care for detailsi 
 Rogers mentions that nine rams are kept to 287 ewes. These 
 estates kept 296 hogs, 246 geese, 1146 capons, 281 fowls, and 
 103 ducks. 
 
 When -we remember that in addition to this 1450 acres of 
 arable land there -were fenced pastures and fenced woodlands 
 and also outlying open pastures which -were used in common, 
 this seems a moderate amount of stock. This is what is to be 
 expected. Only such stock as could be kept through their long 
 ■winters could be maintained. The bailiff calculating his re- 
 sources killed for salting down, at the beginning of November, 
 as many sheep, oxen and calves as exceeded his means of sus- 
 tenance. Neither root crops nor the artificial grasses had been 
 introduced yet. How would -we carry our stock through the 
 winter without clover, timothy or the Indian corn plant? In 
 the farm, economy of England, the turnip takes the place of the 
 Indian corn. Rogers remarks that England has been alter- 
 nately a corn growing and a grazing country and that in the 
 period under discussion was eminently the former and I may 
 add that today England is on the wave of a grazing period 
 caused by American competition. An important and signifi- 
 cant fact to -which -we may again revert. 
 
 Sheep have always formed an important part of the agricul- 
 ture of England, but they were not as common in the earlier 
 part of the period as later, viz., 15th. and 16th. centuries, when 
 much of the land was fenced and put down to pasture to the 
 great distress of the laboring classes. Comparatively small 
 fenced fields are essential to the highest development of the 
 larger breeds of sheep. 
 
 Sheep -were kept for their carcass, wool and milk. The wool 
 ■was coarse and full of hairs. Following his usual method 
 Rodgers finds the average -weight of the fleeces entered in the 
 inventories to have been 1 pound, 7 3-4 ounces. Notwith- 
 
68 BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 standing the smallness of the fleece, it was worth half as much 
 as the animal when shorn. The unimproved breeds of the 
 18th. century gave nearly 5 pounds; while at present, I believe 
 the •weight is about 7 pounds. The losses on sheep were enor- 
 mous, sometimes as high as 20 per. cent. 
 
 While under Saxon rule the use of horses for plowing •was 
 forbidden by law, during this period both horses and oxen 
 were used, the latter being preferred. They were considered more 
 effective as ■well as cheaper. The cost of keeping a horse be- 
 tween October 18th and May 3rd, the period during 
 ■which they cannot graze, was reckoned as nearly 
 four times that of an ox. "When no longer useful at the plow 
 his carcass and hide was of value, ■which was not true of the 
 horse. Oxen -were shod. 
 
 Prothero says that eight oxen; Rogers that four oxen or 
 horses, -were ordinarily arranged to a plow. This -would indi- 
 cate rather small animals or large plows which latter prob- 
 ably did not exist. The size of domestic animals is certainly 
 astonishing. Professor Rogers finds from the Public Record 
 office that forty oxen -were purchased for the navy in 1547 
 averaging less than 400 pounds. 
 
 Prothero says that as late as 1710 the average size of cattle 
 and sheep sold in Smithfield Market was, beeves, 370 lb; 
 calves, 50 lb; sheep, 28 lb; lambs, 18 lb. In 1795 after the 
 general introduction of root crops and artificial grasses and 
 clovers, they weighed respectively, 800 lb, 148 lb. 80 lb, and 
 50 lb. 
 
 The above -weights are obviously carcass weights. Sir Ernest 
 Clarke has recently pointed out that the figures given for the 
 size of cattle and sheep sold in Smithfield Market in 1710 which 
 have been so often quoted by different authorities, have been 
 misquoted. He believes that the carcasses sold at Smithfield in 
 1710 were as heavy as those of the present day. Shape rather 
 than size, quality rather than quantity, roasting pieces rather 
 than boiling pieces, has, he contends, been the object of all im- 
 provers of cattle.* 
 
 Sir Walter Gilbey, speaking of the size of horses, says: "It is 
 a notable fact that the stature of the race-horse has increased 
 an inch in every twenty -five years since 1700; and the average 
 size at that date -was thirteen hands, two inches, -while the av- 
 erage in 1870 was fifteen hands, two inches. "t 
 
 He seems to think that the War Horse, or Great Horse, or Black 
 Horse, or Flanders Horse from which descended our draft breeds, 
 has not materially increased in size since Caesar's time. He 
 shows that the Great Horse was used as a national emblem upon 
 British coins but -was not used upon Roman coins. The fol- 
 
 *Mark Lane Express, Feb. 20, 1899. 
 JGilbey's, The Old English War Horse. 
 
BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 69 
 
 lowing is the oft quoted account by Caesar of what lie found 
 when he landed upon the British Island: 
 
 "Most of them use chariots in battle. They first scour up and 
 down on every side, throwing their darts; creating disorder 
 among the ranks by the terror of their horses and noise of their 
 chariot -wheels. "When they have got among the troops of 
 (their enemies) horse, they leap out of the chariots and fight 
 on foot. Meantime the charioteers retire to a little distance 
 from the field, and place themselves in such a manner that if 
 the others be overpowered by the number of the enemy, they 
 may be secure to make good their retreat. Thus they act with 
 the agility of cavalry and the steadiness of infantry in battle. 
 They become so expert by constant practice that in declivitie s 
 and precipices they can stop their horses at full speed; and, on 
 a sudden, check and turn them. They run along the pole, 
 stand on the yoke, and then, as quickly into their chariots 
 again. They frequently retreat on purpose, and after they have 
 drawn men from the main body, leap from their pole, and wage 
 an unequal war on foot."$ 
 
 This quotation would seem to indicate that the horses then 
 used in warfare were not as large as our present draft horses, 
 although they must have been horses of considerable sub- 
 stance. The latter is indicated from the fact that the cavalry 
 fought in heavy armor and even the horse was protected with 
 armor. The combined weight carried often equaled four hun- 
 dred pounds. That the various breeds of draft horses of Europe 
 have descended from a type common to the lowlands of north- 
 ern and western Europe, of -which the Horse of Flanders may 
 be taken as perhaps the best example, is commonly admitted. 
 As early as the twelfth century the legislature enacted laws 
 to improve the horses of England. During the period of which 
 we are treating, stallions and mares were allowed to breed 
 only under certain restrictions. 
 
 Not only prelates and nobles, but those whose wives wore 
 velvet bonnets, were required to have stallions at least 15 
 hands and mares at least 13 hands high for the saddle, while 
 inferior horses were killed.*! 
 
 In mediaeval times, the English peasant's pig was quite an 
 important factor as is the Irishman's pig today. "The pigs," 
 says Rogers, "were the scavengers of the mediaeval village. 
 In the autumn they were turned into the cornfields after the 
 crop was carried, and into the woods to gather mast and 
 acorns. The ringing of pigs, in order to prevent their uprooting 
 the ground, was known, though not perhaps universally prac- 
 ticed. The whole of the parish stock was put under the charge 
 of the swine herd, -who, receiving a payment from the owner of 
 
 iGilbey's The Old English War Horse, p. 24. 
 •Encyclopedia of Agriculture, J. C. Loudon, p. 40 
 tTheOld English War Horse, Walter Gilbey, p. 7. 
 
70 BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 every pig under his charge, had a small wage from the lord of 
 the manor to whom he -was also a servant."* "When fattening, 
 the pigs were fed on barley, beans and peas, much as they are 
 today. Sir John Lawes having remarked, you -will remember, 
 that the natural food of a civilized hog was barley meal. The 
 fatted boar was considered a lordly dish. 
 
 Since the period which we are discussing, cattle and sheep, 
 especially the latter, have risen in importance while swine have 
 greatly decreased relatively. 
 
 Much poultry, including fowls, geese and ducks, was kept 
 and eggs were exceedingly cheap. 
 
 Bees do not seem to have been commonly kept. 
 
 ^Roger's Work and Wages, p. 82. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 PLANTS— The largest part ot the land under the plow was oc- 
 cupied by crops of wheat, barley and oats. Prothero says that 
 rye was the principal bread food. "The Englishmen of the 
 middle ages subsisted on wheaten bread and barley beer," says 
 Rogers. 
 
 Rogers admits that much of the best wheat went to the 
 cities and was even exported, and he maintains that from ear- 
 liest times -wheat has been the principal grain on -which the 
 English lived. 
 
 The eleven estates above mentioned had under cultivation 
 for grain during four years an average of 1355 acres. The aver- 
 age acreage of wheat grown was 514 acres or nearly 40 per 
 cent. The average acreage in oats -was 324 acres; that of barley 
 330 acres each a little less than one -fourth the total area 
 plowed. There -were but 57 acres of rye raised on these particu- 
 lar estates. Doubtless the extent of its culture ■would depend 
 upon the locality. Of beans, peas and vetches, 137 acres were 
 raised. A small quantity of white peas was raised for human 
 food. Green peas were principally fed to hogs; beans and 
 vetches to horses. 
 
 Oats -were slightly used for human food in Central and South- 
 ern England. There were two kinds of barley, the two rowed 
 which goes by the name of barley, and the four rowed which 
 was known then as drage, but is known in English agriculture 
 today as begg or bere. 
 
 The rate of seeding was two bushels for wheat, rye, beans, 
 peas and vetches, and about four bushels for barley, bere and 
 oats. During certain 1 years, shown by our author to have 
 yielded above the average and on some of the estates hereto- 
 fore mentioned which were considered to be above average 
 fertility, the rate of production is given. In two cases, eight- 
 fold was produced; in one case, six and one-half fold; in four 
 cases four-fold; in two cases, three-fold; in one case, two-fold. 
 From this and other facts it is concluded that the yield of 
 wheat was not more than four-fold, probably less. It is at the 
 present time about fifteen-fold in England. Why this difference? 
 It is raised upon the same soil; it is grown by the same sun- 
 shine and the same rainfall. There is but one answer and this 
 is better farming. The return of oats was three times, two-fold; 
 twice, three-fold; once, four-fold, while once it was ten-fold. 
 Other crops yielded accordingly. 
 
 The grass was all native. It -was after this period that the 
 
 71 
 
72 BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 artificial and foreign grasses and clovers were introduced. As 
 heretofore stated, the maintenance of stock depended upon the 
 scanty hay and straw raised upon the farm. There is no evi- 
 idence of the artificial cultivation of grasses until the introduc- 
 tion of perennial rye grass in 1677. Red clover was not intro- 
 duced into England till 1633. Dutch or white clover was in- 
 troduced in 1700. Timothy and orchard grass came to Eng- 
 land from Amerioa, the former in 1760; the latter in 1 764. The 
 first attempt to explain the cultivation of turnips was in 1650 
 by Sir Richard Watson in a book entitled "A Discourse of Hus- 
 bandrie used in Brabant and Flanders," which indicates that 
 improvement in British agriculture in the seventeenth century 
 ■was influenced by the agriculture of the Netherlands. The 
 value of turnips and clover was urged by writers prior to 1603. 
 It was not until near the middle of the eighteenth century that 
 the cultivation of turnips and clover became at all general 
 through the adoption by Lord Townshend of the Norfolk sys- 
 tem of rotation of crops, whose fundamental principle is never 
 to take off two grain crops in succession. 
 
 In the early history of England -when the use of the land was 
 communal the rotation was two-course. One year grain and 
 one year fallow. Later and during the latter part of the period 
 of which we are treating, three-course rotation-was sometimes 
 practiced, consisting of ■winter grain, spring grain and fallow. 
 
 This was followed by the Norfolk system in the eighteenth 
 century ■which consisted of roots; grain, usually barley; "seeds," 
 that is a mixture of clover and grasses; grain, usually ■wheat- 
 each one year. 
 
 Tha agriculture of England was revolutionized by the intro 
 duction of turnips and clover into its farm system. Barren 
 ■wastes became fertile fields and along with the improvement 
 of the soil came many improvements in farm management, 
 such as under-drainage, marling, and better tillage. In place of 
 four or eight oxen to each plow, two horses were used. 
 
 Clover and roots made stock raising essential, Prothero 
 says, "Roots fed off on the ground by sheep, fertilized and con- 
 solidated the poorest soil. Another portion of the crop drawn 
 off and stored for •winter keep, enabled the farmer to carry more 
 stock, supplied him with more manure, enriched the land and 
 trebled its yield. It thus became a proverb that a full bullock 
 yard and a full fold yard makes a full granary. Farming in a 
 circle unlike logic, proved a most productive process.!" It was 
 De Henley in the thirteenth century -who said "The foot of the 
 sheep turns sand into gold" 
 
 With the keeping of stock, came the enclosure of the land. 
 The impetus to the keeping of live stock is said to have come 
 about through the deadly civil -wars of the fifteenth century 
 
 fProthero's Pioneers and Progress of English farming, p. 47. 
 
BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 73 
 
 So many people -were killed in these -wars that the price of la- 
 bor rose, although laws -were enacted to prevent it. This in- 
 duced the landowners to convert much of their lands into pas- 
 ture. 
 
 With the enclosure of the land came a redistribution of the 
 land, Fenced fields took the place of the communal strips or 
 plats with the accompanying right of common pasturage. This 
 brought about a division of the agricultural classes into land- 
 lord, tenant farmer, and laborer, the latter without any oppor- 
 tunity for income beyond his day labor except perhaps the gar- 
 den spot, in place of the earlier system of lord, bailiff, freehold- 
 er, and serf. The great improvement of live stock of the 
 eighteenth century came about both .through the better and 
 more regular food supply, and on account of the land tenure. 
 The land belonged to the landlord; the stock to the tenant.}: 
 
 The largest part of the land under the plow, as above indica- 
 ted, prior to the introduction of turnips and clover, was occu- 
 pied by crops of wheat, barley and oats. Barley was some- 
 times mixed -with wheat in the allowance made to farm ser- 
 vants, but its chief use -was in the manufacture of beer. The 
 chief use of oats -was for horse food but oat meal was made for 
 human food. 
 
 The three leguminous plants, beans, peas and vetches -were 
 generally, but not extensively cultivated. "Wheat and vetches 
 were sown together as were oats, peas and vetches. 
 
 Hemp -was cultivated to some extent, apparently for the 
 home manufacture of ropes. 
 
 Hops -were introduced in the sixteenth century from Hol- 
 land. Reynold Scott, published a work entitled "The Platform 
 of the Hop Garden" in 1576. Prior to this period beer had not 
 been "hopped." 
 
 The manor house possessed a garden and orchard. The for- 
 mer was deficient in vegetables. Onions, leeks, mustard, 
 garden or green peas and possibly cabbage were grown. Ap- 
 ples and more rarely pears were grown but plums are not men- 
 tioned except damsons. Grapes -were grown for wine, probably 
 in limited quantity. Cider, on the other hand, was probably 
 produced in considerable quantity. Crabs were collected to 
 manufacture verjuice, an important item in mediaeval cook, 
 ery. 
 
 The planting and cultivation of -wood was profitable and 
 fully appreciated in this period. "Woods were planted on wet 
 grounds and on stiff white clays. An acre of wood, it was 
 thought, if properly managed, was as good as an acre of grain 
 or grass land and often better. I am under the impression, 
 
 ^Roger's History of Agricultural Prices Vol. IV, Page 66. The student 
 should also carefully compare with Prothero's "The Pioneer and Progress of 
 English Farming" pp 41-47., and Loudon's Encyclopedia of Agriculture, p. 39. 
 
74 BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 however, that this opinion was probably not worth more than 
 the opinion upon this subject today in this country. 
 
 The plow was still a very crude affair, the wooden frame of 
 the plowshare was, however, protected by an iron cover. Dur- 
 ing the latter part of tbis period steel was sometimes used. 
 There seems to have been a distinction made between summer 
 and -winter shares. A dry season -was counted particularly 
 detrimental on account of the extra wear on tbe iron. Bailiffs 
 sometimes gave this as a reason for a balance on tbe ■wrong 
 side 1 of their accounts. It must, of course, be remembered that 
 iron was much more expensive then than now. The land was 
 generally plowed twice, a half the land plowed, as above indi- 
 cated, lay in fallow. Occasionally sheep of the neighboring 
 farm were hired to lie on the ground and so to fertilize it. Eight 
 weeks were considered necessary in order to get land in good 
 order by this means. Fitzherbert, 'writing towards the close of 
 the period which we are discussing, states that wheat was 
 sown in the furrow and plowed under. Sometimes the sowing 
 was done by children. He recommends that wheat and rye be 
 blended, this being the surest crop and the best for the hus- 
 bandman's household. Hand weeding of grain was common 
 apparently even when sown broadcast. Fitzherbert makes 
 the following significant statement, "The hook with -which 
 ■weeds are cut should not be more than an inch wide and tbe 
 laborer must be careful not to tread on thecorn~-(grain.)" 
 
 During the fore part of this period no trace of harrowing or 
 rolling is found. It seems probable that the seed -was covered 
 by means of mattocks and hoes. Rogers finds an entry of a 
 harrow in a farm inventory in 1500. At the time of Fitz- 
 herbert harrows had come into use, some having wooden and 
 some iron teeth. It is stated that when tbe clods were too 
 large or too stiff they must be beaten in the old manner by mauls. 
 Harrows were known to the Romans and Hoskyns contends 
 that the harrow may have been known to the early Britons, 
 although there is no direct evidence of the fact. Hedging and 
 ditching, the latter operation -with a view to draining the soil 
 were frequent but not general expedients in mediaeval ag- 
 riculture Stone -was used for making the drains. Marl and 
 lime -were used for dressing land. The only manure commonly 
 employed, however, -was that of the stable and tbe farm yard. 
 That the value of this kind of manure was appreciated is 
 shown by the advice given the shepherd by DeHenley, to 
 move the sheep gently around the fold before starting to pas- 
 ture so that the compost may be left in the fold and not on the 
 road. 
 
 After describing the plow, the wagon and the pitchfork 
 Fitzherbert says, "The remaining implements are the axe, the 
 
BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 75 
 
 hatchet, hedging bill, pin augur, rest augur, and flail and 
 spade and a shovel. To buy all these and -whatever else may 
 be needed is costly and a thrifty man will make them him- 
 self." 
 
 The Britons at the time of Caesar are said to have been igno- 
 rant of the flail, which is only another indication that they had 
 not reached the stage of tillage. 
 
 I know of no way in which I can more fittingly close this 
 comment upon this period of British agriculture than by the 
 f ollowing quotation from Rogers to whom I am indebted for 
 much that I have written: 
 
 "I am well aware that in many particulars he was far be- 
 hind his descendants in the conveniences and comforts of life. 
 His diet, as I have allowed was coarse though plentiful, and 
 during a great part of the year was unwholesome. It took three 
 centuries before the Dutch, who were for a long time the center 
 of economical civilization, were able to discover and adopt 
 those succulent and wholesome roots -which have given health 
 to man by banishing the loathsome diseases of the middle 
 ages, and have rendered it possible to improve the breeds of 
 cattle. I am aware that such medical skill is now at the ser- 
 vice of the poorest as princes and prelates desired, but -were 
 entirely without, in the middle ages. I am quite familiar, as 
 we all are, -with the victories which human ingenuity has ac- 
 quired over nature, and how man's skill has forced into his 
 service the most common and the most unlikely agencies. I 
 know that four grains of wheat and barley, or any other grain, 
 are produced by modern tillage -where one was -with difficulty 
 raised before; that the ox has been selected, bred and fed from 
 400 pounds or less to 1200 pounds or more; that sheep -which 
 once yielded a pound of wool precariously now produce seven 
 or nine pounds; that the powerful cart horse has taken the 
 place of the wretched and stunted pony of the old English 
 breed, and that all other animals which are destined to the 
 service ot man have been selected, till there seems nothing to 
 desire in their shape, size and utility. I see in all directions 
 that human toil has been supplemented, and sometimes super- 
 seded, by mechanical agencies, which genius has invented and 
 patience has elaborated. I know that many of our fellow- 
 countrymen have exchanged squalid habitations and uncleanly 
 practice for houses built by the newest lights of sanitary 
 science, and for fastidious cleanliness. I am alive to the fact 
 that -what were once the luxuries of the very few have often 
 become the habitual comforts of the many, and that enterprise 
 has scoured the earth in order to make these and newer lux- 
 uries abundant and cheap. I know that owing to the spread 
 of knowledge, the adaptation cf industry, the energy of inven- 
 tion, and the extension of trade, the population of England and 
 
76 BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Wales is tenfold what it was six centuries ago; that trim gar- 
 dens and magnificent mansions, noble parks, rows of hand- 
 some houses, vast and splendid cities, occupy sites which were 
 covered by squalid hovels or frequented by wild boars, curlews 
 and bitterns, or were marshy fens and wild moors. I can see 
 ■without being reminded, that the most lofty and subtle pleas- 
 ures, those of literature, are now common and profuse, and that 
 the world of civilization is so strong that there seems no pos- 
 sible danger of its becoming destroyed by a new incursion of 
 barbarians, not even of those barbarians whom it creates. The 
 inhabitants of this country, at least those whom the historian 
 and politician think worth instructing and consulting, enjoy 
 the refined pleasure of criticising, and, as many of them believe, 
 conducting in no small degree the affairs of their own country, 
 and even of other peoples, and have got far away irom the 
 time -when the Englishman believed it his interest to support 
 his sovereign s dream of foreign conquest, because in this way> 
 as lie fondly fancied, he could lighten his own burdens at home. 
 I do not need to be told that the -wealth of London is such, that 
 a single block of buildings pays a higher rent to its fortunate 
 owner than was derived from the whole customs of the port in 
 the days of the Plantagenets and Tudors; that in a few hours 
 a loan could be raised in London sufficient to equip and pro- 
 vision an army more numerous than all the men at arms -were 
 in mediaeval Europe, and this probably without deranging the 
 course of trade or materially interfering with the functions of 
 credit. And I suspect that when we are invited to consider all 
 these things and more of the same nature, as the prodigious 
 strength of modern governments, the boundless resources of 
 modern societies, the enormous accumulations of inherited 
 opulence, the priceless collections of art and letters, the cease- 
 less activity of enterprise, and the ever increasing discoveries 
 of science, it is fancied that a complete answer is given to those 
 ■who entertain misgivings, because they believe that there is a 
 reverse to the picture, another side to the shield, which those 
 triumphant eulogies on modern progress wo aid have us con- 
 ceal or forget. But I am convinced that modern civilization 
 will be judged, not by what it has done, but by -what it has left 
 undone; not by -what it has remedied, taut by what it has failed 
 t,o heal, or at least to have" relieved; not byits successes, but by 
 its shortcomings. It may be that the progress of some has been 
 more than counterbalanced by the distresses and sorrows of 
 many, that the opulence and strength of modern times mocks 
 the poverty and misery -which are bound up -with and sur- 
 round them, and that there is an uneasy and increasing con- 
 sciousness that the other side hates and threatens. 
 
 It ma3f be well the case, and there is every reason to fear it is 
 the case, that there is collected a population in our great 
 
BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 77 
 
 towns which, equals in amount the whole of those -who lived 
 in England and "Wales six centuries ago; but ■whose condition 
 is more destitute, ■whose homes are more squalid, whose means 
 are more uncertain, whose prospects are more hopeless than 
 those of the poorest serfs of the middle ages and the meanest 
 drudges of the mediaeval cities. The arm of the law is strong 
 enough to keep them under, and society has no reason to fear 
 their despair; but I refuse to accept the superficial answer, that 
 a man is an admirer of the good old times because he insists 
 that the vaunts of civilization should be examined along with 
 and not apart from, its failures. It is not possible to give the 
 solution of one problem, the growth of opulence, and to refuse 
 all attention to the other problem, the growth of penury."* 
 
 In preparing this article upon British Agriculture the follow- 
 ing references have been consulted: 
 
 History of Agricultural Prices--James E. Thorold Rogers. 
 
 Six Centuries of "Work and "Wages— James E. Thorold Rogers. 
 
 The Pioneers and Progress of English Farming—Rowland E. 
 Pr other o. 
 
 Encyclopedia of Agriculture—J. C. Loudon. 
 
 An Inquiry into the History of Agriculture— C. W, Hoskyns. 
 
 Encyclopedia Brittanica—Article, Agriculture. 
 
 The Old English "War-Horse or Shire Horse—Walter Gilbey. 
 
 *Eoger's Work and "Wages, pp. 184-186. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 
 American agriculture has developed out of four conditions: 
 1 The physical conditions of the country, which includes 
 climate, soil, topography and extent. 
 
 2. The agriculture existing in this country when it was col- 
 onized by the British. 
 
 3. The agriculture which was known by the colonists -when 
 they settled here or which they subsequently imported to this 
 country. 
 
 4. The character of the people themselves. 
 
 I will not say that American Agriculture of to-day is the 
 outgrowth of these four conditions, and no others. Indeed 
 American Agriculture has been modified by every force exist- 
 ing, or which has ever existed either for the betterment or the 
 degradation of human society; but the four conditions which 
 I have named are the evident and controlling conditions which 
 every student of the history and the progress of agriculture 
 should study. 
 
 1 THE PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES 
 OF AMERICA:— "We have already seen that while Great Brit- 
 ain was much colder than Italy; Italy colder than Greece; 
 Greece colder than Egypt; that the United States are subject to 
 much greater extremes of temperature than Great Britain; that 
 in order to enjoy the mild winter climate of London we must 
 live as far south as New Orleans and to enjoy the cool 
 summer climate of London, we must betake ourselves to some 
 summer resort in the mountains. 
 
 In England, famines were always caused by an excess of rain- 
 fall; in this country short crops are usually due to lack of rain- 
 fall. The clear skies and less number of days of rainfall make 
 the harvesting of cereals and the making of hay much easier 
 than in England or even in Europe generally. The large tracts 
 of comparatively level and easily tilled land has made the pro- 
 duction of cereals on a large scale possible. The growth of fo- 
 liage is not so abundant in America as in England and hence 
 our pastures are not generally speaking probably the equal of 
 the British. Root crops, which are such a factor in British ag- 
 riculture and have done so much to improve the live stock of 
 
 78 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 79 
 
 Great Britain, are not climatically or economically suited to 
 our agriculture. "Were it not for a new factor in American ag- 
 riculture, -we -would probably be hopelessly defeated by the 
 British, in the production of livestock. 
 
 You do not need to be told that this is a large country, but I 
 sometimes think we fail to appreciate its great extent. "We 
 have studied the agriculture of Egypt, Greece, Italy, and Great 
 Britain. "We not only know that this country of ours is larger 
 than all four combined but we have seen that the Roman Em- 
 pire at one time included the four countries above mentioned, 
 also all the modern countries of Europe, except Russia, Nor- 
 way, Sweden, Denmark, and part of Germany, and in addition 
 a part of Asia Minor and the northern coast of Africa, and yet 
 the Roman Empire was about one half the size of the United 
 States. 
 
 The land area of the United States of America, exclusive of 
 Alaska, is 2,970,000 square miles; the -water area 55,600 square 
 miles, total area 3,025,600. Alaska is variously estimated at 
 rather more than one-sixth the area of the United States prop- 
 er. Exclusive of Alaska, this country is about three-fourths 
 the size of Europe. It may be of interest to note that the popu- 
 lation of Europe is about five times that of the United States. 
 Including Alaska, the area is about one fifteenth the land area 
 of the globe. The fact that so large a proportion of this area is 
 admirably adapted to agriculture, and especially to cereal pro- 
 duction, is an important fact for us to consider. 
 
 Before leaving the physical characters of this country, I wish 
 to call your attention to one or two historical facts and to cer- 
 tain inference that may be drawn therefrom. In the tenth 
 century, the Norsemen settled in Massachusetts and for sev- 
 eral years they lived there in some degree of prosperity if -we 
 may judge from the remains that have been left. For our pur- 
 pose it does not matter what became of them but they evident- 
 ly were unable to cope with the conditions they found round 
 about them with the instrumentalities that they had at hand. 
 I am aware that good authorities still deny the settlement of 
 the Norsemen in the tenth century. 
 
 During the 115 years which elapsed from the discovery of 
 America in 1492 to the founding of the first permanent British 
 colony at Jamestown in 1607, the coast of the American con- 
 tinent from Labrador to Buenos Ayres -was explored, and 
 while many attempts were made to plant colonies along the 
 entire coast, most were fruitless and none made much head- 
 way. Jamestown -was the first settlement -which strongly im- 
 pressed itself upon the American continent and it was followed 
 by Plymouth settlement in Massachusetts in 1620, which was 
 
80 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE, 
 
 even a more important factor. Just one hundred and twenty- 
 five years elapsed from the founding of the first colony in 1607 
 to the founding of the last of the thirteen original states, which 
 was Georgia in 1732. 
 
 Next to Plymouth and Jamestown in importance perhaps 
 was the Dutch settlement which took place at New Amster- 
 dam, now New York, and Fort Orange, now Albany, in 1623. 
 
 Why were these places the first to be permanently settled and 
 why did they grow into places of the first importance? It cer- 
 tainly was not, in the case of the Plymouth colonists, because 
 the climate 'was enjoyable, nor because the soil was fertile. 
 Indeed the soil must have been extremely miserable. Flint in 
 his Hundred Years' Progress quotes an early chronicle of the 
 Pilgrims as follows: "According to the manner of the Indians 
 we manured our ground with herrings, or rather shads, which 
 we have in great abundance and take with great ease at our 
 doors. You may see in one township a hundred acres together 
 set with fish, every acre taking thousands of them; an acre 
 thus dressed -will produce and yield as much corn as three 
 acres without fisht" Did it occur to you when you read that 
 passage how poor the land must have been? Do you know of 
 any tillable land on -which the yield of corn can be trebled by 
 any practice known to modern agriculture? 
 
 There were many causes for the development of these partic- 
 ular communities, pne or two of which will be referred to fur- 
 ther on, but in connection with the physical features of the 
 country I wish to call s^our attention to the fact that out these 
 settlements were made where nature was on a comparatively 
 small scale. Small rivers, hills and mountains, and an indent- 
 ed coast line, adapted to small vessels were the principal fea- 
 tures. Nature was the proper size for the instrumentalities 
 ■which the people possessed. 
 
 Colonies were planted along the Mississippi river nearly as 
 early as those in Massachusetts and Virginia and while some of 
 them continued to exist for many years, they could make no 
 material progress against such an expanse of territory. This 
 great territory which is today fraught with such vast signifi- 
 cance to all mankind, would still be the same unmolested ter- 
 ritory, except for the huts of the Indians, were it not for the lo- 
 comotive, the steamboat, the reaper, the mower, the steel plow 
 and the h ost of labor saving devices which have f olio wed in 
 their train. 
 
 Professor N. S. Shaler of Harvard University in his admirable 
 work entitled "The. United States of America" has divided the 
 North American continent into nineteen districts. The basis 
 
 tFlint's A Hundred Years' Progress, Eept. of U. S. Dept. of Agr. 1872, p. 279. 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 81 
 
 of division is largely physiographical, the drainage sysems be- 
 ing the dominant factor in the subdivision. The f ollowing is a 
 very brief summary:' ,. 
 
 1 THE ST. LAWRENCE DISTRICT:— This is the territory 
 about the mouth of the St. Lawrence. It includes the peninsu- 
 las and the Islands. Soil is mainly composed of glacial -waste 
 and is generally good. Field agriculture is somewhat limited 
 on account of climate. It is not suited to Indian com. 
 
 2 NEW ENGLAND DISTRICT— The soils of New England 
 are from the drift deposits. About three-fourths of it has 
 boulder-clay for its basis, and while hard to farm it is fairly 
 fertile. About one-fourth of the area is composed of the coarser 
 and more sandy parts of the drift and this produces poor soil. 
 Several hundred thousand acres of New England soil of thi s 
 sandy character may be bought for less than one dollar per 
 acre. It is fit only for timber for which it is well adapted. The 
 The climate of the district is modified by comparatively warm 
 waters of the ocean which make the climatic condition of 
 southeastern Massachusetts similar to southern Pennsylvania. 
 
 The district is suited to the rearing of northern standard 
 crops, except Indian corn in the higher and more northern por- 
 tions. Wheat has never been extensively raised in New En- 
 gland districts. The early colonists lived on "Rye and Indian" 
 and buckwheat rather than upon wheat. 
 
 3 EASTERN CENTRAL STATES:— This district includes 
 New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. One- 
 third the area lies at an altitude of over one -thousand feet and 
 somewhere near one -tenth attains an average elevation of two - 
 thousand feet. For this and other reasons the climate is rather 
 cold. In its natural state it was covered with a dense forest, 
 upland containing the narrow -leaved and the lower ground 
 the broad -leaved trees. There are some very fertile areas, but 
 there is much poor soil, and mountains of the district occupy 
 a considerable portion of the area. This district has the great- 
 est mineral resources of any area in the United States. 
 
 4 VIRGINIA DISTRICT:— This territory includes the At- 
 lantic seaboard and the Appalachian highlands of the states 
 of Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina. On account 
 of the range in elevation from the seashore to a height of six 
 or seven thousand feet in the mountains, there is a great vari- 
 ety of climatic conditions. Rice, cotton, oranges, lemons and 
 figs can be raised in portions of this district. Much of the low- 
 land is wet, but may some day be made land of lasting fer- 
 tility by proper drainage. The sandy shorelands which 
 which were formerly considered worthless are becoming highly 
 
 *The student should consult the extended account in Vol. I, p. 190. 
 
82 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 prized for raising early truck. Unlike the three districts 
 before mentioned, the soils of this district have for their basis 
 the underlying rocks, and thus are more varied. The average 
 annual rainfall exceeds sixty inches and thus no other equal 
 area on this continent contains as numerous streams of con- 
 siderable flow. 
 
 5 THE FLORIDA DISTRICT:— Nearly one-half the penin- 
 sula is less than fifty feet while almost all of it is within one 
 hundred feet of the sea. The climate is almost tropical, the 
 soil is unfertile. The humidity of the climate, high tempera- 
 ture and abundant sunshine make the use of artificial ma- 
 nuring give abundant returns. The western side of the penin- 
 sula contains vast fields of rock phosphate, which Shaler be- 
 lieves is sufficient to supply the demand of this country for 
 centuries. South Carolina also contains deposits of the same 
 character. 
 
 The uplands of Florida as well as the drained swamps are 
 admirably suited to the growth of a great variety cf tropical 
 and sub-tropical fruits. 
 
 6 MEXICAN GULF DISTRICT:— This territory includes wes- 
 tern Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas east 
 of Austin. A large part of the area consists of lowlands. The 
 district is subject to extreme alternations of temperature in the 
 winter. Freezing temperature is rarely maintained for more 
 than twenty -four hours. The rainfall is large except in central 
 and western Texas, amounting to ninety inches In southern 
 Louisiana. 
 
 The soils of the Mexican Gulf district are generally more fer- 
 tile than those of similar elevation on the Atlantic coast. A 
 large portion of the soil is of an alluvial character. Excess of 
 water, especially from overflow is the principal hindrance to 
 the fit use of the soil. Shaler estimates that the undrained 
 swamps bordering upon the gulf of Mexico aggregate about 
 30,000 square' miles and contain the largest and most valua- 
 ble reserve of high-grade land in the United States. The most 
 important timber reserves of this country are in this district. In 
 this district "Cotton is King." It is better fitted for the growth of 
 this important staple than any other equally extensive area in 
 the ■world. Rice and sugar cane are grown in the reclaimed 
 swamps. Bermuda grass and cow peas take the place of tim- 
 othy and clover. Extensive fields of iron and coal are found in 
 this district. 
 
 7 DISTRICT OF THE OHIO VALLEY:— Nearly the whole 
 of Kentucky and Tennessee, the greater part of Illinois, Indi- 
 ana, Ohio and "West Virginia, a portion of western New York, 
 Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi is comprised 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 83 
 
 in this district. No other river basin of equal area on this con- 
 tinent has the-lands it contains so well placed for the uses of 
 our race, the soil so fertile, or the underlying earth so rich in 
 mineral resources as this district of Ohio. It is, perhaps, more 
 uniformly watered than any other equal area of the United 
 States. No other equal area of the continent has so little of its 
 surface unfit for the uses of man. 
 
 Most of the region north of the Ohio is covered with drift soil, 
 south of the Ohio, it is driftless, and most of this is rather poor, 
 but in certain portions the underlying limestone produces soil 
 of exceeding and enduring fertility, as for example, the Blue 
 Grass Region of Kentucky. The staple crops of the Ohio Val- 
 ley are -wheat, corn, bats and tfmothy. Upon the driftless soil 
 of this district most of the tobacco of the United States is 
 raised. A considerable portion ot this district is relatively bet- 
 ter adapted to pasturage than in the section farther east, south 
 or west. East of the Appalachian chain blue grass does not 
 thrive equally -well. Farther west the soil is more easily 
 tilled and possibly less easily exhausted and to that extent 
 better adapted for cultivated crops. 
 
 In its primeval state, this district -was largely and rather 
 densely covered with timber mainly of the broad leaved species 
 of trees. Shaler states that, at least, one-fourth of the Ohio 
 "Valley is better fitted for timber culture than agricultural use. 
 The average returns which could be obtained from it by a prop- 
 er system of forestry he thinks are probably greater than 
 those which the plow -would afford. That one -fourth this dis- 
 trict should be kept in forest I most heartily agree. The suc- 
 cessful cultivation of the other three-fourths of the area is in a 
 considerable measure dependent upon this being done. It is 
 one of the most important problems -we have to consider in the 
 future agriculture of this district, but I do not believe the time 
 has come when the planting -will be found generally profitable. 
 The mineral resources of this district consist chiefly of iron ores 
 and the fossil fuels, --coal, petroleum, and rock gas. 
 
 8 THE DISTRICT OF THE GREAT LAKES:— This territory 
 comprises the -whole of Michigan, the larger portion of the til- 
 lable land of the Canadian province of Ontario and a part of 
 Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania 
 and New York. In general the land of this district is -within 
 one hundred miles of the lake shore. The climate is considera- 
 bly modified by the water of the Great Lakes. The soils are 
 usually of excellent quality. Indian corn is produced in its 
 best estate only in the southern portion of this district. In gen- 
 eral the climate is better suited for the production of foliage 
 than for grain. The Hop succeeds in the region south of Lakes 
 
84 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Erie and Ontario, on account of the moist climate. Grapes, 
 peaches, and nursery stock flourish in this district. The orig- 
 inal forests were generally of excellent quality; the white pine 
 and the hemlock being the more important. 
 
 The mineral resources are iron, copper, lead, silver and salt. 
 
 9. UPPER MISSISSIPPI DISTRICT, extends from the junc- 
 tion of the Missouri' with the Mississippi to the basin of the Red 
 River cf the North, near the Canadian line and includes part of 
 Minnesota, "Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois. The surface is gen- 
 erally level, and the basin has no strong boundaries. The an- 
 nual rainfall is from thirty to thirty -five inches. The seasonal dis- 
 tribution is rather better than it is south or east of this district. 
 The temperature ranges irom 100 degrees F. above, to 30 de- 
 grees F. below zero. Although the range of temperature is 
 great, the dry atmosphere makes it less hurtful. This district 
 is subject to blizzards in winter and tornadoes in summer. 
 The abundant sunshine is very advantageous to the health of 
 the people, and to the growth of the crops, This district is gen- 
 erally covered -with drift, and is very fertile, although there is 
 an interesting area in southern "Wisconsin and extending into 
 Illinois -which has escapad this coating. Probably no other 
 equal area is as uniformly fit for the plow. Of the dry land 
 more than ninety -nine hundredths is suited to agriculture. 
 This district was mostly prairie, although parts of "Wisconsin 
 and Minnesota are forest clad. Many of the streams were fring- 
 ed with wood areas of good quality and moderate size. The 
 open nature of the country made its marvelously swift settle- 
 ment possible. It is probably the most healthful agricultural 
 district-of the United States. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 10 ARKANSAS DISTRICT:---This includes the territory north 
 of Louisiana and south of the Missouri River, which is 
 drained by the Arkansas and its tributaries, and comprises a 
 portion of southern Missouri, nearly the whole of Arkansas 
 and the larger part of the Indian Territory. The surface is 
 rather diversified. The soils are correspondingly varied. Along 
 the water ways the alluvial soil is of extraordinary and unex- 
 haustible fertility. The plain, land and rolling hills are covered 
 with a soil of moderate fertility produced from the underly- 
 ing rocks. 
 
 The rainfall varies from 60 inches in the east to 30 inches 
 upon the ■west. The climate is similar to the Mexican Gulf Dis- 
 trict except for the more continuous and vigorous invasion of 
 the northern cold. The forests are extensive, of great variety 
 and large size. The alluvial areas contain the principal 
 settlements. The delta section is to a great extent devoted to 
 the growth of cotton and Indian corn, but is almost too fertile 
 for the small grains. Much of the upland is devoted to cotton 
 although the soil is rapidly exhausted by the washing 
 of the rainfall through the open winters and the exposed sur- 
 face of the soil. 
 
 11 LOWER MISSOURI DISTRICT comprises that portion of 
 the Missouri valley which lies -within the timbered area. It in- 
 cludes the larger part of the state of Missouri, and may be re- 
 garded as including the western portion of Iowa and 
 a" part of Kansas and Nebraska. In general it contains all 
 that part of Missouri valley in which the rainfall is amply suf- 
 ficient for the whole range of our northern agricultural crops. 
 The surface is generally level. The soil has in the main been 
 derived from the immediately underlying rocks. North of the 
 Missouri river tnere is here and there a thin coating of debris. 
 Owing to the prevalence of limestone rocks in this district and 
 to the general slight slope of the soil toward the streams, the 
 layer of detritus, which is suited to the uses of plants is re- 
 markably thick. No other portion of the continent, except per- 
 haps the region of the Upper Missisippi is occupied by so uni- 
 formly fertile soil. 
 
 The rainfall varies from 45 inches on the southeast to an 
 
 85 
 
86 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 amount on the north, and. west which, is insufficient for regular 
 field culture. The passage from the well -watered country to 
 that of scanty moisture is gradual. In a belt which has a 
 width of about one hundred miles on the western and northern 
 border of this field we pass from a region where destructive 
 drouths are exceptional calamities to a more -western field 
 where such accidents are frequent and where in each ten 
 years there are commonly several seasons in -which crops fail 
 from lack of rain. 
 
 There were some good forests in Missouri along the Missis- 
 sippi river and fringes of woodland border the streams, but the 
 most of the district is prairie. 
 
 This section is suited to the standard northern crops, being 
 particularly well suited to Indian corn and oats. About Kansas 
 City, apples and other tree fruits thrive. Here is found one of 
 the greatest commercial apple centers in the United States. 
 
 12 DISTRICT OF THE UPPER MISSOURI includes North 
 and South Dakota. Thesurface although generally level, is some- 
 what higher average level than any other districts heretofore 
 considered. The western and northern section consists of drift 
 soil; the remainder is drif tless with limestone underlying. The 
 soil itself contains the elements of fertility. The rainfall is 
 relatively small and irregular but is more abundant than an 
 area equally disposed to the Rocky Mountains farther south. 
 The heat of the sun in the summer and the cold of winter is 
 intense. The summer temperature in the shade is never ex- 
 cessive, atid the dryness of the air mitigates the winter tem- 
 perature. "Wheat and oats are the principal crops of this dis- 
 trict at present. Flax is an important secondary crop. At pres- 
 ent the grain of this country has to find its principal market in 
 the eastern portion of the United States. Shaler believes that 
 the development of the mining industry in the northern por- 
 tion of the Cordilleras belt -will divert the product to the latter 
 region The fulfillment of this prophecy is of great importance 
 to the Ohio farmer. The region is naturally without trees, 
 which can be raised only by careful husbandry. 
 
 13 CORDILLERAN PLATEAU DISTRICT extends from the 
 hundredth meridian to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and is 
 about two thousand miles from north to south, or about twice 
 the distance from New York to Chicago. It is generally level 
 although varying in height, from two to five thousand feet 
 above the sea. The common characteristic of this field is its 
 unfitness for ordinary agriculture, on account of the scanty rain- 
 fall. It is largely used for herding cattle; it being estimated that 
 twenty -five acres are required for the support of one steer. 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 87 
 
 Shaler states that owing to it, the United States is divided as 
 regards its economic interests into two fields of the East and 
 West by a neutral ground of an essentially irreclaimable nature, 
 a field wherein none of those agricultural arts which have led 
 to our civilization can be extensively practiced. It remains to 
 be determined what proportion of this vast area may be re - 
 claimed by irrigation . 
 
 14. THE WINNIPEG DISTRICT lies for the most part in 
 Canada. For some time to come wheat will probably remain 
 its principal article of export. 
 
 15. COEDILLERAN DISTRICT includes the territory between 
 the eastern faces of the Rocky mountains and the •western slope 
 of the great chain of the Sierra Nevada and is characterized by 
 its mountainous nature and lack of moisture. Irrigation is 
 bringing some areas into use. According to the Census of 1890» 
 there were 1500 irrigators in the subhumid region of North and 
 South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas. The majority of 
 the irrigaiors, however, or 52.500 -were in the States and ter- 
 ritories -west of these states. The area irrigated -was a little 
 more than three and one-half miilion acres, ---about equal to 
 the improved land of Maryland or about one-fifth the area of 
 improved land in Ohio.* 
 
 It is stated that forty acres under irrigation will bring the 
 husbandman about the same return as one hundred and sixty 
 acres in the Ohio Valley. The Rocky Mountains are well 
 named, the forest growth being for the most part scanty. The 
 mineral resources are extensive and varied consisting of gold, 
 silver, copper, lead, tin, iron, coal and salt. 
 
 16. CALIFORNIA DISTRICT. The climatic conditions are 
 in sharp contrast with the regions farther east. The isotnerms 
 run north and south instead of east and -west. The seasonal 
 variations of a given locality are often less than the climatic 
 differences between two localities not far distant. Over much 
 of the tillable area, the rainfall is twenty inches or less, but ow- 
 ing to the fact that it almost all falls in the seven months from 
 November to May inclusive, it is sufficient for the successful 
 growth of the small grains. Barley takes the place of Indian 
 corn largely, and in the place of timothy hay, oats, barley and 
 wheat hay are used. Alfalfa is grown in limited quantities 
 ■where irrigation is possible. 
 
 The soil and climate are adapted to the growth of a great 
 variety of vegetable forms. Nearly all the cultivated fruits ex- 
 cept those of the tropics, can be raised in the state. The grape, 
 peaches, prunes, olives, and the varieties of citrus fruits are es- 
 
 *Keport on Agriculture by Irrigation in the Western Part of the United 
 States at the Eleventh Census, p. (. 
 
88 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 pecially successful. The great variation in topography, soil 
 and climate has brought about a localization and specializa- 
 tion in horticulture and agriculture, not elsewhere paralleled 
 in the United States. 
 
 In parts of northern California the forests are very dense. 
 The most important trees are the sugar»pine. the yellow-pine, 
 the red fir and the redwood. Single trees of the latter occasion- 
 ally yield as much as seventy -five thousand feet of lumber, and 
 two million square feet have been taken from a single acre. 
 The forests are thought to be inheritances from a time when 
 the rainfall was more abundant, hence' no portion of the coun- 
 try would suffer so severely as this from their loss. 
 
 The mineral resources are great and varied. 
 
 17. COLUMBIA DISTRICT includes the seaboard portion of 
 Oregon and "Washington and a part of the Dominion of Can- 
 ada. It has an average width of 200 miles and a length of 
 about 1000 miles. One-half is of a mountainous character and 
 about two-thirds is suitable for cultivation. The rainfall is 
 large; the temperature is equable. The climate as a whole more 
 closely resembles that of Great Britain than any other portion 
 of the American continent. 
 
 The soil is deep and very fertile and is partly of volcanic and 
 partly of alluvial origin. The forest covering is the heaviest of 
 any part of the United States and is perhaps not surpassed by 
 an equal area in the world. 
 
 This district is suited to the growth of small grains and the 
 soil seems unusually enduring. The marine fisheries are al- 
 ready among the more important of the continent. To the ad- 
 venturesome this district, in my judgment, presents the most 
 attractive field upon this continent. 
 
 18. ALASKA DISTRICT. "While containing some important 
 natural resources this district will never be of much interest 
 agriculturally unless breeding seals should become a private 
 industry. 
 
 19. THE CARIBBEAN DISTRICT is that portion of North 
 America south of United States. This district is of interest to 
 us because it furnishes a considerable number of tropical prod- 
 ucts, as sugar, coffee, spices, bananas and numerous other 
 fruits. 
 
 It is important to observe in this connection the divisions into 
 which the country is divided by Census Office in the Eleventh 
 Census. This division is not only made in the Statistics of Ag- 
 riculture, but, in all statistics issued by this office. It is inter- 
 esting to note how fully the physical and climatic features of 
 this country have impressed themselves in this report. 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 89 
 
 The United States are separated into five divisions as follows: 
 
 1. NORTH ATLANTIC DIVISION, including Maine, New 
 Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecti- 
 cut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. This corres- 
 ponds almost exactly to Shaler's New England District and the 
 Eastern Central States -with the exception of Delaware. 
 
 2. SOUTH ATLANTIC DIVISION, including Delaware, 
 Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, "West Virginia, North 
 Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. This corres. 
 ponds fairly to the Virginia and Florida Districts. 
 
 3. NORTH CENTRAL DIVISION— Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
 Michigan.Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, 
 South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. This division comprises 
 the whole of the districts of the Upper Mississippi, and of the 
 Upper and Lower Missouri, and the larger part of the districts 
 of the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes. 
 
 4. SOUTH CENTRAL DIVISION including Kentucky, Ten- 
 nessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, and 
 Arkansas. This division comprises all of the Mexican Gulf 
 District, most of the Arkansas District, and that portion of the 
 district of the Ohio Valley included in the states of Kentucky 
 and Tennessee. 
 
 5. WESTERN DIVISION including Montana, Wyoming, 
 Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Wash- 
 ington, Oregon and California. All the Cordilleran District, all 
 of the Columbian and Californian Districts -which lie -within 
 the United States and a considerable part of the Cordilleran 
 plateau District are found intbis division. Doubtless some day 
 the Columbian and Californian districts -will be separated from 
 the remainder of the western division. "When this is done it 
 will be seen that the divisions of the Census correspond very 
 closely to the climatical and physical features of the country. 
 
 In connection with the following discussion compare Ap- 
 pendix C. 
 
 You probably think of the state of Ohio as all being owned in 
 farms, but as a matter of fact about 92 per cent, of the state is 
 so owned. Ohio is very much above the average in this re- 
 spect; only about one-third the land area of the United States, 
 exclusive of Alaska, being owned in farms. The Atlantic states 
 being settled much the longest own the largest per cent. 
 The North Central division of states has nearly as large a pro- 
 portion of its land area in farms, although so recently occupied 
 and eventually it will bontain considerably the largest propor- 
 tion of farms to land area. Only six per cent, of the great 'West- 
 ern Division, which occupies over one-third the land area of 
 the United States, was owned in farms in 1890. 
 
90 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Not all tlie land owned in farms is fit for agricultural pur- 
 poses. Only 57 per cent, of the land actually in farms is im- 
 proved land; that is, land once cultivated, unless afterwards 
 abandoned, and all permanent meadows and pastures. Nearly 
 three-fourths of the farms of the North Central Division contain 
 improved land, about two-thirds of the North Atlantic Division, 
 about one-half of the Western Division and about two-fifths of 
 the Southern States. In other words, the farms of the North 
 Central States contain the least ■waste land, while those of the 
 Southern States the most. 
 
 Dividing the country into Northern, Southern and Western 
 States it will be found that the improved land or that -which is 
 used for productive agricultural purposes occupies about two- 
 fifths of the land area of the Northern States, about one -fifth of 
 the land area of the Southern States and only three per cent, in 
 the "Western States. The waste land in the North Atlantic Di- 
 vision is largely due to the mountainous character of the coun- 
 try, while in the Southern States it is more largely due to -wet 
 lands and forest growth. When fully occupied there will be 
 comparatively little waste land in the North Central Division, 
 although in the aggregate the amount must always remain 
 considerable. The Western Division ■will always contain vast 
 areas of land unsuited to staple tillage crops, but having some 
 important economic uses, as shown by the fact that it already 
 raises more than one-tenth of all the cattle and more than one- 
 fourth of the sheep raised in the United States. 
 
 The adaptation of the several states to our staple agricultural 
 productions is well shown by the table in appendix C. Our five 
 leading farm crops in order of acreage are Indian corn, hay, 
 wheat, oats and cotton, aggregating 207,000,000 acres. Our 
 secondary farm crops— outside of orchard and garden crops— 
 in order of acreage are barley, Irish potatoes, rye. flax, buck- 
 wheat, tobacco, sweet potatoes, sorghum, cane, rice, peanuts, 
 broom-corn, hops, cow-peas, beans, and Canada peas, aggre- 
 gating 13,000,000 acres. Including garden crops, the total til- 
 lage area of the secondary crops is probably not more than 
 one tenth of the five staple crops. 
 
 The principal acreage of Indian corn, oats and -wheat is in the 
 North and South Central Divisions or in the Great Mississippi 
 Valley, the cotton production is restricted almost exclusively to 
 the South Atlantic and South Central Divisions, ■while the pro- 
 duction of hay is the special feature of the North Atlantic Di- 
 vision. There is a noticeable absence of the production of In- 
 dian corn and oats in the Western Division. To some extent 
 this is offset in the far west by the production of barley. Aside 
 from cotton, Indian corn is much the most important crop of 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 91. 
 
 the Southern States, the grass land, for hay being especially 
 limited. This section is not well adapted for the timothy and 
 red clover of the Northern States, nor for the alfalfa of the "Wes- 
 tern States. Bermuda grass, Japan clover and. cow-peas to a 
 limited extent supply this deficiency. The distribution of 
 these crops has a marked influence upon the resulting live- 
 stock. The North Atlantic and Western Divisions with larger 
 areas in meadows and pastures raise relatively more sheep, 
 while the Southern States raise relatively larger numbers of 
 swine. 
 
 The North Central division contains about one-fourth the 
 land area of the United States, exclusive of Alaska, more than 
 one-third the land in farms, about one-half the improved land 
 and raises nearly three-fifths of the staple tillage crops. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 2. AGRICULTURE OF THIS COUNTRY WHEN COLON- 
 IZED BY THE BRITISH.* 
 
 Tliere are a couple of facts in connection with the agriculture 
 of the aborigines, not of this country alone, but of the Ameri- 
 can Continent, of momentous importance to the progress Of 
 human society. One is the almost entire lack of domestic ani- 
 mals and the other is the difference in the plants produced for 
 human food on the western as compared ■with the eastern con- 
 tinent and their importance to present civilized nations. All 
 along the western coast of South America the llama, the paco 
 or alpaca were used as beasts of burden. They have been do- 
 mesticated so long that they no longer resemble the -wild forms. 
 The principal object of the keeping of these animals was for 
 their 'wool, though somewhat used as beasts of burden and for 
 food. They do not appear to have been used for draft, a pur- 
 pose for which they -would have been illy suited on account of 
 their small strength. The dog was used throughout the Amer- 
 ican continent as a beast of burden and sometimes for food, 
 presumably being used for the latter purpose mostly during 
 times of famine or great scarcity of food. The Indian harnessed 
 the dog to a sled -like arrangement which the dog partly pullad 
 and partly carried. These animals were markedly inefficient 
 compared -with the forms used in the Eastern hemisphere 
 either as beasts of burden or draft, or for the production of -wool 
 or meat. I do not find that they had any animal -whose milk 
 was used. This almost total lack of beasts of burden or draft 
 accounts in a large measure, at least, for the lack of develop- 
 ment of the aborigines. "We know that the North Americans 
 were not lacking in native ability or even in a considerable de- 
 gree of intelligence but we may rest assured that they never 
 would have developed beyond the stage of barbarism without 
 such aids. No class of people, however able, have ever any- 
 where in the -world, developed beyond the stage of barbarism 
 unless they had the aid of beasts of burden. Domesticated an- 
 imals are one of the requisites of civilization. "What -would the 
 agriculture of the world amount to -without the plow? What 
 would the plow amount to, even in this day of advanced me- 
 chanical development, without efficient animals of draft? Man 
 has developed in civilization just so far as he has been able to 
 
 *For a brief account of 4he North American Indian see Major Powell's 
 article in Shaler's United States of America, Vol. I. Chapter IV. 
 
 92 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 93 
 
 subjugate the forces of nature to his own use. Working alone 
 and unaided, man -would have but a sorry existence. In subju- 
 gating animals he has been able to increase his productive 
 power. The reason that we are able to enjoy so many luxuries 
 which were impossible when this country was first colonized, 
 or even impossible at a far later date, is due to the fact that the 
 average productive power of each person has been greatly in- 
 creased. 
 
 The discovery of America opened a new field for the develop- 
 ment of livestock, especially for the production of food, animals 
 having been up to this time a much less important source of 
 food supply. The development of this new field has made Chi- 
 cago the greatest source of animal food the world has ever 
 known, and has greatly aifected all civilized people. Along 
 with the almost entire lack of domesticated animals among 
 the Indians there was an entire lack of the cart, the plow, har- 
 row or similar tools, as all such -would be superfluous without 
 animals to pull them. There -was no grain sickle, as there -was 
 no small grain to harvest. The clamshell, not the crooked 
 stick, seems to have been the instrument, in many cases, by 
 which the soil was prepared. The Peruvians seem to have 
 used a kind of spade in preparing the soil. Hoskyns states that 
 the men worked with these spades keeping time to the music 
 ■which was produced by the women. 
 
 "We have seen that the principal food crops of the ancient 
 Egyptians were -wheat, barley, sorghum' and millet seed, horse 
 beans, lentils, garlic and onions. The chief food crops of 
 the ancient Americans were corn, beans, and the squash, espec- 
 ially in Eastern North America. Major Powell says: 
 
 "Among the Gulf Tribes the corn mortar stood in front of every 
 cabin and every -warrior carried a pouch of parched meal to 
 sustain him on his journey. The Cherokees knew probably as 
 many -ways of preparing that grain as do any of our civilized 
 cooks. Our names hominy, pone, samp, and succotash, are all 
 derived from the eastern tribes. Often meats of various kinds, 
 ground maize and fresh or dried fruits were mixed together in 
 one dish." 
 
 According to Major Powell the Indian tribes did not subsist 
 mainly by hunting but more than half of them cultivated the 
 soil. This was particularly true east of the Mississippi river. 
 West of the river the meat of the American bison furnished a 
 large part of the Indian's subsistence. All the crops raised by 
 the aborigines from Maine to Chile were what we call culti- 
 vated crops, that is, crops which are grown in hills or drills 
 and need some cultivation during their growth, such were 
 
94 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 maize, Irish, potato, sweet potato, cotton, kidney bean (Phase 
 olas lunaetus) and the squash. 
 
 Besides the great expansion in the production of wheat con- 
 sequent upon the opening up of vast fertile areas in the United 
 States and their tillage by labor-saving machines, the civilized 
 world has been profoundly affected by the introduction into its 
 larder of two plants heretofore unknown, maize, and the Irish 
 potato, and the great development of the cotton plant, presum- 
 ably known to mediaeval Europeans, but very little cultivated. 
 The tobacco plant has also had a marked influence upon the 
 personal habits of a vast number of people although its influ- 
 ence is, of course, of a very different character than the other 
 plants mentioned. 
 
 It perhaps may be reasonably estimated that an acre of good 
 pasture will produce during one season 150 pounds of dressed 
 beef. The flour from fifteen bushels of wheat contains approx- 
 imately six times as much food value as 150 pounds of meat. 
 An acre of Indian corn will produce approximately twice the 
 food value of an acre of wheat, while there is about four times 
 the food value in 200 bushels of potatoes as in fifteen bushels of 
 ■wheat. An acre of suitable land -will support, therefore, twenty- 
 four times as many people as when used for pasture. It will 
 thus be seen that the ability of a given area of land to support 
 a population and the possibility of density of the population is 
 dependent upon the character of the farming. 
 
 But this is not all. It costs no more to grow and harvest an 
 acre of corn tnan it does an acre of wheat, even with the im- 
 proved methods of harvesting the latter and whether consid- 
 ered as a grain crop or as a fodder crop, twice as much food 
 can be obtained per acre as from any cereal or fodder plant 
 known to the ancient peoples which -we have been studying. 
 The absolute failure of the corn crop is scarcely ever known 
 which is a fact of considerable importance. It is true that the 
 corn crop is more important as an indirect than as a direct 
 source of food. It is our great source of pork and of beef of high 
 quality. As a matter of fact, however, we consume in the ag- 
 gregate large quantities of corn. An investigation of the dis- 
 tribution and consumption of the corn crop of 1882 made by 
 the statistician of the Department of Agriculture, shows 
 that 150,000,000 bushels of this crop were used for human 
 food. Although this is less than 10 percent of the total corn 
 crop it is one half as large the estimated consumption of 
 ■wheat in this country. 
 
 This crop was of vast importance to the early colonists. 
 The Plymouth colonists landed four days before Christmas in 
 a New England state and there can be no reasonable question 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 95 
 
 that the com they they found -was their salvation. During 
 the colonial days "Eye and Indian,'' a mixture of rye flour and 
 corn meal was a much more important article of diet than 
 wheat flour. Buckwheat was then considered a necessity, not 
 a luxury. 
 
 Indian corn -was grown from Maine to Chile 'when this con- 
 tinent was discovered. The early discoverers report finding 
 large stores of this cereal in favored spots along river bottoms 
 which were usually selected for its growth. We readily see 
 when our attention is called to it, how much less protection it 
 would require when stored than would wheat or barley. The 
 addition to the world's food supply of as much Indian corn as 
 there is wheat and produced on one half the area is a fact 
 of great economic importance, nor must we forget that the 
 world's supply of wheat itself has been greatly augmented 
 since Indian corn has assumed economic importance. 
 
 The introduction of the potato has been fraught with con- 
 sequences even more profound in some respects than that 
 ■which maize has produced. Here are a few facts of economic 
 importance which it may be well to note: 
 
 1 The world's production of potatoes equals in bushels that 
 of wheat or maize and has at least one fourth as much food 
 value. 
 
 2 It is relatively a more important crop in Europe than in 
 America. France, Germany, Russia, and Austria -Hungary 
 produce about three fourths of the 'world's supply. 
 
 3 It is especially adapted to human consumption and is pre- 
 pared for the table easily and with little ■waste. 
 
 4 It costs more to produce an acre of potatoes than of wheat 
 or maize and it responds more readily to improved culture, 
 hence it is suited to cheap labor and intensive farming. 
 
 5 It has largely displaced barley as a food stuff in the south- 
 ern half of Europe and to some extent rye in the northern part 
 of Europe. 
 
 6 The potato is particularly subject to failure, consequently 
 a people who depend upon it largely for sustenance are prone to 
 suffer from famine. Ireland's suffering can certainly be attrib- 
 uted in part to this cause. 
 
 The introduction of the potato into those countries from 
 which -we derive our civilization is comparatively recent. Al- 
 though it is but a little over 300 years since its introduction 
 its early history is involved in much obscurity. One thing 
 seems reasonably certain: it found its -way more or less directly 
 from Peru and Chile into Europe. The potato grows wild in a 
 form which is still seen in our cultivated potato as -well as in 
 several other forms, at different altitudes according to latitude. 
 
96 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 In Chile and Peru it was found, in cultivation when that coun- 
 try was discovered by the Spaniards, where it had probably 
 long been cultivated although its limited distribution would 
 not indicate a great antiquity. It was introduced into Spain by 
 the Spaniards about the middle of the 16th century; from thence 
 it spread throughout .Europe. It came very slowly into culti- 
 vation being met with great opposition in many places. In 
 Italy it was used as food for stock and seems also to have been 
 eaten raw like' a turnip but -was not cooked. It -was introduced 
 into Germany in the tore part of the 18th century, where the 
 government gave encouragement to its culture. About the 
 same time it was introduced into France against great oppo- 
 sition. The National College of Physicians pronounced it 
 poisonous. The Catholic priests pronounced it an evil 
 root because it was not mentioned in the Bible. Louis 
 16th finally interested himself in it and thus brought it into 
 cultivation. Its introduction into Russia from Germany in the 
 middle of the 18th century was attended by fearful riots, ,the 
 Russians saying that they were the devil's apples. It took 250 
 years to work its way into general popularity. 
 
 The potato does not appear to have existed in North America 
 before its discovery by Europeans. It is probable that the po- 
 tato was introduced into England from Peru by way of Spain 
 in the same manner that it -was introduced into the rest of 
 Europe and that it was probably introduced into North Amer- 
 ica from England by the early colonists. 
 
 The word potato is a corruption of the word batata which is 
 the specific name for sweet potato and the name by which it 
 was formerly known. 
 
 Cotton was cultivated on the eastern continent before Amer- 
 ica was discovered. It was cultivated in that third center of ear- 
 ly civilization, viz., India. The clothing of the ancient Egyptians 
 •was made of wool and flax. Alexander the Great is supposed 
 to have brought the culture and use of cotton to the notice of 
 Europeans. Cotton was cultivated to some extent by the ab- 
 origines of America. The Indians of Central America, especi- 
 ally, having considerable skill in weaving cotton cloth, though 
 other fibres were used. 
 
 Although therefore, the cotton plant has not been added to 
 the plants of the civilized -world by the discovery of America, it 
 has had its greatest development in this country. The inven- 
 tion or improvement, as the case may be, of the cotton gin in 
 1793 by Eli "Whitney has made possible the wonderful develop- 
 ment of this plant -which 100 years ago was of little commer- 
 cial importance. In 1790, 2,000,000 pounds of cotton were pro- 
 duced in America. In 1800, 40,000,000 pounds while since 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 97 
 
 1890 fully 4,000,000,000 pounds nave been produced in this 
 country in a single year. This is about one-half the cotton pro- 
 duced in the world. The culture of cotton is practically unlim- 
 ited as it can be cultivated in all inhabited sections of the -world 
 lying between parallels of 36° latitude, N. & S., wherein lies the 
 largest land surface of the globe. It is now cultivated mostly 
 between parallels 20° and 30° N. latitude, and almost entirely by 
 colored labor. Mr. Thomas Ellison, of Liverpool, the leading 
 author of cotton statistics has said: "The cultivation of the 
 cotton plant, the manufacture of, its fibre and the distribution 
 of its product afford employment to a much larger amount of 
 capital and labor than any other branch of mechanical indus- 
 try." 
 
 Mr. R. H. Edmonds says: "The importance of cotton in our 
 foreign trade relations can be appreciated from the simple 
 statement that from September 1st, 1875, to August 30th, 1895, 
 our exports of this staple were-valued at over $4,200,000,000 
 ■while the total export of wheat and flour combined for the 
 same period were $2,610,000,000 showing a difference of 
 $1,600,000,000 in favor of cotton, moreover, during the same 
 period we exported over $200,000,000 of manufactured cotton 
 goods making the full value $4,400,000,000. Compared -with 
 the exports of -wheat, flour and corn combined the value Of 
 ■which, for the period named, was a little less than $3,200,000,- 
 000 there is a difference in favor of cotton of $1,200,000,000. 
 Going back to 1820 it is found that the total value of flour and 
 wheat exported for the 75 years was $4,000,000,000 or $400,- 
 O00,00O£Less than the value of the cotton exported during the 
 nineteen years from 1875 to 1894."* 
 
 How much less clothing do you suppose -we would wear if 
 we were compelled to substitute linen for cotton cloth? I sup- 
 pose linen can be produced as cheaply to-day as it ever could 
 yet with the limited demand for it, it is much more expensive 
 than cotton and -would undoubtedly be even more expensive 
 were the supply of cotton annihilated. Many people -who to- 
 day are -well dressed would be illy and scantily clad -were it 
 not for this beneficent plant. Referring to cotton Lord Macau- 
 ley is reported as saying; "What Peter the Great did to make 
 Russia dominant Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin has 
 more than equalled in its relation to the progress and power of 
 the United States. "f 
 
 Grant states, ' 'There was a time -when slavery was not prof- 
 itable and the discussion of the merits of the institution was 
 
 •100 Years of American Commerce, Vol. I., Chapter 3i, American Cotton by 
 E. H. Edmonds. 
 
 tOne Hundred Years of American Commerce. Chap. 50, Agricultural Machi- 
 nery and Implements by Eldridge M. Fowler. 
 
98 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 confined almost exclusively to the territory -where it existed. 
 The states of Virginia and Kentucky came near abolishing 
 slavery by their own acts, one state defeating the measure by 
 a tie vote and the other one lacking one, but when the institu- 
 tion became profitable all talk of its abolition ceased where it 
 existed; and naturally, as human nature is constituted, argu- 
 ments were adduced in its support. The cotton gin probably 
 had much to do with the justification of slavery."§ 
 
 The student of economics should not overlook the fact that 
 from two-thirds to three-fourths of the raw cotton is manufac- 
 ured abroad and that the European farmer is the principalcon- 
 sumer of the cotton seed meal thus transferring to European 
 farms a vast amount of American fertility. It is probable, 
 however, that the cotton fields themselves deteriorate more 
 rapidly from the washing of their exposed surfaces by the rain 
 than from the lack of return of essential soil ingredients. No 
 great staple American crop removes so little of the soil ingred- 
 ients as does cotton, assuming that the cotton seed, after the 
 oil has been extracted, is returned to tbe soil. Sugar plants are 
 similar to cotton in this respect assuming that the by-products 
 are returned to the soil. 
 
 The timothy plant is a distinctively American plant having 
 been introduced from this country into England in 1760. It is 
 a plant of vast economic importance to America but has had 
 much less direct influence upon European agriculture than has 
 corn, potatoes, or cotton. 
 
 The tobacco plant, while it occupies less than 1,000,000 acres 
 of land in the United States and is therefore strictly a secondary 
 plant, yet it has been peculiarly connected with the develop- 
 ment of American agriculture. With regard to this influence, I 
 quote to you from Professor Shaler, (United States of America 
 Vol- I, p. 27):-- 
 
 "The tobacco plant -was a most valuable resource, which the 
 native plants of America offered to new settlers. Tobacco had 
 been in the possession of the native Indian tribes from remote 
 antiquity, as is shown by the fact that pipes are found in very 
 ancient graves and tumuli. The aborigines valued it for the 
 peculiar effect upon the nervous sjrs'tem -which has since en- 
 deared it to the people of every clime. When the country was 
 first settled by Europeans, this narcotic seems to have been in 
 use in their ceremonials by all tribes which dwelt in regions 
 where the plant could be grown. The habit of smoking was 
 quickly adopted in Europe, and spread then with singular rap- 
 idity to many parts of Asia. No other conquest has ever been 
 so rapidly effected as that made by tobacco; within a century 
 §Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant. Vol. I p. 324. 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 99 
 
 from tile time of its advent in the Old World it spread beyond 
 the limits of any European speech; it went, indeed, farther and 
 faster than any faith has ever extended. 
 
 Although tobacco will grow in almost any climate, the val- 
 ued quality of its leaves varies in a remarkable manner with 
 each peculiarity of soil which nurtures it and the climate to 
 which it is exposed. No other plant except the vine is known 
 to be so curiously dependent upon the circumstances of its en- 
 vironment for the qualities of its product. Thus American to- 
 bacco came to have a peculiar value in the markets cf the Old 
 World, and it has maintained its place in those markets, al- 
 though exposed to competition -with the productions of 
 many other lands. In a short time after their settlement that 
 part of the English colonies which lay to the south of the . Del- 
 aware River became devoted in large measure to the industry 
 of cultivating tobacco. Although the crops of this plant were 
 hurtful to the soils of the region in which it was grown, they 
 gave immediate and large returns in the way of 
 exchange, and so the districts which relied upon 
 this agriculture for a time prospered greatly. Not- 
 withstanding the rapid way in which it exhausts 
 the soil, we must count the culture of tobacco as of great profit 
 to this country, for it quickly afforded the basis of an extensive 
 commerce, and brought to the continent a body of immigrants 
 and of capital for which it would have long waited if it had 
 trusted to other bases of industry. Since the institution of to- 
 bacco farming this soil product has been the most steadfast 
 basis of our exchanges with the Old World. Several other 
 plants now exceed it in the quantity of exportable values they 
 yield, but none other has been of leading value for so long a 
 time.." 
 
 Among other plants which have had an important effect up.. 
 on our dietary, the tomato plant and the squash, more partic- 
 ularly the former, should not be overlooked. The cultivation 
 of the cranberry is also an American innovation. 
 
 The following is a partial list of plants of American origin, 
 given principally upon the authority of DeCandolle. D indi- 
 cates a very ancient cultivation in America (from its wide 
 area and number of varieties) ; E indicates that plants -were 
 cultivated before the discovery of America without showing 
 signs of a great antiquity of culture! F indicates species only 
 cultivated since the discovery of America: 
 
 SPECIES OF AMERICAN ORIGIN. 
 CULTIVATED FOE THE UNDERGROUND PARTS. 
 E. Jerusalem Artichoke. D. Sweet Potato. 
 
 E. Potato. 
 
100 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 CULTIVATED FOR STEMS AND LEAVES. 
 F. Quinine. F. Timothy. 
 
 D. Tobacco. F. Orchard Grass. 
 
 E. American Aloe. 
 
 CULTIVATED FOR FRUIT. 
 
 F. Strawberry. E. Tomato. 
 
 E. Pumpkin and Squash. E. Pine Apple. 
 E. Red Pepper. 
 
 CULTIVATED FOR SEEDS. 
 E. Sugar Bean. E. Barbadoes Cotton. 
 
 D. Maize, E. Peanut. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 AGRICULTURE OF EUROPE WHEN AMERICA WAS COL- 
 ONIZED. — "We are generally recognized to be the descendants 
 of the Egyptian civilization. We began our study of Egyptian 
 agriculture 2700 B. C. and have followed the progress of agri- 
 culture down to the first permanent British settlement upon 
 American soil. We found the ancient Egyptians had the plow, 
 the harrow, and the cart. Four thousand years later the Brit- 
 ons had the plow, the harrow, and the cart, and no other tools 
 drawn by domestic animals. It was only at the close of this 
 period that the Britons had the harrow. Even at the time" of 
 Fitzherbert it was the common practice to sow the cereals in 
 the furrows and plow them, under. Neither were their tools 
 essentially different. Grain was harvested with the same sickle, 
 the hoe and the spade -were essentially the same. The flail and 
 farming mill had been introduced. 
 
 Aside from the stable and dairy tools these were all the 
 strictly farm tools that were in existence to bring to the new 
 field of activity, although, of course, the axe must be reckoned 
 as a tool of prime importance. At the beginning of the seven- 
 teenth century no new plant was cultivated by the Romans, 
 unless we except the hop, but many plants were cultivated by 
 the Romans that -were not cultivated at this time by the Brit- 
 ish. Oats and rye, however, had assumed a greater economic 
 importance than ever before. 
 
 The principal cultivated plants of Great Britain at the begin- , 
 ning of the seventeenth century are easily enumerated; they 
 are wheat, barley, oats, rye, beans, peas, vetches, onions, cab- 
 bage, and apples. This limited list of tools and of cultivated 
 plants, the fact that cattle dressed 370 pounds and sheep 28 
 pounds in the best English market and that the pigs were re- 
 puted to balance when heldby the ears, gives us a faint picture 
 of the condition of the agriculture of England when our fore- 
 fathers landed in America.* 
 
 "We must not overlook the fact, however, that simultaneously 
 with the settlement of America a wonderful improvement be- 
 gan in the agriculture of Great Britain through the introduc- 
 tion of the turnip and other root crops, the clovers and the ar- 
 tificial grasses. The consequences of these additions to the ag- 
 riculture of Great Britain have been sufficiently insisted upon 
 
 101 
 
102 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 by Prothero and Flint, need not be repeated here. The facts 
 are important in this connection in that our forefathers were 
 the beneficiaries of this improvement which went on hand in 
 hand -with the colonizing of America between 1607 and 1732. 
 THE COLONISTS. 
 
 The adventurous man, 'whatever his other qualities, is us- 
 ually a man of some ability. Nothing risked nothing gained. 
 Men -who are anxious to improve their condition are ■willing to 
 take some risk and are willing to exert themselves. The colo- 
 nists -were thus by the law of the survival of the fittest, men of 
 energy and enterprise. The pathetically content or the hope- 
 lessly incapable -would not make the necessary exertion to 
 cross the ocean in a sailing vessel -which as late as 1838, -when 
 my father immigrated to this country, took 45 days to make the 
 passage. The -'traveler," whom -we now feed at our back door, 
 remained in Europe. A genuine immigrant is not a "traveler.'' 
 Neither would the upper classes, who were already in possess- 
 ion of plenty, exchange a certainty for an uncertainty. There 
 ■was a process of selection not unlike that of sifting materials 
 through sieves of various sizes. If you sift sand through two 
 sieves of different sizes, proceeding from the coarser to the finer, 
 the sand left upon the second sieve -will be nearly of uniform 
 size, both the coarser and finer materials -will have been elimi- 
 nated. The colonists -were sifted in a manner very similar to , 
 this and those -who came to this country correspond to the 
 grains of sand of uniform size on the second sieve. 
 
 The late Francis A. "Walker said, "Confining our view to the 
 country north of the Potomac and Ohio, -we say that, unlike the 
 cultivators in any country of Europe except Switzerland and 
 perhaps Scotland, they have at no stage of our history con- 
 stituted a peasantry in any proper sense of the term. The ac- 
 tual cultivators of the soil here have been the same kind of men 
 precisely as those who filled the professions or -were engaged 
 in commercial or mechanical pursuits. Of two sons of the 
 same mother, one became a lawyer, perhaps a judge, or went 
 down to the city and became a merchant, or gave himself to 
 political affairs, or became a governor or a member of Congress; 
 the other stayed upon the ancestral homestead, or made a new 
 one for himself and his children out of the public domain far- 
 ther -west, remaining through his life a plain hardworking 
 farmer. 
 
 Now this condition of things has made American to differ 
 from European agriculture by a very -wide interval. There is 
 no other considerable country in the -world where equal mental 
 activity and alertness have been applied to the cultivation of 
 the soil as a trade and so called industry."* 
 
 *Report on the Productions of Agriculture as returned at the tenth census, 
 p. xxviii. 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 103 
 
 The periods into which, we may divide the history of Ameri- 
 can agriculture depend somewhat upon the point of view 
 from which we wish to discuss it. Prof. W. H. Brewer, t for ex- 
 ample, has divided the history of American agriculture into 
 four periods ; he having discussed it largely from the standpoint 
 of grain production. He makes the first period that of our Co- 
 lonial days, viz., from the settlement in 1607 down to the 
 American Revolution, and which he calls the period of experi- 
 ment. The second period beginning with the Declaration of 
 Independence extends over a period of about fifty years or to 
 the time when the cast iron plow came into common use 
 throughout the country. This, he says, ■was the period of 
 awakening, of the formation of agricultural societies, and of the 
 beginning of a science of agriculture. 
 
 The third period of about 30 years extended to the time when 
 the reaper began to come into common use, about 1855. The 
 special features of this period he names as universal introduc- 
 tion of threshing machines; the beginning and spread of rail- 
 roads; introduction of commercial fertilizers; and improved 
 methods of field culture of Indian corn in ■which animal power 
 replaced hand power. The fourth period extended from the 
 general introduction of the reaper in 1855 to 1880, and included 
 the introduction into general use of the steam thresher; of im- 
 proved harvesters and reapers; the farther improvement of 
 many labor-saving machines previously invented; and marked 
 extension in the land transportation of grain by railroads; the 
 use of elevators in handling grain ; the ocean transportation of 
 grain by steam; and the greater specialization of agricultural 
 productions. 
 
 For a brief discussion to -which I must confine myself, the 
 history of American agriculture may be conveniently divided 
 into two periods. The ante -national period, from the founding 
 of the first colony in 1607 to the inauguration of the first pres- 
 ident; and the national period or from 1789 to the present time. 
 As the data from which we may judge the second period closes 
 mostly with the census of 1890, we may consider this period 
 as covering the century and may not . be inaptly termed a cen- 
 tury of progress. 
 
 ANTE-NATIONAL PERIOD. As before stated this period be- 
 gins -with the founding of Jamestown in Virginia in 1607. The 
 last of the thirteen colonies to be founded ■was Georgia in 1732, 
 thus covering a period of a century and a quarter. A prominent 
 characteristic of these colonies compared ■with the present, was 
 their extreme isolation and provincialism. The one is repre- 
 sented by Jamestown colony -which was composed principally 
 
 •(•Tenth Census, Volume on Agriculture, p. 513. 
 
104 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 of adventurous speculators who had received grants from the 
 king and were disposed to transmit to American soil their in- 
 herited ideas of government. In this colony people of rather in- 
 different character -were brought to till the land. There was 
 thus, from the start, in these colonies an aristocratic class and 
 a laboring class of a decidedly lower social order which be- 
 came more emphasized after the introduction of the institution 
 of slavery. The effect of this is easily traceable at the present 
 time in the classes of people and their social customs in that 
 section of the United States and in the territory -west of it. 
 
 The second permanent settlement was effected at Plymouth, 
 Massachusetts in 1620. People who founded this colony did 
 not emigrate to this country as adventurers, but to escape 
 civil and religious tyranny. They were of the class of people 
 of which we have spoken ■when discussing the colonists in 
 general. 
 
 Provincialism continued down to the time of the Revolution- 
 ary War. The Revolutionary War was an important factor in 
 the improvement of the condition of American agriculture, not 
 only because it united the people against a common foe but be- 
 cause the -war brought the different colonists in contact with 
 one another and widene'd their knowledge of the natural re- 
 sources of the country and its adaptation to different' forms of 
 agriculture. Today agriculture is by far the chief industry of 
 the United States; then it was almost the exclusive industry. 
 This was not only incident to the newness of the country 
 but was further encouraged by the enactments of the mother 
 country ■which endeavored by legal provisions to prevent the 
 colonists from establishing manufacturing industries or from 
 carrying on commerce with European countries. 
 
 We have already shown that the colonists came to a country 
 whose climate and soil were entirely unknown to them and 
 much different from anything which they had hitherto known, 
 the climate of the New England States being especially severe 
 and the soil in some cases, at least, being extremely poor. As 
 has been pointed out by Professor Brewer, [even with our pres- 
 ent knowledge of soils and laws of plant growth,] we could not 
 predict in advance of trial whether a particular plant would be 
 adapted to a particular soil and climate. The difficulty under 
 which the colonists labored is shown by the simple statement 
 that they did not know that cotton could not be successfully 
 grown in the New England States until they had tried it. Here 
 were thirteen colonies having but little communication with 
 one another and thus each was under the necessity of trying 
 practically every cultivated crop of Europe in order to determine 
 whether it was suitable or not for their conditions. And they 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 105 
 
 had to try these crops under conditions which made their fail- 
 ure a serious matter. Had they not had the truly -wonderful 
 maize plant, whose cultivation the Indians had taught them, 
 they probably would never have been able to withstand the 
 adverse circumstances. 
 
 Among the plants which were tried over and over again in 
 these colonies for a couple of centuries, according to Professor 
 Brewer, 'were hemp, indigo, rice, cotton, millet, spelt, madder, 
 lentils, lucerne, sainfoin, woad, mellilot, rape, and colza. 
 "This" says Professor Brewer, "was an agricultural experiment 
 on the grandest scale the world had ever seen, and it went on 
 with the occupation of each new district. In fact the same ex- 
 periments were tried over and over again and under the 
 methods then existing might have been going on yet."* So 
 thoroughly had this experiment been conducted that all the 
 domesticated animals had been introduced before the close of 
 this period and all our cultivated plants which are of sufficient 
 importance to be enumerated in the census report, except 
 sorghum and possibly cow peas. 
 
 The various classes of domesticated animals -were brought 
 here very soon after the founding of the first colonies. Horses 
 certainly had been introduced on to the American continent at 
 a much earlier date by the Spaniards. As -we have seen the 
 farm animals of Great Britain were very poor at the time of the 
 founding of the first settlements in America. Poor as they 
 ■were they became much poorer under the conditions which 
 prevailed in the colonies. The natural grasses of the Atlantic 
 seaboard -were much inferior to those of Great Britain and 
 Europe generally and it was not until the latter part of this 
 period that the artificial cultivation of grasses began. These 
 were not the days of blue grass, timothy, and clover. Poor 
 pastures in the summer and swale hay in the winter were the 
 chief food aside from Indian corn, and very little provision was 
 made for wintering stock in some of the colonies as is 
 shown by circumstances related by Flint. It was the expected 
 thing that a considerable number of the animals should die 
 each -winter and Flint relates the circumstance of a foreman of 
 a farm being discharged because enough cattle had not died 
 upon the plantation to furnish hides to make boots for the 
 negroes. It should be noted, however, that while the livestock 
 of America, instead of getting better had become poorer than 
 those from which they had originated, at the same time there 
 had been a great advance in the character of the livestock of 
 Great Britain. A distinct improvement in the horses of Great 
 Britain began at the very beginning of the period which we are 
 
 "Tenth Census. Volume on Agriculture, p. 515. 
 
106 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 discussing. Marked improvement in cattle and sheep, as here- 
 tofore mentioned took place at a later period as shown by the 
 work of Bakewell, Collins Brothers, Booth, Bates, Tompkins 
 and others. 
 
 The tools and implements of this period can be very briefly 
 treated. "We have already shown that the ancient Egyptians 
 had the plow, the harrow, and the cart, that 4000 years later 
 the Britons had the plow, the harrow, and the cart. The 
 American farmer at the time -when "Washington was first in- 
 augurated, had the plow, the harrow and the wagon and no 
 other tools drawn by domesticated animals. Down to the 
 Revolutiona.y "War, at least, and probably at a still 
 later date the grain was still largely harvested with 
 the sickle but the grain cradle had been intro- 
 duced and became, at least later, an important implement in 
 the gathering of small grains. 
 
 Even at a much later date most of the work of the farm was 
 performed by manual labor. Mr. Joseph C. G. Kennedy, Super- 
 intendent of the Eighth Census, -writing presumably in 1864, 
 says: 
 
 "As recently as 1849 when -we relieved ourselves of a farm in 
 Pennsylvania to take charge of a census nearly all the opera- 
 tions of agriculture except that of threshing the grain were 
 performed by manual labor, and the number of workmen to be 
 provided for. especially during the period of harvesting, ren- 
 dered several montns of the year a season of family solicitude 
 and drudgery. On the same farms crops the past year -were 
 sown and gathered in a much shorter time, in better condition 
 ■with one.fourth the number of laborers, the grain being cut by 
 machinery; and the grass mown, loaded on the wagon and 
 transferred therefrom to the mow by means of mechanical ap- 
 pliances. The effects of such changes upon the character of 
 the rural population of our country -will soon manifest them- 
 selves by their elevating influences".* 
 *Eighth Census. Volume on Agriculture, p. xxviii. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 NATIONAL PERIOD. Three causes operated at the beginning 
 of the national period to advance the cause of agriculture- 
 First, greater freedom of the individual. Second, Societies for 
 the diffusion of knowledge. Third, the application of science 
 to agriculture. 
 
 The formation of societies for the promotion of agriculture 
 was an important step. They tended to diffusion of knowledge 
 which had been acquired in the separate colonies and made 
 repeated trials of the same thing less necessary. They awak- 
 ened inquiry and intellectual activity and paved the way for 
 agricultural literature. Betweeh 1785 and 1794 five societies 
 of this character were established. 
 
 1. Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, founded in 
 Charleston, South Carolina, August 24th 1785. 
 
 2. Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, 
 same year. 
 
 3. New York Socieiy for the Promotion of Agricultural Arts 
 and Manufactures, February 26th 1791. 
 
 4. Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture j 
 in 1792. 
 
 5. The Society for Promoting Agriculture in the State of 
 Connecticut, August 12th 1794.* §t 
 
 The first of these was the first real agricultural society estab- 
 lished in this country, although societies of this kind had been 
 established at least half a century earlier in Europe. It is 
 worthy of mention that these societies were organized from 
 without rather than from within. They were organized by 
 the men of the cities rather than those of the country. It was 
 not until after the Civil 'War that farmers' Organizations, organ- 
 ized by the farmers themselves, became prominent, except 
 purely fair organizations. 
 
 The Patrons of Husbandry, sometimes called the Grange, 
 was not founded until 1866. This is the first truly National 
 farmers' organization. Although like all other such organiza- 
 tions, it has had a varying career, it has been and still is a 
 powerful factor in the improvement of the farmer and his 
 household throughout the United States. 
 
 *Eighth Census. Vol. on Agriculture, p. xiii. 
 
 gTenth Census. Vol. on Agriculture, p. 517. 
 
 fFlint's A Hundred Years' Progress. Eept. U. S. Dept, of Agr. 1872, p. 282. 
 
 107 
 
108 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 It was at the beginning of this period, that there was a con- 
 siderable development of chemical and physical sciences. The 
 bearing of these sciences upon agriculture was seen at once. 
 It was not until about 1840, however, through the investiga- 
 tions of von Liebig, Boussangault, and Sir Humphrey Davy, 
 that the science of Agricultural Chemistry was established. 
 These investigations resulted in the introduction for the first 
 time of commercial fertilizers, which became extensively used 
 in England and have done so much for the agriculture of that 
 country and 'which are each year becoming a more and more 
 important factor in American Agriculture. The investigations 
 begun at this time by Sir John Lawes. of Rothamstead, England, 
 form an epoch in experimental science as applied to agriculture. 
 
 IMPROVEMENT OF LIVESTOCK. During the time of George 
 Washington not a breed of horses, cattle, sheep, or swine as 
 they exist today -were -within the borders of this country, unless 
 possibly the thoroughbred horse and Leicester sheep, the latter 
 being introduced prior to 1776, may be considered exceptions. 
 There are now twelve breeds of horses, besides ponies; an equal 
 number of breeds each of sheep and swine, and at least twenty 
 breeds of cattle. 
 
 Imported Messenger was born in 1780; Justin Morgan in 1793. 
 In 1806 "Yankey" trotted a mile under the saddle at Haerlem 
 race course in New York City in 2:59.* In the year 1 897 Star 
 Pointer, a pacer had a record of 1:59-1-4; 14091 horses had 
 made a trotting record of 2:30 or better; 5200 horses have made 
 a pacing record of 2:25 or better. 
 
 Up to 1840 the buggy was practically unknown, the common 
 mode of travel being on horse back. As pointed out by Mr. Bon- 
 nam, the American trotter is a direct result of American hickory 
 and the elliptic spring. The true history of the American 
 trotter begins with Rysdyk's Hambletonion, foaled in 1 849 and 
 ■with his son Dexter who trotted to sulky m 1865 in 2:18-1-4, 
 in 1867 in 2; 17-1 -4. Flora Temple however, who was in no 
 way related to Hambletonian, trotted in 1856 in 2:24-1-2; and 
 in 1859 in 2:18-3-4, Flora Temple was the first horse to break 
 the record in a sulky. 
 
 While not the' first importation the most important early im- 
 provement of the draft horse in America begins with the im- 
 portation into Union county this state by Charles Fullerton of 
 the Percheron stallion Louis Napoleon in 1851. Two years 
 later he was sold to A. P. Cushman, DeWitt County, Illinois. 
 This stallion is said to have been the sire of three hundred 
 stallions and thus he left a very strong impress upon the horse 
 stock of the central west. 
 
 *100 years of American Commerce, Vol. 1. article "American Livestock" by 
 L. N. Bonham. 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 109 
 
 An epoch, in the breeding of draft horses may be said to have 
 begun -with the establishment of the Percheron-Norman Stud 
 Book, now the American Percheron Stud Book, in September 
 1876. This was the first draft horse stud book ever published. 
 Others soon followed. The following ten years saw a wonder- 
 ful improvement in the draft horse industry in this country 
 and the character of the horse stock of the country, has been 
 very much changed thereby. 
 
 A number of important breeds of cattle were introduced 
 into the United States from England between 1783 and 
 1830, the most noted perhaps being the importations of 
 1817 in which year Shorthorns, Longhorns, Devons, and Here- 
 fords -were introduced. A noted impetus to tha importation of 
 cattle in the United States begun with the organization in Nov- 
 ember, 1833 of the Ohio Company for importing English cattle.* 
 At a sale held at Indian Creek farm in Ross county at the resi- 
 dence of Felix Renick, agent of the Ohio company, on the 29th 
 of October 1836, there were eight Shorthorn bulls each of which 
 sold for more than $1,000, and seven cows which sold for 
 $1,000 and upwards, The improvement of cattle grew out of 
 a peculiar set of conditions. "When Ohio was first settled 
 ■wheat was about the only cash crop and about the only outlet 
 for it was to turn it into flour and send it on flat boats or barges 
 to New Orleans. For a time this was a rather profitable though 
 hazardous business but the supply soon outran the demand 
 and some other outlet for farm products had to be devised. At 
 this juncture Mr, George Renick probably of Pickaway county, 
 fed a lot of cattle in the winter of 1804 and 1805 and the fol- 
 ing spring sent them to Baltimore. They were the first cattle 
 that ever crossed the Allegheny Mountains.* This made the 
 Scioto valley a great cattle feeding district and led to a demand 
 for better cattle. 
 
 The poorness of the cattle in the United States during the 
 ante-national period has^ been fully dwelt upon by Flint in his 
 One Hundred Years of Progress. 
 
 I think there can be no doubt that our beef cattle today make 
 more and better beef at the age of two and one-half years than 
 did those of the first decade in five years. The great specializa- 
 tion among our breeds especially in the dairy breeds, has large- 
 ly come about since 1870. Prior to 1850 Shorthorns, Devons, 
 and Ayrshires were the chief improved breeds and were the 
 only ones -which modified sensibly the common stock of the 
 country. All are breeds •which give about the same quality of 
 milk, that of about average quality. Between 1850 and 1860 
 
 *Ohio Shorthorn Record, Vol. 1, p. 44. 
 
 *Eighth Census. Volume on "Agriculture," p. cxxix. 
 
110 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 the Jerseys; and about 1870 the Holsteins had become estab- 
 lished. Since then a large number of breeds have been intro- 
 duced. Owing to the mixed character of our native stock the 
 improvement by pure bred sires has been rapid and satisfactory. 
 
 The improvement of sheep in America may be said to have 
 begun with the importation of Merinos by Col. David Humphrey 
 in 1802 and with that of "William Jarvis in 1809 and 1810, the 
 former a minister and the latter a consul to Spain. The sheep 
 of England had been greatly improved during the latter half of 
 the last century. Southdowns were imported during the first 
 decade of this century and were the first of the down breeds 
 to become generally distributed. The rest of the down breeds 
 did not become prominent until the last twenty years. The 
 long wool breeds of which the Cotswold breed is the prin- 
 cipal type became prominent in the fifth decade of this cen- 
 tury. Notwithstanding the fact that sheep have been 
 domesticated for forty centuries marvelous improvements have 
 been made in sheep within very recent times. According to 
 the statistics of the United States Department of Agricul- 
 ture the average weight of a fleece in this country in 1840 
 ■was less than two pounds while it is now over six pounds. 
 
 As we nave .seen, the hog was formerly considered unclean 
 and was eaten chiefly by the poorer classes, although the Nor- 
 man conquerors considered pork a lordly dish. Only -within 
 the last century, however, has pork become an extensive ar- 
 ticle of commerce and nowhere else has it become such an im- 
 portant feature of the agriculture of the country as in the 
 United States. Four things have probably been conducive to 
 this result; 
 
 1. Climatic conditions. 
 
 2. An excellent and economic hog food, viz., Indian corn. 
 
 3. The need of some agency to render corn a palatable 
 human food. 
 
 4. The ease with which pork can be preserved and hence 
 used as an article of commerce. 
 
 The Poland China was evolved between 1830-1840; the 
 Berkshires were improved in 1832; the Chester White resulted 
 from importations made into Chester County, Penna., be- 
 tween 1810-1820. The perfect system of meat packing -which 
 has been evolved out of the necessities of the pork trade within 
 the last fifty years is an item -which should not be overlooked 
 in this connection. The remarkable manner in which every 
 part of the animal is utilized in these packing houses has been 
 heretofore unknown. 
 
 In a general way we may say that the improvement of live- 
 stock began in the second decade, became marked in the fourth 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. Ill 
 
 decade of this century, while there was another marked inter- 
 val of improvement from 1875 to 1885. 
 
 IMPROVEMENT IN DAIRYING. The method of making but- 
 ter at the beginning of the century -was, very little improve- 
 ment over the method used by the Arab when he carried his 
 supply of milk in the goatskin upon the camel's back and thus 
 discovered the art of butter making. As late as 1870 the com- 
 mon form of churn ■was described by a child's riddle, "Big at 
 the bottom little at the top a thing in the middle goes flippety 
 flop". In 1850 all the butter and all the cheese was made upon 
 the farm. In a few cases prior to this, attempts had been made 
 at making cheese by collecting the curd from several farm 
 houses and pressing it into cheese at a central location. The 
 commencement of associated dairying known as the American 
 or factory system was, however, inaugurated by Jesse Wil- 
 liams, Rome, Oneida County, New York in 1851, when he and 
 his "wife undertook to make not only the milk of their own 
 farm but that from their son's into cheese. This experiment 
 proving successful, in 1852 the "Williams factory was opened 
 with 360 cows contributing milk to the factory. In 1890, 93 
 per cent, of all the cheese made in the United States was made in 
 factories. In 1870 all the butter in the United States was still 
 made in the farm home. The making of butter in factories un- 
 doubtedly grew out of the practice of making skim cheese.When 
 the skimming of the milk was carried to such a point that it 
 was no longer profitable to produce skim cheese, the most nat. 
 ural step was to return the skim milk to the farmers and pro- 
 duce only butter. The first centrifugal cream separator which 
 creamed milk continuously was constructed by DeLaval in 
 Sweden in 1879. It was several years later before they came 
 into general use but during the past ten years they have very 
 nearly revolutionized the process of making butter. In 1880 
 cne pound of butter only out of every twenty -four -was made in 
 creameries,while in 1890 one pound out of every seven -was 
 made in creameries, and the census which is about to be taken 
 ■will undoubtedly show an enormous increase in the manufac- 
 ture -of creamery butter. The invention of the Babcock test by 
 Professor S. M. Babcock of the University of Wisconsin in 1890 
 has together ■with the cream separator revolutionized the dairy 
 practice of this country and for that matter all the civilized 
 countries. The application of the knowledge of bacteriology to 
 dairy practices has come about -within the past decade. Re- 
 cently at a dairy show in London cows -were milked -with 
 Thistle Milking Machine; the pipe of the Radiator -was con- 
 nected -with the tube from the milking machine, so that butter 
 ■was churned from this milk before the cow was milked clean 
 
112 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 SUGAR. At the time of the first settlement of this country 
 at Jamestown and Plsrmouth, honey was our principal source 
 of sugar. Since that time sugar has become one of the great 
 commercial products of the world. It has changed from an ex- 
 pensive luxury to a common necessity in every household. It 
 ■was not until 1795 that sugar -was manufactured from beets. 
 Prior to this time the principal source of • our commercial pro- 
 duct was sugar cane. It was not until 1830 in France and 1835 
 in Germany that the manufacture of sugar from beets became 
 a commercial enterprise. At the present time more than one- 
 half of the sugar of the -world is produced from beets. Beets 
 which a century ago contained 6 per cent, of sugar have been 
 so improved by selection that 12 per cent to 18 per cent, can be 
 depended upon in commercial enterprises. It is universal tes- 
 timony that the introduction of the cultivation of sugar beets 
 in any community is a strong impetus to improved agriculture. 
 Sugar beets and Irish potatoes require an intensive agriculture 
 and wherever grown there results not only an increased yield 
 of other crops in the rotation but a decided improvement in 
 farm methods. It is only within the past century that these 
 crops have become an important factor in the agriculture of 
 the 'world. 
 
 IMPROVEMENT OF FARM MACHINERY. The invention of 
 the cotton gin by Eli "Whitney in 1793 or its improvement by 
 him so as to become a practical machine and the consequences 
 of this invention have already been sufficiently emphasized. 
 The American and European farmer of the 18th century under- 
 stood the principle upon •which the plow ■worked as little as 
 did the Egyptian fellah in the days of Barneses II. Thomas 
 Jefferson made a study of the plow and wrote an essay upon 
 this subject in 1798 ■which was the first attempt to apply 
 scientific principles to the plow. Jefferson deduced the princi- 
 ple that the plow consisted of two wedges one horizontal and 
 the other vertical. Before this time some blacksmiths could 
 make good plows sometimes but few blacksmiths could make 
 good plows all the time. Even if a smith became reasonably 
 successful in making a uniform product he could not impart 
 his knowledge to any one else. When he died his art died 
 with him. The history of the plow is a matter about which 
 there seems to be some confusion. In the census for 1860 Mr. 
 Kennedy says: 
 
 "A capital improvement in tne plow -was the invention of the 
 iron mold board and landslide. An approach tc this was made 
 by Foljambre of Rotherham, England, -who in 1720 took out 
 the first patent of the kind recorded. It was for a mold board 
 and landslide of wood sheathed ■with iron plates, the shares 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 113 
 
 and coulter being of wrought iron with steel edges. One of 
 these patent or Rotherham plows - as all similar ones were 
 called for many years - was imported and used for some time 
 ■with much satisfaction by General "Washington, but becoming 
 worn our plowwrights were unable to repair it." * I quote this 
 in full because it is sometimes, in fact generally, stated that 
 the improvement of the plow in England came about from the 
 importation of the Rotterdam plow from Holland. Small of 
 Scotland made great improvement in the plow as early as 
 1740 and Ransome of England made cast iron plows in 1785. 
 Chas. Newbold of New Jersey in 1797 patented the first cast 
 iron plow in America but after spending as he alleges $30,000 
 trying to get it into use, abandoned the attempt because the far- 
 mers declared the iron poisoned the soil and prevented the 
 growth of crops. It 'was not until the close of the first quarter 
 of this century that the cast iron plow came into general use in 
 this country. In England it is said that Sir Robert Peel as late 
 as 1835 presented a farmers' club ■with two iron plows of the 
 latest construction. On his next visit he found the old plows 
 ■with wooden moldboards again in use. "Sir" said a member, 
 '•we tried the iron and be all of one mind that they make the 
 weeds grow."* 
 
 Probably one of the most notable plow trials ever made in 
 this country was under the auspices of the New York State 
 Agricultural Society in 1867. For an extended history of the 
 plow together with a description of the improved plows of 
 that date, see "Utica Plow Trial", Transactions of the New 
 York Agricultural Society, Vol. 27, Part I. A very slight exam- 
 ination of the plows used in this trial will show that very 
 great progress has been made in the mechanical construction 
 of plows since that date. 
 
 At the beginning of this century besides the plow the only 
 other tools for preparation of the soil -were the common tooth 
 harrow and the roller. There is not time even to enumerate the 
 various tools that have been invented. Probably the most 
 radical one for preparing the seed bed is that of the disc harrow. 
 In this connection the improved methods in field culture of 
 Indian Corn should not be overlooked. It was not until the 
 second quarter of this century that the various forms of culti- 
 vators drawn by animal power replaced hand culture. 
 
 ♦Eighth Census. Vol. on Agriculture, p. xvii. 
 "Ibid. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 During the first quarter of this century the hay was cut with 
 the scythe and raked by hand. The prototype of the revolving 
 hay rake was invented in 1824. Prior to 1831 no mower had 
 been invented which contained the necessary elements of suc- 
 cess. "While the Hussey reaper •was patented in 1833 as a 
 mower, yet all the early accounts of this and other similar 
 machines mention only their work in cutting grain. I judge 
 that the mower, like 'the reaper, was not used as a practical 
 machine much before 1845. In a trial of reaping and mowing 
 machines made at Springfield, Ohio, in 1852 under the auspices 
 of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, three mowing ma- 
 chines are mentioned, viz., Hussey's, Castle's, and Ketchum's. 
 Of the latter it is stated that its performance as a whole was 
 not equaled by any of its competitors. There were also entered 
 three combined reaping and mowing machines. The Ketchum 
 mowing machine -was patented by W. F. Ketchum of New 
 York in 1844 and is especially mentioned in the census report 
 of 1860 as having obtained a high reputation. 
 
 In 1890 we mowed over 50,000,000 acres of grass. That hay 
 harvest probably did not occupy the American farmers on an 
 average of more than ten days so that five million acres were 
 mown each day during the season throughout the United 
 States. A man could mow 'with a scythe and rake with the 
 hand rake an acre in a day -working much harder than the 
 average farmer of today. To cut and gather into shocks the 
 present hay crop of the United States according to the method 
 in vogue when John Quincy Adams -was president would there- 
 fore, for ten days each year, require the service of one-third of 
 all the men of military age in the United States. It -would take 
 twenty times our present army to get the hay ready to be 
 hauled to mow or stack. "Were it not for the mowing machine 
 and the bay rake our soldiers -would not be in Cuba, Porto Rico, 
 and Phillipine Islands during the past summer. They -would 
 have been required in the American hay field. 
 
 The work that is now done with three horses, one man and 
 a boy, sitting on mower and rake, only a generation ago requir- 
 ed the severest toil of ten men and -women in the boiling sun, 
 while the house-wife and her daughters had to prepare the 
 food for ten instead of two. The other eight now live in the 
 
 114 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 115 
 
 city. If the hay loader and tlie horse fork liave not reduced 
 the need of men they nave at least reduced the hand labor. 
 
 But the improvement in handling the small grain has been 
 still greater than that of handling hay. "With our improved 
 plows and pulverizers we prepare the soil not only easier but 
 much better. "With our grain drills we sow the seed not only 
 much more evenly but also at a much more uniform depth, 
 The method of handling -wheat and barley in the year of our 
 Declaration of Independence is pictured upon the tombs of 
 ancient Egypt; By the beginning of the century the cradle 
 had in America, but not in Europe, generally supplanted* the 
 sickle. In an article on ''Harvest Implements'" in Morton's 
 Cyclopaedia of Agriculture, published in 1871, the writer states 
 that "notwithstanding all the ingenuity, however, that has 
 hitherto been applied to this subject reaping has been and no 
 doubt for many years, as we have said, will continue to be a 
 manual operation." The writer then proceeds to describe the 
 various forms of sickles with which it is proper to cut grain. 
 
 In 1833 as before stated, Ovid Hussey of Cincinnati, Ohio, 
 patented his reaping machine as a mower. In 1834 Cyrus H. 
 McCormick of Virginia received his first patent for a grain har- 
 vesting machine which it is claime d he had in operation as early 
 as 1831. In 1828 the Rev. Mr- Bell of England invented a machine 
 which is said to have successfully cut grain although it was 
 never used to any considerable extent. Prior to this time all at- 
 tempts at cutting grain by machinery which had been carried 
 on during a quarter of a century was by attaching a knife to 
 the circumference of a wheel. Bell used vibrating knives like 
 pairs of shears. Hussey's cutting parts contained the guards 
 and sections much like the ordinary mowing machine of the 
 present day, while the cutting part of McCormick's reaper con- 
 sisted of a serrated ribbon. In a report of reaping machines 
 made to the Royal Agricultural Journal in 1851, Cyrus McCor- 
 mick, is quoted as follows: 
 
 "No machines were sold until 1840 and I may say that they 
 were not of much practical value until improvements of my 
 second patent in 1845. These improvements consisted in re- 
 versing the angle of the sickle teeth alternately; the improved 
 form of the fingers to hold up the corn; an iron case to preserve 
 the sickles from clogging; and a better mode of separating the 
 standing corn to be cut. Up to this period nothing but loss of 
 time and money resulted from my efforts. The sale has since 
 steadily increased and is now more than a thousand yearly."* 
 
 The attention of the -world was first attracted to the Reaping 
 machine by being placed on exhibition at the first World's 
 ♦Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, Vol. 12. p. 614. 
 
116 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 Fair in London in 1851, The council of Juries in 1851 speaks 
 of the McCormick reaper as the most valuable article contribu- 
 ted to this exhibition. Ogle as early as 1822 had invented 
 the reel of the present day machine. It seems fairly well es- 
 tablished that as early as 1831 the McCormick harvesting ma- 
 chine had the large drive wheels, platform, guards, the recipro- 
 cating knife, the divider, and the reel of the present day ma- 
 chine. In 1849 the Mann harvester was brought out having a 
 series of endless bands for carrying the grain to the side of the 
 machine after it was cut. In 1858 the Marsh harvester was 
 used. The machine deposited the grain on the side but instead 
 of being bound by automatic machinery the sheaves were 
 bound by two men alternately who were carried upon the plat- 
 form upon the machine. "While several earlier attempts had 
 been made the first really automatic binder -was brought out in 
 1873. This was brought out by Walter A. "Wood and -was 
 invented by Sylvanus D. Locke of Janesville, "Wisconsin. 
 Marquis L. Gorham of Rockford, Illinois, built a successful 
 cord binder and had it at work in a harvest field in 1874. 
 It is stated that the, most ingenious inventors of the -world 
 have after twenty years failed to devise a better plan for 
 binding wheat than Gorham's, although it was slightly 
 improved in 1879 by John F. Appleby, and the knotter -which 
 is common to most self binders often spoken of as the Appleby 
 knotter although first invented by Gorham.* 
 
 At the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876 the auto- 
 matic grain binder was perhaps almost as great a curiosity at 
 that great show as the reaper had been at the first World's 
 Fair at London in 1851, although it perhaps attracted less atten- 
 tion. By 1880 the binder had become an accomplished fact 
 and an economic force little realized then and but imperfectly 
 understood now. Much of our political and financial history 
 since that time is traceable to the results produced by its intro- 
 duction. 
 
 Do you realize that every bundle of wheat that was bound in 
 the United States in 1870 had to be bound by hand? Do you 
 realize that if you subtract fifty years more, every straw that 
 ■was harvested had to be cut wifh no better implement than the 
 sickle ? 
 
 With a sickle a band-win of seven men could cut, bind, and 
 shock two acres a day or two sevenths of an acre each per day.} 
 By the machinery now in use in California it has been compu- 
 ted that "the products for three hundred days labor of one man 
 corresponding to a year's -work, has been in some seasons 
 over 15000 bushels of wheat." 
 'Scientific American. July 25, 1896. p, 74. 
 :{ Stephens Book of the Farm. Vol. II p, 331. 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 117 
 
 If the crop of 1898 had had to be harvested by the methods of 
 our Revolutionary fathers it would have required the services 
 of every man of military age in the United States for at least, 
 three weeks. Even if harvested by the method employed when 
 Andrew Jackson was President, it would take the entire popu- 
 lation a week. To have harvested the small grain crop of 1898 
 according to the methods of our Revolutionary fathers, every 
 minister, every lawyer, every physician, every merchant, every 
 manufacturer and every laborer in every city, between the 
 ages of eighteen and forty -five would have been required in 
 the harvest field. The vast population which could not have 
 existed, of Greater New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, 
 and every other city, village and hamlet must have been pour- 
 ed into the country. But how could they have been poured into 
 the country? Every railroad employe from President to track- 
 hand ; every engineer, conductor and brakeman ■would have 
 been in the harvest field. During harvest time, as of old, al 1 
 other -work of the nation would have to be suspended. 
 
 It has been asserted, and I think truthfully, that the issue of 
 the civil -war depended upon the invention of the reaper. No 
 less an authority than the Scientific American asserts that 
 close students of the political history of our country lay the 
 preservation of the Union to the fact that the reaper allowed 
 the gathering of the harvests and the progress and development 
 of the northwest to proceed during the time of the great ■war 
 between the states. . 
 
 But this is not all. Threshing eight to sixteen bushels of 
 wheat per day per man -with a flail -was considered a good 
 average. The present type of threshing machine was invented 
 in Scotland probably as early as 1785 by Andrew Meikle.ft§ 
 Earlier attempts had been along different lines. In 1732, Men- 
 zies tried a series of revolving flails and in 1758 Stirling tried a 
 cylinder -with arms upon a vertical shaft. Meikle's invention 
 consisted of the drum with flat beaters. The concave with 
 teeth, as well as the teeth upon the cylinder is an American in- 
 vention. As late as 1877 the English still adhered to the flat 
 beaters. 
 
 In the United States, threshing machines began to become 
 somewhat usual in 1825 and by 1840 were almost universally 
 used. 
 
 "When the threshing machine was first introduced into 
 
 Ohio in 1831, it -was not only a great curiosity but it was 
 
 stubbornly opposed by all farm laborers. "They claimed" says 
 
 Bateman "it as a right to thresh -with a flail and regarded the 
 
 ■(Tenth Census, Vol. Agr. p, 520 
 
 iMorton's Cyclopedia of Agriculture, Vol. II. p. 964. 
 
 gKnight's Mechanical Dictionary, p. 2556. 
 
118 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 introduction of machinery to effect the same object in a few- 
 days which would require their individual exertion during the 
 whole winter, not only as in innovation of a time-honored 
 custom, but as absolutely depriving them of the means of ob- 
 taining an honest livelihood. At a later date when a reaper 
 had been introduced into a field of ripe wheat as a matter of 
 experiment only, every one of the harvest hands deliberately 
 marched out of the field and told the proprietor that he might 
 secure his crop as best he could, that the threshing machine 
 had deprived them of their regular work twenty years ago and 
 now the reaper -would deprive them of the pittance they other- 
 wise could earn during harvest."}: How short sighted they 
 were. No class has gained so much from the introduction of 
 labor saving machines as did those who did the labor. The 
 reason we are so much better off today, the reason we have the 
 luxuries and comforts beyond the fondest dreams of former 
 generations, is due to the fact that the labor of each man has 
 been made so much more effective through these labor saving 
 devices. The humblest citizen shares in this improvement. 
 Not all share alike and not all share equitably, but each gener- 
 ation sees the race probably sharing more equitably than any 
 generation which preceded it. 
 
 The marvelous progress in wealth; in, bodily and home com- 
 forts; the great progress and diffusion of knowledge are subjects 
 of every day notice and ever recurring -wonder. Our grand- 
 children now know more at ten years of age of physics and 
 other sciences which contribute to the happiness and -well being 
 of the race than our grandparents did at seventy. 
 
 Our textile industries, our iron and steel industries, our hotels, 
 our newspapers, our railroads, our express companies, our 
 street railways, our bicycles, our postal service, the telegraph, 
 the telephone, the manifold and- ever increasing application of 
 steam and electricity to the arts and industries of life are the 
 outgrowth of our last century's progress. 
 
 In the year that Ohio -was admitted into the Union, there was 
 no state with one-fourth the present population of Ohio nor any 
 city one-fourth the size of Cincinnati. Chicago, which did not 
 then exist, contains over a million and a half of souls. New 
 York and Brooklyn combined did not then have a population 
 half the size of Columbus; while today Greater New York ranks 
 second only to London. But the growth in population has not 
 been confined to the "Western Hemisphere. "We love to talk of 
 our -wonderful growth in this country and we may be pardoned 
 for doing so, but let as remember that the increase in popula- 
 tion of Paris since Chicago was founded has been greater than 
 JM. B. Bateman. Ohio Agricultural Report. 1869. 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 119 
 
 the present 'total population of Chicago. Let us remember that 
 the increase in population in London in one hundred years has 
 been greater than the total population of Greater New York;. 
 Let us remember that there was but one city on the "Western 
 Hemisphere that had a population in 1890 equal to the increase 
 in population of Berlin since 1800. There must be some cause 
 for this marvelous growth of population and especially of our 
 great cities on both continents. 
 
 Agriculture is the basis of all prosperity. An abundant pro- 
 duction of the field is our richest inheritance. "The first ne- 
 cessity of mankind", says Atkinson, "is an abundant supply of 
 food material," which is strikingly illustrated by the fact that, 
 today, nearly half the service of the railroads consists in mov- 
 ing food materials. As surely as agriculture is The basis of all 
 prosperity, just so surely has the advancement in agriculture 
 been a factor in this wonderful Nineteenth Century's creation. 
 
 But more specifically what are the forces that have wrought 
 these changes. They are, of course, many, too many to be even 
 mentioned herb, but from the materialistic side a few of the 
 most obvious may be briefly stated: 
 
 First. The development of immense new and fresh fertile 
 tracts of land capable of easy tillage. 
 
 Second. The adding of new food products to the world's 
 dietary by which a pound of food could be produced from a less 
 area and with less labor. 
 
 Third. The application of improved machinery to the tillage 
 of the fields, the harvesting and transportation of the products, 
 by •which animal labor has replaced or lessened man's labor. 
 
 Fourth. By far the most significant fact is that the use of 
 iron has made it possible to harness coal and its laboring 
 daughters, oil and gas to the world's ■work.' What coal, oil, and 
 gas and animals do man does not need to do. 
 
 It is a fact -well understood by all scientists that most all 
 energy comes from the sun's rays, and that the usual method 
 of applying that energy is through the carbon that the plants 
 take out of the atmosphere under the influence of the sun's rays. 
 It is the animal's only source of energy. Now the only differ- 
 ence between the carbon in the crop of 1898 and that of the 
 coal in the mine or the oil or gas in the bowels of the earth is 
 that the latter is older. It -was not from the crop of 1898. It 
 ■was from a former crop. The date has been lost. It was stored 
 up awaiting the time when man should be developed to that 
 stage of enlightenment when he could make proper use of this 
 great and beneficent power. 
 
 "The domininion of peace, order and industry" says a promi- 
 nent writer 'Tests upon coal, iron and gunpowder." Recent 
 
120 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 events would, seem to indicate that gunpowder is the least of 
 them. Coal is king. 
 
 CONCLUSION. We have seen that were the crops of 1898 
 to be harvested as in the time 'of our Revolutionary fathers, 
 every able-bodied man of military age in».the United States 
 would be required to gather them. The forces I have described, 
 have made it possible for men and women to devote their lives 
 to art, music and literature whose energies were formerly re- 
 quired to produce sufficient food and raiment for mankind. 
 Growing two blades of grass -where but one grew before has 
 made it possible for men and women to spend the heated 
 season performing in roof gardens of cities, or in suburban parks 
 ■whereas formerly the husband labored in the harvest field for 
 some farmer at moderate wages, while the wife in the cabin 
 hard by toiled to prepare a humble meal. 
 
 Why this •wonderful development of railroads and other forms 
 of rapid transit? The forces I have mentioned have made it 
 possible for a portion of mankind to produce food and raiment 
 while a portion distributes it and mankind at the same time. 
 
 What is causing the marvelous growth of our cities ? In 1800 
 one person in twenty -five lived in cities in the United States. 
 Now about one person in three lives in towns of over 8000 in- 
 habitants. Why? Because they are no longer needed to till 
 the soil. Forty percent, of the population can raise food enough 
 for everybody in this country and at the same time furnish 
 three-fourths of our exports. Our fine public buildings, our 
 twenty-story business blocks, our magnificent theatres and ho- 
 tels, our palatial private residences are the results of these same 
 forces. 
 
 "Why has woman been brought to something like her proper 
 sphere? Because she has time for self education. Why do our 
 daughters fill the public school rooms? Because they are no 
 longer needed at the spinning wheel. A well known public 
 woman is reported to belong to thirty-two women's clubs. 
 How do women find opportunity to devote their time to this 
 ■work? Because men now make their raiments at one -hun- 
 dredth part the cost for labor required a century ago. 
 
 Why have we made sued, rapid advances in science ? It has 
 been made possible for men to devote their lives to this work 
 ■while other men in return furnish them with food, raiment and 
 shelter. Every discovery thus made tends to lessen the bur- 
 dens of mankind and thus pave the way for still greater 
 achievements. 
 
 In no former war, it is said, has the percentage of deaths to 
 •wounded been so small as at the battle of Santiago on account 
 of the wounds themselves. Not neglecting the Mauser bullet, 
 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 121 
 
 itself the product of improved mechanics, it may be confidently 
 asserted that it was principally due to the important discoveries 
 in surgery and the application of our increased knowledge in 
 the use of antiseptics. 
 
 In like manner the scientist has been of untold benefit to the 
 tillers of the soil. He has taught the farmer that his soil is not 
 only a storehouse but a laboratory. The principles of plant 
 growth and the action of plant food have been studied. The 
 discovery by the bacteriologist of beds of phosphates and of 
 potash by the chemist and the discovery of the action of bacteria 
 in conserving and adding to the nitrogen of the soil has not 
 only lengthened the ultimate period of life upon the globe, but 
 has added' directly to the prosperity of the farmer. 
 
 Modern guns mannedby Spanish ignorance and superstition 
 have gone to the bottom of the ocean, Modern guns cannot be 
 successfully operated by 15th century tars. Modern guns require 
 the highest education, training and skill of an American naval 
 soldier. Modern farming requires altogether a different kind 
 of education, training and skill than was required one hundred 
 years ago to make it successful. 
 
 Brainy as well as brawny farmers have made American 
 farming what it is. No considerable territory was ever sub- 
 dued and cultivated by such an intelligent, energetic body of 
 men as have tilled the farms of the United States for 250 years 
 or more. Their intelligence and their energy was a prime fac- 
 tor in grasping and developing the forces that for untold cen- 
 turies have awaited the hand of intelligent man, and their con- 
 tinued intelligence,skill and energy will ever be their country's 
 safeguard in material, political and moral affairs. 
 
 When America was discovered the Indian population of the 
 United States was about that of Cincinnati. It was all the pop- 
 ulation of that kind it would support. Under improved and 
 improving agriculture in the hands of educated men and wom- 
 en itis destined to support many hundred millions of happy and 
 prosperous people. It is destined to become in the hands of an 
 educated, intelligent, energetic people, the most prosperous the 
 most powerful and the most humane nation upon the face of 
 the globe. 
 
PART II. 
 
 RURAL ECONOMICS. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE FARMER'S CAPITAL. 
 
 At a former exercise, we considered the three essential ele- 
 ments of value, consisting of utility, effort and ownership. From 
 this triangle of value we saw that all wealth was the result of 
 ■work. We further found that work had certain fields of activ- 
 ity, that aside from personal and professional services, there 
 were three great fields of industry. The classification was 
 changes in substance or natural products; changes in form or 
 mechanical products and changes in place ■which gives rise to 
 an exchange of products. The first great field of activity, that 
 of the change of substance, was again subdivided into vital 
 and chemical products. It is labor expended on the first of 
 these that gives rise to agriculture. 
 
 Following Dr. Gregory's classification we found that besides 
 having three great fields, -work has three great factors. These 
 factors are nature's gifts, labor and capital. Inasmuch as cap- 
 ital is merely stored-up labor, we may treat labor and capital 
 as one for our purpose. 
 
 In the production of articles of value; or in considering the 
 economy of production, the farmer has two factors to consider; 
 the gifts of nature on the one hand and on the other the labor 
 and capital employed. Speaking broadly profit in farming as 
 well as wise and economical farm managements depends 
 upon natural and artificial conditions. Artificial conditions 
 are.population, civilization, markets, etc. Wise farm manage- 
 ment consists in adapting ourselves to these conditions and 
 also in leading in necessary changes. We should not try to 
 raise ■wool on fertile river bottoms nor corn on hill tops. 
 
 There are two creameries in Delaware County one at Sun- 
 bury and one at Lewis Center. Both plants ■were built by the 
 same firm, - doubtless under somewhat similar conditions. 
 The Sunbury creamery has proved a success; the Lewis Center 
 creamery a failure. I doubt not there are other reasons for the 
 success and failure than the one I am going to mention, but 
 this one is so obvious that any one who runs may read. 
 
 *The purpose of the three following chapters is to work out the problem in 
 farm management outlined in Appendix C. 
 
 12S 
 
RURAL ECONOMICS 123 
 
 The Sunbury region is hilly, naturally ■well drained, supports 
 good blue grass, but the soil is thin and relatively illy adapted 
 for the growth of cultivated crops. Manure and fertilizers are 
 absolutely essential to continued profitable cultivation. In the 
 Lewis Center region the land is more level; it is much improved 
 by tile drainage; the land is not especially adapted to blue 
 grass, but is an excellent grain and hay producing region. As 
 yet, fertilizers are not so essential to profitable cultivation. In 
 the one region, a large number of the farmers were dairymen 
 from necessity before the creamery was established; in the 
 other they were grain and hay producers from choice. This 
 latter fact is shown by the failure of the University to purchase 
 500 pounds of milk in this region within a year of the time the 
 factory closed. Doubtless the people could be educated in time 
 in the Lewis Center region to see the advantage of a creamery 
 and to patronize it sufficiently to make it a success, but it takes 
 something besides time with -which to pay dividends, as shown 
 by the fact that in this case, the stockholders not only lost the 
 money invested in the creamery, but some of them lost their 
 milk also. Be that as it may, however, the fact remains that 
 the creamery at Lewis Center is of much less advantage to its 
 patrons from purely natural causes than is the Sunbury 
 creamery. 
 
 Farming as a business is peculiar in being much more depend- 
 ent upon natural causes than arethe other great industries. This 
 does not need any proof, but the following yield in millions of 
 bushels of our three great cereals may help to impress this fact 
 upon us. 
 
 YIELD: 
 
 
 Wheat 
 
 Corn 
 
 Oats 
 
 Total 
 
 1889 
 
 491 
 
 2113 
 
 752 
 
 3346 
 
 1890 
 
 399 
 
 1490 
 
 524 
 
 2413 
 
 1891 
 
 611 
 
 2060 
 
 738 
 
 3409 
 
 1892 
 
 516 
 
 1628 
 
 661 
 
 2805 
 
 1893 
 
 396 
 
 1620 
 
 639 
 
 2655 
 
 No one needs to be told that these fluctuations are due to nat- 
 ural causes. The same farmers till as far as natural causes 
 ■would allow them the same kind of soil in precisely the 
 same way each year. There is some fluctuation in acreage 
 to be sure, but this is largely due to natural causes, but in any 
 case the total product is due most to the differences in yield 
 per acre, rather than differences in acres in wheat. For ex- 
 ample, the increase in acreage of -wheat from 1890 to 1891 -was 
 less four million acres, -which at the unprecedentedly high av- 
 erage of 15.5 bushels per acre produced an increase of 61,000,000 
 
124 RURAL ECONOMY 
 
 bushels, but the increaee in yield per acre during these years 
 was 4.2 bushels per acre, certainly the greatest fluctuation in 
 yield per acre known in recent years, or perhaps ever known. 
 This caused an increase of 168,000,000 bushels. 
 
 These broad facts are the controlling factors in farming as 
 well as of the prof oundest significance in the world of econom- 
 ics. 
 
 Let us suppose the manufacturer of shoes using exactly the 
 same factory and the same materials and employing the same 
 labor produced one year 400,000 pairs of shoes, the next year 
 600,000 pairs,the next 500,000 pairs and the next 400,000 pairs. 
 If manufacturing was done under any such conditions would 
 there not be a great change from present methods. 
 
 The manufacturer not only controls his output, but he has 
 much greater control over the cost of production. The manu- 
 facturer is also able to keep his capital employed. 
 
 There are artificial conditions which control the profit in 
 farming and the kind of farming to be pursued. 
 
 The sale of milk depends upon the distance from market. 
 Perhaps we may say that milk can not be profitably hauled 
 more than five miles, as this distance must be traversed at least 
 twice each day. Tobacco, however, may be profitably hauled 
 fifty miles to market, because the Maryland negro's wb ole crop 
 may be hauled on an ox-cart at a single trip. 
 
 Distance is no longer expressed in miles. A friend -wrote me 
 recently that it took two days and nights to cross the state of 
 Montana in their best express trains. In the same time one can 
 travel from New York to St. Paul or to Omaha. On November 
 1st 1894, the rate on wheat in bulk from Columbus, Ohio, to 
 New York City was 15 l-2cts per cwt. via the Pennsylvania R. 
 R. Co. On the same date the rate on -wheat from Chicago to 
 New York City was 7 1-2 cts per cwt. The rate from Duluth, 
 Minn., would, doubtless be about the same. The wheat farmer 
 of Northern Minnesota may therefore be nearer Liverpool than 
 his brother of Franklin County, Ohio. 
 
 The farmers of Ohio must compete -with the Northwestern 
 wheat raiser and the central western corn raiser at unequal 
 advantage. As a consequence -while land has been rising in 
 value in the west it has been sinking in value here. 
 
 "What is the remedy? Quit raising crops which feed a mar- 
 ket in Liverpool, and in their place raise crops -which are con- 
 sumed in Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, 
 Toledo, Springfield and other Ohio towns. No state in the union 
 has such a splendid home market. 
 
 I believe there was never a time when the outlook for intel- 
 ligent common sense farming is as good as now, and that over 
 
RURAL ECONOMICS. 
 
 125 
 
 no equal area are there so many chances to make use of know- 
 ledge and skill in farming profitably as in Ohio. Many farmers 
 in every region suffer from the lack of adapting themselves to 
 their surrounding. This is particularly true today in Ohio. 
 
 In what I say above I do not refer to money made from the 
 rise in the value of land. 
 
 FARMER'S CAPITAL. It is desirable at this point to discuss 
 the kinds and character of the farmer's capital. Man's capital 
 may be defined as the means he has of carrying on his busi- 
 ness. The following outline shows the way the farmer's capital 
 may be divided: 
 
 fFood 
 I Seeds 
 I Fertilizer 
 LAnimals 
 
 Farmer's Capital 
 
 Materials 
 
 The Plant 
 
 Farm 
 
 Teams 
 
 Tools 
 
 Buildings 
 
 Fences 
 
 Animals 
 
 [Food 
 Supplies 1 Money 
 
 The farmer's capital like the manufacturer's capital may be 
 divided into three parts, viz., the materials, the plant, and the 
 supplies. These divisions are not sharply defined and yet they 
 have a certain value. The materials are those things -which 
 are incorporated into the finished product. In a cotton factory 
 the raw cotton and the dyes used in making the cloth are ma- 
 terials. On the farm, seeds, fertilizers, animals which are to be 
 sold and food which is to be fed to animals which are to be 
 sold or whose products are to be sold, are materials. Substan- 
 ces which are used up in the manufacture of raw materials, al- 
 though not themselves incorporated into the finished products 
 are materials. In the cotton factory the oil and acid used are 
 materials. On the farm, straw used to bed milch cows may be 
 considered material. In the cotton factory -tools and machinery 
 used in the manufacture of cotton, all necessary buildings, and 
 the grounds necessary for the buildings and the carrying on of 
 the business of the factory, make the plant. On the farm the 
 plant consists of the farm itself, fences, buildings, machinery, 
 and tools, the plant also includes all animals used for labpr or 
 from which products are sold, all work horses, milch cows, 
 sheep kept for the production of -wool, or animals kept for 
 breeding purposes, are to be considered as a part of the plant. 
 Inasmuch as these animals may be sold at any time they may 
 
126 RURAL ECONOMICS. 
 
 be any moment considered, materials. Sheep kept both for 
 wool and mutton may be difficult to classify but should be 
 placed under materials if kept chiefly for the production of 
 mutton; under the plant if kept chiefly for the production of 
 wool and lambs. 
 
 The proprietor of a cotton factory must have supplies or its 
 equivalent in money upon which to live while he is manufac- 
 turing his cotton into cloth. All laborers must also have sup- 
 plies upon which they and their families can live or they must 
 be paid money for this purpose. In other -words the cotton 
 manufacturer must not only have the raw material and the 
 plant for the purpose of manufacturing the raw materials into 
 the finished product but he must have a surplus of money out 
 of which to pay workmen and out of ■which he himself may be 
 supported. 
 
 Supplies upon the farm consist of money to pay for labor to 
 support the farmer and his family and food or money to buy 
 food for his teams. The amount of capital to be invested in 
 supplies ■will depend somewhat upon the character of the busi- 
 ness. A man who starts out to make a specialty of breeding 
 horses or producing apples may need to bave capital for sup- 
 plies to cover three to six years. The man who makes butter 
 may only need to have capital for a week's supplies. If he sells 
 milk he may need capital for only one day's supplies and inas- 
 much as the laborer and the groceryman are willing to extend 
 at least twenty-four hours credit, he requires practically no 
 capital for supplies. 
 
 MISTAKES IN USE OF CAPITAL. A man in business should 
 make the best possible use of his capital. A banker keeps as 
 large a portion of his money at interest as he can with safety. 
 Farmers usually fail in this regard. In this country, especially, 
 the farmer's farm is usually a large part of his capital and parts 
 of it are often wasted either from lack of drainage, or not using 
 it to the best advantage, from having unnecessary fences, 
 and in other ways. If a man can by better cultivation get the 
 same crops from twenty acres that he is getting from twenty- 
 five acres, it may be that it would have been better to have let 
 the five acres lie idle. It is a question, of course, -whether the 
 cultivation put upon twenty -five acres -would not have brought 
 larger return if put upon the twenty. For example, assume that 
 the net income from an acre of wheat is four dollars per acre.. 
 If now, in place of a net income of four dollars per acre from 
 twenty -five acres -we get 'a net income of five dollars per acre 
 from the remaining twenty we have made the same profit. 
 
 Compare the folio-wing cases : In the first place suppose we 
 pay $3 per acre rent on twenty -five acres or $75 and that the 
 
RURAL ECONOMICS. 127 
 
 cost of raising and harvesting the wheat is $6 per acre or $150 
 making a total cost of $225. Let it be supposed that this 25 
 acres yield 15 bushels per acre which brings 70cts. per bushel 
 or a total of $262.50. "We thus have a net profit of $37 .50. In the 
 second instance suppose we pay three dollars per acre rent on 
 20 acres or $60 and that the cost of raising and harvesting the 
 wheat is $8 per acre or $160 making a total of $220. If this in- 
 creased expenditure for labor or fertilizer brings us twenty 
 bushels per acre, the total receipt at 70cts. per bushel will 
 be $280. We will thus have a net profit of $60 instead of $37.50. 
 "We would arrive at the same result if we paid $4 per acre 
 rent for land capable of raising 20 bushels per acre in place 
 of $3 rent for land capable of raising 15 bushels per acre and 
 would still have left a dollar per acre to expend in raising and 
 harvesting the wheat of the twenty acre field. 
 
 The amount of land wasted upon a 160 acre farm fenced into 
 twenty acre fields is an important item aside from the cost of 
 maintaining the fences. 
 
 Machines ■which are only used occasionaly do not pay as well 
 as those that are in more general use. Binders, for example, 
 are only used. a few days in the year, while the churn may be 
 used every day in the year. The average life of agricultural 
 machinery I deem to be not more than ten years. It may be 
 said, therefore, that interest on investment, wear and tear 
 amount to 16 per cent.on agricultural machinery. This on a self- 
 binder at $125 is $20 per year and on 100 acres is 20cts per acre; 
 on 50 acres the cost is 40cts. per acre. In other words it would 
 be cheaper for a man who has less than 50 acres of grain to cut 
 to rent a machine at 40cts. per acre rather than to own one, 
 provided he could get the machine when he wished it. Many 
 farmers are land poor; others are -machine poor. Similar illus- 
 trations may be made of livestock which do not make good use 
 of food consumed. One steer may be maintained at 5cts. per 
 day and make a gain of one pound daily. Another may be main- 
 tained at 7cts per day and make a gain of two pounds a day. 
 If -we assume that the steer sells at 4cts. a pound, in the first 
 case there is a loss of $3.65, a year; in the second case there is 
 a profit of an equal amount. It has not been unusual in the 
 past for cattle to sell in the Chicago Stock Yards at $100 apiece. 
 Cattle worth this price have been exhibited at the Fat Stock 
 Show, which were less than three years old. Plenty of other 
 cattle were sold in the market at the same age for $30. A little 
 money invested in pure bred bulls would largeljr prevent this 
 waste of capital. 
 
 Labor is another source of idle capital. Other things equal 
 the farm should be conducted in such a manner as to employ 
 
128 RURAL ECONOMICS. 
 
 men 300 days in the year. A farm may be so managed as only 
 to require the employment of laborers eight months in the year. 
 The laborer must live twelvemonths in the year, however, and 
 the farmer must on the average pay more per month for the 
 eight months than had he employed the man for twelve 
 months. Men who are employed for twelve months are better 
 men than those •who are only employed for eight months. They 
 lead more regular lives. If a man's farming is such that his 
 men lose thirty days in the year from bad weather he is losing, 
 at a dollar per day, the equivalent of the interest on $500 for 
 each man employed. Not all labor upon the farm is remunera- 
 tive; many things must be done upon the farm which cost 
 more than the profit involved. Manufacturing establishments 
 frequently run at a loss simply because they would lose still 
 more by stopping. It is frequently necessary on the farm to do 
 ■work which is not directly remunerative simply because the 
 loss ■would be still greater should the ■work not be done. "We 
 should plan, however, to have as little work of this kind as 
 possible and to correct this evil wherever possible. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 GRAIN FARMING. 
 
 One of the divisions into which agriculture is divided, is grain 
 farming. 
 
 Let us look at this under the following five heads: 
 
 1 . Its extent. 
 
 2. The causes for its development. 
 
 3. Its advantages. 
 
 4. Its disadvantages. 
 
 5. Cost and possible and probable profit per acre. 
 Inasmuch as all our knowledge is relative, we must get some 
 
 idea of the extent of the agriculture of our country as a whole 
 before we can properly appreciate the importance of grain 
 farming. The table (below) gives the total area in farms, the 
 number of farms, average size and percentage unimproved for 
 the United States and Subdivisions for 1850, 1880,1890. These 
 statistics are from the abstract of the 11th census. In collect- 
 ing these statistics no farm of less than three acres was enum- 
 erated unless at least $500 worth of products had been actually 
 sold from the same during the year preceding the census year. 
 The improved acreage includes all land once cultivated unless 
 afterward abandoned and all permanent meadows and pas- 
 tures, orchards and vineyards. 
 
 The total area in farms, number, average size, percentage 
 unimproved in the United States in 1890. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Total area farms 
 million acres 
 
 Number. 
 
 Average size. 
 
 Percentage 
 Unimproved. 
 
 ' 1890 ! 633 4,565,0001 137 j 43.6 
 
 The United States | 1880 i 536 i 4,009,000' 134 i 46.9 
 
 i 1850 ; 294 j 1,449,000| 803 | 61.5 
 ! 1890 i 63 i 659,000' 96 i 33.6 
 
 North Atlantic Division i 1880 ] 68 j 696,000! 98 ! 31.8 
 
 j 1850 i 55 ; 490,0001 113 | 38.4 
 ! 1890 1 100 ! 750,00()! 134 1 58.4 
 
 1 1860 j 93 ] 348,000! 376 ] 67.9 
 < 1890 ' 357 ! 1,934,000! 133 1 38.3 
 
 1 1850 | 63 1 438,000; 143 1 57.4 
 
 I 1890 j 156 ! l,087,000i 144 ! 57.6 
 South Central Division 1 1880 1 134 1 887,000' 151 1 63.7 
 
 ! 1850 | 78 ] 367,000i 391 [ 71.6 
 ' 1890 ! 47 ' 146,000! 334 ' 61.3 
 
 ; 1850 ! 6 1 7,000; 695 > 93.5 
 
 129 
 
130 RURAL ECONOMICS. 
 
 The unimproved area includes woodland and forests and 
 abandoned and also presumably swampy areas. Do not con- 
 tuse, however, tbe unimproved area in farms -with, the land 
 not in farms. We saw a few days ago that tbe land area of tbe 
 United States exclusive of Alaska was in round numbers 
 3,000,000 square miles or 1,900,000,000 acres. Tbe total area 
 in farms eitber unimproved or improved is 623,000,000. In 
 otber words, tbe total land botb improved and unimproved is 
 about one-tbird tbe total land surface. Tbe actual land farmed 
 under tbe ordinary acceptation of tbe term is about one-fifth 
 tbe land area. In 1880 about 29 per cent, of tbe land ■was in 
 farms and about 15 per cent, of it -was under cultivation. Tbe 
 land area of Obio is 26,000.000 acres. Tbe area owned in 
 farms 23,000,000; and tbe improved area 1 8,000,000 acres. 
 
 Tbe number of farms bave been more tban trebled in forty 
 years and bave increased in number 25 per cent, in tbe past de- 
 cade. Tbere were 9 farms in 1890 for every 8 in 1880. 
 
 In tbe different divisions into which the United States is di- 
 vided for census purposes, in forty years the greatest absolute 
 increase has been in tbe North Central Division while the 
 greatest relative increase has, of course, been in the Western 
 Division. 
 
 According to these returns, five per cent, or one farm in every 
 twenty has been abandoned in the North Atlantic States dur- 
 ing tbe past decade. Tbe decrease in acreage has been some- 
 what greater. 
 
 During tbe same time the number of farms in the South At- 
 lantic States increased about one-sixth. Tbere are now six 
 farms where ten years ago there were five. In the South Cen- 
 tral States tbere are five farms where ten years before tbere 
 were four farms. 
 
 What does this mean? May it not mean that farmers found 
 it both more pleasant and more profitable to raise 'watermel- 
 ons, onions, potatoes and peaches in Georgia than to raise corn 
 and rye on tbe hillsides of New Hampshire or to cut swale hay 
 in the ravines. A great many tears bave been shed by some 
 •writers from tbe fount of their pens over the abandoned farms 
 of New England. Has this been necessary ? Why is tbe na tion 
 interested in farming? Because it furnishes the necessary food, 
 clothing and shelter. Has there been a diminution of the food 
 supply on account of the abandoned farms? Does it indicate 
 an unhealthy condition of affairs when a buggy company 
 abandons an old shop in Chillicothe and builds a new factory 
 in Columbus, or does it indicate that the business has grown in 
 such a manner as to demand larger facilities ? 
 
RURAL ECONOMICS. 131 
 
 Doubtless the farmers of New England are not alone respon- 
 sible for the increase of the number of farms in the South At- 
 lantic States. Some have gone south; others have gone west on 
 to farms, -while still others and these in large numbers into 
 other business; but other men have taken their places, not in 
 New England but in the New South. 
 
 The quantity and development of the various cereals and hay- 
 crops in past forty years is shown in Appendix E. 
 
 CAUSES WHICH HAVE LED TO THE GREAT DEVELOP- 
 MENT OF GRAIN FARMING. 
 
 1. The possession of large areas of new land, consequently 
 cheap land which was tillable -with light machinery on a large 
 scale, and especially adapted to grain production. 
 
 The fact that the land is cheap makes but a small capital nec- 
 essary. The Californian who can make money raising eight 
 bushels of wheat per acre could not do so if his land -was -worth 
 $100 per acre. Neither could he do so if his land were not capa- 
 ble of tillage on a large scale by light and comparatively cheap 
 machinery. The climate of America is especially adapted to 
 raising grain of good quality and harvesting it cheaply. It is 
 important in this way rather than in producing large quanti- 
 ties. 
 
 2. Application of machinery of a high degree of perfection. 
 
 3. Railway and steamboat transportation, making it pos- 
 sible to market crops. Wheat can be sent from Columbus to 
 New York City as cheaply as by wagon twenty-five miles. 
 Flour can be shipped by freight from Akron to Columbus (about 
 100 miles) cheaper than it can be brought from the depot to 
 Tenth Avenue (2 miles). 
 
 4. Introduction of two new food plants into the food supply 
 of the -world; viz., Indian corn and potatoes. 
 
 5. Favorable laws. 
 
 6. Farming engaged in by an intelligent class of people. 
 
 ADVANTAGES OF GRAIN FARMING. 
 
 1. It requires small capital, land excepted. A man has been 
 able to get 160 acres of land with but little expense and with a 
 tew hundred dollars invested in teams and machinery could 
 put it into grain. The renter on a grain farm today has but 
 little capital invested in his farming. 
 
 2. Brings quick returns. Wheat may be sown in September 
 and sold in July. Corn may be planted in May and sold in No- 
 vember. Oats may be planted in April and sold in August. 
 It takes from three to seven years to realize on a horse. 
 
132 RURAL ECONOMICS. 
 
 3. Products are in constant demand, and hence they always 
 find a market. 
 
 4. The products are not perishable and hence can be held in- 
 definitely. 
 
 OBJECTIONS TO GRAIN FARMING. 
 
 1. It exhausts the soil. 
 
 About two-thirds of the wheat of the United States is con- 
 sumed outside the county in which it is raised. We ship 100,- 
 000,000 bushels to Europe annually. We rejoice when we are 
 able to ship 200,000,000 bushels to Europe, but we are de- 
 pleting our soil by doing it. 
 
 The history of American agriculture has been a history of 
 soil depletion. As fast as we have taken the virgin freshness 
 off the land we have moved to new fields. "We have been 
 pushing westward until today there is hardly any west left. It 
 probably has been economically wise to do this in the past, but 
 the time has come when the practice must stop. 
 
 2. It requires a large quantity of land to produce an income- 
 Hence land must be cheap or interest on money invested in 
 lands -will destroy profits. This may be shown by comparing 
 an acre of potatoes or tobacco with an acre of wheat. The av- 
 erage gross income during past decade was from an acre of 
 corn, $9.50; an acre of potatoes, $38; and an acre of tobacco, 
 $61.50. 
 
 3. Only a part of the land can be used, such a part of it as is 
 suitable for tillage crops. 
 
 4. Marketing products requires the transportation of bulky 
 products. The distance you can ship a product depends some- 
 what on the price per pound. If it cost one cent a pound to ship 
 products to a given market you could not ship Indian corn, but 
 it would not prevent you from shipping butter. 
 
 If you live ten miles from a railway station marketing $2,000 
 worth of corn would be a considerable item, but the corn turned 
 into pork or beef could be taken to market in five hours by a 
 man and a boy. 
 
 This fact is -well illustrated by the fact that five-sixths of the 
 corn of the United States is consumed in the county in which it 
 is raised. 
 
 5. Capital must lie idle. 
 
 The self binder and the hay rake are only used a few weeks 
 or in some cases a few days. A churn may be used every day 
 in the year. 
 
 6. Labor can only be used during a portion of the year. A 
 man would sooner work twelve months at $25 per month, than 
 8 months at $30 per month. Men employed steadily are better 
 men. 
 
RURAL ECONOMICS. 133 
 
 7. Too much, depends upon natural forces and there is not 
 enough scope for skill. Skill means the capacity to do some- 
 thing difficult. The more effort required to produce an object 
 the more value it has so long as its utility is unlimited. The 
 farming that requires the most skill pays the best if you have 
 the skill to apply to it. 
 
 TRUCK FARMING. 
 
 It may be well by way of contrast to consider briefly truck 
 farming. Truck farming is distinct from market gardening in 
 the sense that the former is carried on at a distance fr'om market 
 and requires railway or water transportation and commission 
 merchants, while the latter is conducted near local markets, 
 the grower using his own teams and usually being his own 
 salesman. It is also distinct from fruit raising whether near 
 or distant from market. The census for 1890 makes a report 
 upon this branch of horticulture, under the direction of J. 
 H. Hale. 
 
 About one-half million acres is devoted to this line of farm- 
 ing or less than is devoted to the culture of tobacco. In 1889 
 about $100,000,000 were invested in truck farming, the prod- 
 ucts brought $72,000,000 or about three-fourths of the capi- 
 tal and the business employed about a quarter million persons. 
 This does not include Irish or sweet potatoes or onions raised 
 as ordinary farm crops. Three-fourths of this truck farming is 
 carried on east of a line between Augusta, Maine, and Macon, 
 Georgia, along the lines of the railways from New Orleans lead- 
 ing to Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City and in the celery 
 districts of Michigan and Ohio. This business has been brought 
 about since I860 by the growth of large cities -which require 
 large supplies of a given quantity which can be raised more 
 cheaply in some favored locality than locally. Watermelons 
 and sweet potatoes can be raised in the Southern States and 
 laid down in New York City or Boston more cheaply than they 
 can be raised in suburbs of these cities and, what is equally as 
 important, are of superior quality. The extension of railway 
 facilities has made it possible to grow products in one climate 
 for the markets of another. I have eaten strawberries on the 
 first day of December which were grown in Mississippi. The 
 Chicago market begins to receive strawberries, cabbages and 
 tomatoes during the winter from the southern border of the 
 United States and she continues to receive these products until 
 finally they are being shipped from Northern Michigan and 
 "Wisconsin. It is estimated that the belt from which these 
 products come travels northward about thirteen miles per day. 
 
 The advantages of truck farming as compared with general 
 farming may be stated as follows: 
 
134 RURAL ECONOMICS. 
 
 1. A large gross income per acre. 
 
 2. A large chance for skill in preparing products for market 
 and. in judging and choosing the best markets. 
 
 The disadvantages may be stated as follows: -- 
 
 1. Requires considerable capital in the way of tools, teams 
 and labor. 
 
 2. The market is somewhat uncertain as it is comparatively 
 easily flooded. 
 
 3. The products are perishable. 
 
 4. The crops are somewhat uncertain and where a large 
 capital is invested in labor a failure may involve a man in fi- 
 nancial ruin. 
 
 5. Labor can only be used a portion of the year. 
 
 6. Truck farming can only be successful where both natural 
 and artificial conditions are favorable, as soil, climate and 
 transportation. 
 
 The following statement based upon the report of the census 
 for 1890 shows the capital invested in the plant in truck farm- 
 ing as compared with general farming together with the value 
 of the producer- 
 Value of capital per acre invested in the Plant in Truck Farm- 
 ing and in General Farming as shown by census of 1890. 
 
 
 Truck. 
 
 General. 
 
 Farms, including land, fences and 
 
 
 
 buildings, 
 
 $167.00 
 
 $21.31 
 
 Value of farm implements, 
 
 16.80 
 
 0.79 
 
 Value of livestock, 
 
 14.20 
 
 3.55 
 
 Total 
 
 198.00 
 
 25.65 
 
 Value of produce, 
 
 143.25 
 
 3.92 
 
 Per cent, of produce for capital in 
 
 plant, 72 per 
 
 ct. 15 per ct. 
 
 In truck farming the cost of labor is about $18 per acre and 
 the fertilizers about the same amount while the cost of seeds is 
 about $3. The cost for labor to raise and harvest an acre of 
 wheat is probably not far from $5 and the cost for seed about $1. 
 
 FARM LABOR. 
 
 Before taking up the question of the cost of producing farm 
 crops it will be desirable to discuss briefly wages paid for farm 
 labor. 
 
 Nine investigations into the rate of wages for farm labor 
 have been made by the United States Department of Agricul- 
 ture between 1866 and 1892 inclusive. (XJ. S. Dept. of Agricul- 
 ture, Division of Statistics, Miscellaneous Series, Report No. 4.) 
 Speaking generally the highest rate of wages was in 1866, the 
 lowest was in 1879 and between 1882 and 1892 the rate has 
 
RURAL ECONOMICS. 135 
 
 been fairly uniform and about 15 per cent, higher than in 1879. 
 
 Extensive inquiries concerning wages from 1840to 1865 show 
 that the rate of -wages in 1892 was fully twice that of 50 years 
 previous. While the rate of wages has increased somewhat 
 since 1879, farmers receive somewhat less price for the staple 
 soil products. 
 
 For our purpose we will consider the wages received without 
 board, it being immaterial to our discussion 'whether the farm- 
 er pays his workman in money or in food and lodging. The 
 average -wages without board per month for the United States 
 was in 1866, $26.87, 1879 it was $16.05 and in 1892 it was 
 $18.60. The rate of wages in the southern states -which is 
 largely to colored labor is about 60 per cent, of the rate prevail- 
 ing in other sections. If -we omit the southern states the rate 
 of wages paid in the other states or that substantially paid for 
 farm labor to whites was $29.41 in 1866, $20.35 in 1879, and 
 $23.50 in 1892. The day -wages for ordinary farm labor for the 
 United States was $1.49 in 1866, 81c in 1879 and 92c in 1892. 
 The day wages in harvest was $2.20 in 1866, 1.30 in 1879 and 
 $1.30 in 1892. The average monthly -wages of farm labor in 
 Ohio was $28.46 in 1866, 20.72 in 1879 and $22.63 in 1892. 
 The day -wages for ordinary farm labor in Ohio -was $1.54 in 
 1866, $1.00 in 1879 and $1.10 in 1892. Day wages in harvest 
 in Ohio was $2.10 in 1866, $1.49 in 1879 and $1.50 in 1892. 
 
 According to the figures given, the rate of farm -wages per an- 
 num in 1892 -was $282 for the United States. The average of 
 other countries cannot be authoritatively stated but is estimated 
 in the report referred to as follows: Great Britain $150; France 
 $125; Holland, $100; Germany, $90; Russia, $60; Italy, $40; and 
 India, $30. This report adds, referring to American -wages, 
 "The present rate can only be maintained by keeping up the 
 fertility of the soil, utilizing the best results of invention and 
 skill in implements and machinery, advancing the status of 
 practical agriculture, supplying all domestic demands for all 
 required products and seeking foreign markets for the surplus.,, 
 
 COST PER ACRE. 
 
 The cost of growing crops, especially the cost of producing a 
 bushel of -wheat or a bushel of corn has been the subject of con- 
 siderable discussion during recent years. Neither counting 
 rent of land or interest on the capital invested, nor depreciation 
 of soil fertility, it has been shown that under favorable con- 
 ditions -wheat may be grown and harvested at four and one- 
 half dollars per acre and corn at five dollars per acre. This is 
 practically the labor cost for men and teams under the most 
 favorable conditions. At the average yield of 12.1 bushels of 
 
136 
 
 RURAL ECONOMICS. 
 
 wlieat per acre, this would make the labor cost of producing a 
 bushel of wheat about 37cts. At the average yield of 24.1 
 bushels of corn, per acre, the labor cost of producing a bushel of 
 corn -would be about 21 cents. In these cases no allowance is 
 made for straw or stover. 
 
 How much of the difference between these figures and the 
 price for -which they can be sold; how much must be charged 
 to interests on the investment in land, stock, and machinery; 
 how much must be charged to depreciation of fertility of land, 
 to depreciation of stock and machinery, and how much may 
 be estimated as profit, even approximate figures cannot be safe- 
 ly given. 
 
 "With good land and good farm methods much larger yields 
 may be obtained. In many cases even double the average yields 
 given above are obtained at only slightly increased labor cost; 
 thus largely reducing labor cost per bushel. In general the 
 average income per acre from a crop for a series of years -will 
 closely approximate the labor cost, the interest on investment, 
 depreciation of capital and reasonable compensation to farmer. 
 Figures for a given country may be somewhat above or below 
 the cost of theee items, where, like in the case of wheat, the 
 product must compete in the -world's market with other coun- 
 tries but -will be more nearly correct for a country which enjoys 
 a monopoly of aproduct,or nearly so as in the case of corn in the 
 United States, or -where on account of cost of production, trans- 
 portation, etc., the product has no competition, as in case of po- 
 tatoes in this country. For this reason the folio-wing table show- 
 ing the value per acre including yield per acre and price per 
 bushel, ton or pound in the United States will be of interest. 
 These figures are for the decade ending 1 889. For present de- 
 cade the aggregate values -will probably be somewhat lowered. 
 
 Corn 
 
 Wheat... 
 
 Oats 
 
 Barley 
 
 Bye 
 
 Hay 
 
 Potatoes . 
 Tobacco . . 
 
 Yield 
 per Acre 
 
 34.1 
 13.1 
 26.6 
 33.0 
 13.0 
 
 1.3 * 
 76.0 
 735.0 t 
 
 0.39 
 0.83 
 0.31 
 0.S9 
 0.63 
 9.35 
 .50 
 .08-% f 
 
 Value 
 per Acre 
 
 9.48 
 10.00 
 
 8.33 
 13.79 
 
 7.44 
 11.10 
 38.00 
 61.50 
 
 * Ton 
 
 f Pound. 
 
RURAL ECONOMICS. 137 
 
 To help the student in calculating the cost of producing crops 
 the following records of actual time required to perform several 
 farm operations is given. A field of eighteen acres of fertile, 
 easily tilled land in Union County was put in corn is 1898 
 under the supervision of Mr. Frank Ruhlen, a graduate of the 
 Ohio State University. The following is his report; 
 
 Plowing 7 1 -2 days at $2 00, . . $15.00 
 
 Harrowing, 3 days at 2.00, . . 6.00 
 
 Planting, 2 days at 2.00, . . 4.00 
 
 Cultivatiug four times, 7 days at $2.00 1 4.00 
 
 Cutting with harvester 6 days at $1 .00 6.00 
 
 Husking and cribbing by the job, 45.54 
 
 Total wages $90.54 
 
 Seed corn, 70 quarts, ... 1 .00 
 
 Taxes, . . •. 2.48 
 
 Estimated cost of board 26 1-2 days, 7.95 
 Estimated team maintenance, 26 1-2 days 4.90 
 
 Total cost . . 106.87 
 
 Value of fodder 20.70 
 
 Net cost $ 86.17 
 
 The price paid for labor was two dollars per day for man and 
 team, board and feed furnished by the grower, and one dollar 
 per day in cutting, horse furnished by grower. As stated 
 above these figures are given chiefly as a basis for other cal- 
 culations, but taking the price as given the total cost per acre 
 of raising and harvesting the corn crop was $5.94, exclusive of 
 interest on investment, or depreciation of capital. 
 
 The labor cost per acre of farming a given area of land will 
 depend among other things upon the character of the land, 
 the kind of crops raised, and the succession or rotation of crops. 
 The character of the land and the rotation of crops may be 
 such, for example, as to require plowing land three years in 
 four, two in four or one in three. 
 
 In 1 89 1 , in connection with my class in rural economics and 
 the tenant himself, I made a careful estimate of the cost of pro- 
 ducing the crops on a tenant farm of 1 30 acres in central Penn- 
 sylvania, the rotation being corn, oats, wheat and clover. 
 The land was a stiff clay and required plowing for each crop, 
 except the hay crop. The land was practically all under the 
 plow, and the stock which was kept was pastured elsewhere, 
 hence it was comparatively easy to estimate fairly the capital 
 employed in'operating this farm. Interest on capital was thus 
 calculated at $1 .45 per acre. The cost of man and team includ- 
 ing their board and keep was estimated at two dollars per day. 
 
138 RURAL ECONOMICS. 
 
 Knowing this, the amount of time required to perform each 
 operation can be calculated. 
 
 Estimated cost per acre of producing farm crops in Central 
 Pennsylvania: * 
 
 
 Corn 
 
 Oats ! Wheat j Grass 
 
 Capital per A 
 
 SI 45 
 
 a oo 
 
 60 
 30 
 15 
 
 SI 45 ! 81 45 ! SI 45 
 
 Plowing 
 
 Harrowing, 3 times 
 
 Drilling 
 
 Seed 
 
 a oo ; a oo | 
 
 60 ; 60 | 15 1 
 
 80 1 50 1 1 15 
 
 Harvesting 
 
 60 ! 60 50 
 
 Twine 
 
 as I as ! 
 
 Stacking 
 
 50 50 i so 
 
 Threshing 
 
 Cultivating, 4 times .... 
 
 
 1 00 
 
 1 00 
 
 1 60 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 Cribbing 
 
 
 
 
 
 *8 60 
 
 S7 60 j S8 30 t S3 75 
 
 * The student should compare this table with figures given in Report of the 
 Ohio State Board of Agriculture for 1890 and Report of United States Depart- 
 ment of agriculture for 1893 
 t Rolling. 
 
 Omitting interest on capital and cost of seed and twine the 
 labor cost was, corn $7.00, wheat and oats, each $5.10 and hay 
 $2.60, or an average of $4.90 per acre. In this case the land 
 had to be plowed for oats and the seed -was sown, ■with a drill. 
 In this soil, plowing one acre was considered a good day's 
 work. In many cases, oats are sown broadcast on corn stubble 
 without plowing, ■which -would reduce the cost per acre for 
 oats, at least, one dollar and a half. In many soils, two acres 
 per day is fair day's work. This -would reduce the labor cost 
 of producing both corn and -wheat at prices for labor given, 
 each one dollar per acre. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 ANIMAL HUSBANDRY. 
 
 PURPOSES AND ADVANTAGES OF KEEPING 
 LIVESTOCK. 
 
 Plant cu.lty.re furnishes food, clothing, and, including forestry , 
 shelter. In addition to these animals furnish labor. We have 
 already emphasized the value of successful agriculture. It may 
 be added that in this country the communities that have given 
 the most attention to livestock have in general been the most 
 prosperous. The folio-wing reasons may be given for the indi- 
 vidual farmers keeping livestock upon the farm:— 
 
 1 . They furnish labor and food upon the farm. It is undoubt- 
 edly cheaper to. use animal food raised upon the farm than to 
 buy it at meat shops. The number of acres of land that can be 
 cultivated by each horse will manifestly depend upon the 
 character of the farming and the character of the soil and the 
 topography of the land. In England it is estimated that two 
 horses will cultivate 80 acres of light or sandy soil, and 60 
 acres of heavy or clay soil. The total number of horses, asses 
 and mules in the United States in 1890 was approximately 
 17,000,000. As about 2,000,000 horses and mules are foaled 
 annually there are not more than 1 1 ,000,000 horses of work- 
 ing age upon the farms. As there are 358,000,000 acres of im- 
 proved land in the United States we have one horse of ■working 
 age for about each 33 acres of improved land. 
 
 2. Animals make use of land that would be otherwise 
 wholly or partly unproductive, such, for example, is land next 
 streams, land partially covered with trees, land too hilly or 
 stony to cultivate, and fence rows. 
 
 3. They make use of farm products which would be -wholly 
 or partly wasted. Such are cornstalks and straw. Even clover 
 hay wuold not have value enough to pay for raising if -we did 
 not have livestock. 
 
 4. They act as machines for manufacturing raw materials 
 which are coarse and bulky into finished products ■which are 
 more valuable and more concentraLed. It takes ten pounds of 
 dry matter to produce a pound of beef, and thirty pounds of dry 
 matter to produce a pound of butter. The farmer not only has 
 the profit that comes through the manufacturing of this thirty 
 pounds of raw material into one pound of butter, while the but- 
 ter may be sent a thousand miles to market ■when it would not 
 be profitable to ship the products from which the butter is 
 made ten miles. 
 
 139 
 
140 RURAL ECONOMICS. 
 
 5. In manufacturing these finer products they leave much 
 fertilizing matter upon the farm. In fattening animals the ex- 
 periments of Lawes and Gilbert snow conclusively that more 
 than nine pounds out of every ten of the essential fertilizing in- 
 gredients of the food reappear in the solid and liquid excrement. 
 
 A Flemish proverb reads: ,,No grass no cattle, no cattle no 
 manure, no manure no crops." Or as Prothero says, "Farming 
 in a circle unlike logic is a productive process." 
 
 6. Livestock enables a farmer to arrange more readily a good 
 rotation of crops. So far as maintaining the fertility of the soil 
 is concerned and reducing the cost of production, a five course 
 rotation is better than a four course, and a six course is better 
 than a five course. It enables the farmer to keep a larger pro- 
 portion of his land in grass and clover thus requiring less 
 plowing and enables him to keep each piece of land longer in 
 grass and clover and thus "reduce the exhaustion of his land 
 provided these products are fed to livestock upon the farm. 
 
 7. .They enable the farmer to make a more constant use of 
 his capital. The wheat farmer of North Dakota sows his 
 wheat in April and May and harvests and threshes it in July 
 and August and is practically without employment for him- 
 self, his men or his teams from September 1 st to April 1 st. 
 ■Where livestock is kept the labor that is used in the summer 
 to raise crops is needed in the winter to care for the animals. 
 The farmer also makes use of his teams and his wagons in the 
 winter time in caring for stock. 
 
 8. With certain kinds of farming as grazing, more land can 
 be farmed with the same labor than -with grain farming. 
 Eighty acres of land can be grazed at less expense for labor 
 than if cultivated. This is not of itself necessarily an advant- 
 age but it may be under certain circumstances. We found in 
 the discussion of mediaeval agriculture of Great Britain that 
 the War of the Roses so reduced the laboring population of 
 Great Britain as to cause a revolution in the agriculture of the 
 island, the raising of livestock taking the place of grain farm- 
 ing, that the land was enclosed and that in consequence the 
 communal use of land largely if not wholly disappeared. 
 
 9. The management of livestock and the manipulation of 
 dairy products may be made to require higher skill than ordin- 
 ary plant growing. The product of skilled ■workmen always 
 command higher -wages than that of unskilled -workmen. 
 
 The following are some of the disadvantages of keeping 
 livestock: 
 
 1. It requires large capital invested in stock. This is especi- 
 ally true when animals are kept, as is usual, in connection 
 
RURAL ECONOMICS. 141 
 
 with grain farming. On a 130 acre farm, 30 head of cattle 
 worth $750 and 40 nead of sheep wortb $200 and 20 nogs 
 worth $100 may be kept and the farm -will raise the necessary- 
 food for them. This would virtually increase the capital re- 
 quired $1 050 and almost the same other capital -would be re- 
 quired as -with grain farming. If we were to raisg only the 
 coarse feed for stock and were to buy the necessary grain the 
 farm might easily carry $3250 -worth of livestock or $25.00 
 per acre. 
 
 2. This livestock capital is of a very perishable nature. Not 
 only the products of the year, but all the capital may be de- 
 stroyed by disease. We sometimes lose a crop of -wheat, but 
 ■with livestock we may not only lose several crops but -we may 
 lose the capital invested in producing these crops -which has 
 been the accumulation of years. Tuberculosis in cattle, cholera 
 in hogs, the liverrot in sheep, are good examples. Formerly 
 many farmers kept 100 hogs -where now they only keep 25 or 
 50 head because they dare not take the risk of disease. 
 
 3. Products when grown can not be indefinitely held. If 
 held for a better market must be held at an expense. 
 
 4. A scarcity of food and consequent rise in price may cause 
 a loss instead of a gain from feeding. The crop of 1890 is a good 
 illustration of this fact. A decrease of about 30 per cent, in the 
 yield of corn caused an increase in price of over 50 per cent., so 
 that if the crop could have been sold it -would have brought 
 more than the previous year. Many thoughtless people assert- 
 ed that the farmers had been benefited by the short crop of 
 1890. The fact is that only about one-sixth of the average crop 
 gets beyond the county in which it is produced. Naturally, 
 therefore, -when there was a decrease in the crop, not of one-sixth, 
 but of one-thiid there -was very little corn for sale even at the 
 advanced price. Many farmers not only had no corn to sell but 
 they had to purchase corn or use other crops such as oats which 
 they would other-wise have sold. 
 
 5. A disadvantage in this locality in raising certain kinds of 
 livestock is that it is necessary to compete in prices with live- 
 stock raised on ranges with but little labor and practically no 
 other investment than the stock themselves or to compete with 
 livestock raised on farms west of the Mississippi where corn, 
 oats, and hay are relatively much cheaper. Much of the surplus 
 stock must find a market on the Atlantic seaboard either for 
 consumption or for export, and the livestock can be shipped 
 more economically than the bulky products. There are some 
 apparent exceptions however to this rule. In New England, 
 farmers prosper in producing one of the most concentrated farm 
 
142 RURAL ECONOMICS. 
 
 products, viz., butter. As we have seen, much of this land is 
 better adapted for pasture and for hay than for grain production. 
 Nevertheless much butter is made with corn and mill stuff 
 which have been shipped from the west. Doubtless two other 
 factors tend to produce this character of farming in the New 
 England States, viz., absolute necessity of fertilizers to pro- 
 ductive agriculture in this section and the higher price received 
 for the butter above that obtained through the ordinary com- 
 mercial channels. Tne agriculture of Great Britain also fur- 
 nishes us -with a similar illustration. The importation of cheap 
 ■wheat into Great Britain has caused the farmers of Great 
 Britain since 1866 to reduce their grain crops, increase their 
 permanent pastures and hay crops and to increase the pro- 
 duction of livestock. In 1866 about one acre out of every three 
 of farm land was in grain crops, ■while in 1887 only one acre in 
 four ■was in grain crops. During the same period there was a 
 marked increase in the number of cattle and sheep, a slight in- 
 crease in horses, and a slight decrease in swine. Counting five 
 sheep for each cow or horse there were in Great Britain in 1887 
 12,000,000 units on 32,000,000 acres of farm land or one unit 
 for each 2 1-2. acres. 
 
 We had in the United States in 1890 on the same basis 
 78,000,000 units for 358,000,000 acres of improved land, or 
 something less than one unit for each five acres of land. In 
 this estimate we take no account of the land of the western 
 ranches ; on the other hand we have not considered the swine 
 of ■which we raised a much larger proportion than Great 
 Britain. These illustrations the Ohio farmer may well con- 
 sider. 
 
 COST OF PRODUCING LIVESTOCK. 
 
 As hogs may be fattened readily upon corn alone, the cost 
 of producing a pound of increase is more easily determined than 
 with other classes of animals. In an economic way the hog 
 differs from other domesticated animals in being produced for 
 food alone and on account of being fed upon concentrated and 
 relatively high priced foods. On the other hand hogs are val- 
 uable in using up products which would other-wise be •wasted. 
 The American porker like the Irish pig is a scavenger although 
 in a less marked degree. Hogs are essential to profitable cattle 
 feeding as at present conducted and in many cases to success- 
 ful dairying. They not only obtain a large amount of food out 
 of the droppings of animals but in practice they improve the 
 condition of the manure pile. Many cattle are fed without 
 profit, the profit being made upon the hogs. In an experiment 
 at the Illinois station during two seasons two pigs weighing 
 from 125 to 150 pounds followed three steers or heifers on a 
 
RURAL ECONOMICS. 143 
 
 two acre pasture. The cattle were fed shelled corn liberally 
 but the pigs were givan none. The pigs made a gain of a little 
 more than a half pound per day and when subsequently put on 
 full feed made" in one trial a gain of nearly 17 pounds for one 
 bushel of corn. In general it may be stated that 500 pounds of 
 shelled corn •will produce 100 pounds increase. This is about 
 eleven pounds of pork per bushel. Feeders usually consider 
 ten pounds of pork per bushel a satisfactory gain. At this rate 
 if corn is worth 50cts a bushel the food required to produce a 
 pound of increase would be 5cts, if 40cts a bushel 4cts, if 30cts 
 per bushel 3cts. and so on. In swine raising there are four 
 items of expense, food, shelter, labor and capital invested, The 
 capital invested in hogs is less than other stock. Sixteen to 
 twenty hogs, worth from $100 to $150 are sufficient to pro- 
 duce 100 pigs It would take 75 ewes worth $400 to $600 
 to produce as many lambs. It should be noted, however, on 
 the other hand that the ewes are producing a crop of wool. It 
 would take at least lOO cows worth $3000 to produce lOO 
 calves. The cows, however, may be paying for their cost by 
 the milk -which they produce. It would take 200 mares, at the 
 extremely low figure of $50 per head -worth $ 10,000, to pro- 
 duce lOO colts. The labor which the horses furnish may jus- 
 tify this expense. 
 
 My purpose here is simply to suggest how many sided the 
 problem of keeping various classes of domesticated animals is 
 from an economic standpoint. Experiments made at 'Wiscon- 
 sin Station seem to indicate that in view of the less expensive 
 character of the food eaten, lambs and sheep cost less 
 per pound to produce than pigs and hogs. Similar ex- 
 periments indicate that sheep cost less per pound to produce 
 than steers. This agrees -with the extended experiments of 
 Lawes and Gilbert -which indicate that lOO pounds of dry mat- 
 ter -will produce eleven pounds of increase in sheep and nine 
 pounds increase in cattle. It may be repeated here that Amer- 
 ican feeding experiments indicate as shown by Thome that lOO 
 pounds of dry matter produce ten pounds increase and that 
 the same amount of dry matter produced 74 pounds of milk 
 plus one pound of increase and the milk contained 3 1-4 pounds 
 of butter fat. In other -words the food that is required to pro- 
 duce one pound of butter will approximately produce three 
 pounds of beef. 'When steers can be raised for 3cts per pound | 
 the food necessary to produce a pound of butter -will cost nine 
 cents. When butter sells for 18cts as compared -with beef at 
 3cts, one half the income is left to be paid for labor in milking 
 and manufacturing the milk into butter. This is comparative- 
 ly speaking skilled labor. The gross income for a given area 
 
 ♦Ohio Agricultural Report, 1893, page 326. 
 
144 RURAL ECONOMICS. 
 
 of land, is doubled by butter making as compared with, beef rais- 
 ing. This gives opportunity for a larger margin of profit. 
 
 COST OF MAINTAINING "WORK HORSES. 
 
 The cost of maintaining work horses depends somewhat upon 
 ihe size of the horses but rather more upon the amount and 
 character of the work performed. Horses doing a moderate 
 amount of work, or doing slow work may be fed more bulky 
 and generally less expensive foods. The amount of food 'will 
 vary considerably with the severity of the •work. In a general 
 way it may be said that the grain may vary from twelve to 
 eighteen pounds per horse per day depending upon the size of 
 the horse and the severity of the 'work, and, from ten to twelve 
 pounds of hay. The expense of a horse for each day's labor per- 
 formed, manifestly not only depends upon the annual cost of 
 keeping the horse, but also upon the number of days labor the 
 horse performs annually. A record 'was kept at the Ohio State 
 "University farm in order to determine some of these questions. 
 It was found that four draft horses averaging a little less than 
 1400 pounds each performed 2185 hours of labor per year, or 
 nearly 220 days and that four horses -weighing 1225 pounds 
 averaged 1641 hours or 164 days. The average work done for 
 the eight horses was about 200 days per horse or about two- 
 thirds of the secular days of the year. Taking no account of 
 3 colts, one 2-year old, and two sucklings, it ■was found that the 
 average cost of care including feeding, grooming, harnessing 
 and cleaning stables was $23.50. The cost of shoeing, repairs 
 on harness and stable supplies $6.50 and the cost of food $54 
 making an average total expense of keeping each horse $84 
 per year. As each horse worked a little more than 200 days 
 per year, the average cost for each days work done was a 
 trifle less than 42cts. This estimate does not include interest 
 on cost of stable, horses or harness nor anything for deprecia- 
 tion of horses through age. It is possible that under ordinary 
 conditions the growth of the three colts may more than 
 cover the latter point. 
 
 It is sometimes important to be able to estimate the amount 
 of food which it will take to carry livestock until the new crop 
 arrives, in order that advantage may be taken of good markets 
 in disposing of the surpius. 
 
 In a general 'way it may be said to take 25 pounds of dry 
 matter per day per 1000 pounds weight for horses, cattle and 
 sheep, while 40 pounds per day per 1000 pounds live weight 
 may be be taken as the maximum amount of dry matter re- 
 quired for swine. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 
 The History of Agriculture -will be treated by countries as 
 follows: 
 
 1. Egyptian prior to the conquest of Egypt by tbe Persians, 
 B. C. 526. 
 
 2. Grecian, prior to the conquest of Greece by tbe Romans, 
 B. C. 146. 
 
 3. Roman to tbe fall of tbe Roman Empire, 476 A. D. 
 
 4. Britisb to tbe close of tbe 17th century. 
 
 5. American to the present time. 
 
 The following is an outline of the topics to be treated. 
 
 1. Extent and character of the country and its effect upon 
 agriculture. 
 
 2. A brief statement of its political history in its relation to 
 agriculture. 
 
 3. The extent of its agriculture, and the esteem in which ag- 
 riculture was held. 
 
 4. Laws relating to agriculture. 
 
 5. Employment of labor. 
 
 6. Size, care, and general equipment of farms. 
 
 7. Kinds of animals raised with care and attention given 
 them. 
 
 8. Kinds of plants raised, their management and rotation. 
 
 9. Implements and tools used. 
 
 10. Soils, their improvement by drainage, irrigation and 
 manuring. 
 
 11. Each student is required to read the following references : 
 
 1. A Short Inquiry into the History of Agriculture, by Chan- 
 dos Wren Hoskyns pp 1-160. 
 
 2. Encyclopaedia Britannica, article on Agriculture, pp. 
 291-302. 
 
 3. Wet days at Edgewood, by Donald G. Mitchell, pp. 1-40. 
 
 4. Origin of Cultivated Plants, by Alphonse De Candolle, 
 pages 1 -7 and 436-462. 
 
 5. The Pioneers and Progress of English Farming, by R. E. 
 Prothero, pp. 1-77. 
 
 6. "One Hundred Years Progress." Report U. S. Department 
 of Agriculture, 1872. pp. 274-304. 
 
 7. "The Farmer's Opportunities." The United States of 
 America. Vol. I, pp. 375-417. 
 
 The study of the History of Agriculture will occupy about 
 four weeks. At the end of this time a mid-term will be held 
 
 145 
 
146 
 
 and students will be expected to be examined on the above 
 references. The student's attention is called to the fact that 
 these references will require about twenty -five pages of read- 
 ing for each class exercise. In connection with the references 
 an outline of the general treatment of the subject is given in 
 order to guide the student in his reading. 
 
 There are two methods of knowing a given subject. One is 
 to know all about the subject; that is, to have it stored away 
 in the mind to be used at a moment's notice. The other method 
 is to know where the information about a given subject is to 
 be found. 
 
 Our school days are largely spent in acquiring the first 
 method and it should not by any means be discouraged. It is 
 also preliminary to the second method. The great range of in- 
 formation on a given subject makes the second method 
 necessary. As a man takes up certain lines of ■work, especial 
 as an instructor or investigator he must depend more and 
 more upon knowing the source of information upon a given sub- 
 ject rather than knowing all about the subject itself. It is fre- 
 quently and indeed generally difficult to know just what has 
 been -written on a given subject, as for example, whether to 
 plant corn in hills or in drills. On the other hand one may 
 easily know all the important sources of information or re- 
 ference on this subject, so that in thirty minutes he may have 
 all the information before him. A large amount of the inform- 
 ation of many successful men and a large measure of their 
 success is in their knowledge of sources of information. As 
 you grow older you will become less and less of an encyclo- 
 paedia and more and more of a bibliography. 
 
 There is a great difference in persons as to their methods of 
 acquiring information. Some get their knowledge by the ear, 
 some through the eye; some persons spell by sound, others 
 spell by form; some persons can tell on ■which side of the page, 
 how far down the page of a certain book a given subject is 
 treated, while of the subject itself they remember little. For 
 example, one may remember that on the middle of the right 
 hand page of his chemistry is an article on the manufacture of 
 sodium or that at the bottom of the left hand page of his botany 
 he -will find the Latin name for a certain species of pig -weed. 
 The student should carefully examine himself and determine in 
 ■what forms knowledge comes to him the easiest and in what 
 forms the most difficult. As a student he should of course 
 train those faculties -which are deficient as well as those in 
 ■which he excels but when he gets into the -world's -work he will 
 find it expedient to make use of thoae forms of acquiring in- 
 
147 
 
 formation for which he has the best adaptation. 
 
 One should discriminate between the kinds of information 
 that he needs to keep already for use and those kinds that he 
 may carefully barrel up and lay away to improve with age. 
 He should have a discriminating sense of the value of the var- 
 ious sources of information of a given subject If there are 
 twelve books treating the same subject, one may contain all 
 that is essential, and the student should know which one in 
 order that he may turn to it promptly in case of need. The 
 student should also have knowledge of the character of the 
 men who are writers in his field of work. You should know 
 the general reputation for accuracy and complete information. 
 If Dr. B. of Station issues a bulletin upon some dairy sub- 
 ject you may feel secure in taking time to read it. ; If professor 
 
 C. of Station writes on the same subject you may put his 
 
 bulletin away in order to keep your files complete. 
 
 You will make a great mistake and one I am sure you will 
 regret if you do not become familiar -with the books in the 
 library in your line of -work -while you have the opportunity. 
 It is not necessary to read all of these books in order to have a 
 fair knowledge of them. It is a favorite saying of an ac- 
 quaintance of mine that there is an education in reading the 
 titles of books. There is not a book in the library which you 
 cannot in thirty minutes get a fairly good idea of its contents 
 and the probability of its being of value to you in the future. 
 (See Appendix B.) 
 
 It will not do, however, to depend upon books alone. The 
 newer ideas which are being advanced in all fields of work 
 generally find first mention, receive their first discussion in our 
 newspapers and periodicals. You should, therefore, become 
 familiar with the various agricultural journals in order that 
 you may choose from the large list that is now published, a 
 few that will be of most interest and use to you hereafter. It is 
 very desirable that you should get into the habit of looking 
 over if not reading through a considerable list of these periodi- 
 cals covering a rather wide range of subjects. There is always 
 danger of a person becoming centered in his own particular 
 specialty and this is a good method Of prevention. 
 
 "We have no works on agriculture prior to the Greeks. "We 
 know of Egyptian agriculture not by writings that have been 
 handed down to us but by methods of research similar to that 
 by which we know that the horse has descended from the 
 five-hoofed phenacodus. Probably the best special work on 
 Ancient Egyptian agriculture is Hoskyn's Short Inquiry into 
 the History of Agriculture. Some account of Egyptian Agri- 
 
148 
 
 culture may be found in Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Agriculture, 
 Encyclopaedia Britannica, article on "Agriculture," in Rawlin- 
 son's History of Egypt and in Erman's Life in Ancient Egypt. 
 
 Hesiod (10th Century B. C.) is considered the first writer on 
 agriculture. He wrote a poem on the agriculture of Greece en- 
 titled ''Work and Days." The Greek historian and disciple of 
 Socrates, Xenophon (400 B. C.) wrote on agricultural matters. 
 Among his many sayings is this one"The science of husbandry 
 is extremely profitable to those who understand it but it brings 
 the greatest trouble and misery upon those farmers who un- 
 dertake it without knowledge." Although -written something 
 over two thousand years ago this sounds very modern. 
 
 Among the Roman writers on agriculture whose ■writings 
 have come down to us are those of Cato, died B. C. 150; Varro> 
 B. C. 116-28; Virgil, B. C. 70-19; Columella, First Century A. D., 
 Pliny, 23-79 A. D.; Palladius, Fourth Century A. D. Cato lived 
 in the second century before Christ while Palladius is supposed 
 to have died the fourth century after Christ. The other •writers 
 lived between these two periods, and their writings therefore F 
 apply to a period of about six centuries. Columella, a native of 
 Spain, writing at the beginning of the Christian era, is the 
 most important writer on agriculture inasmuch as he has left 
 in his Twelve Books on Husbandry, De Re Rustica, a complete 
 treatise on rural affairs in the form of minute and detailed di- 
 rections for the carrying on of field, garden, and domestic ope- 
 rations. Adam Dickson, a Scotch clergyman, has written a" 
 treatise entitled 'The Husbandry of the Ancients" published in 
 1788. This work gives the important portions of the "works of 
 these •writers on Roman agriculture. 
 
 After the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 A. D. there is a 
 ■period of 1000 years popularly known as the Dark Ages which 
 contains for us no agricultural writers. The first farm writer 
 that arose from this age of darkness was Crescenzi or Crescen- 
 tius, a Bolognese of the fourteenth century whom Donald G. 
 Mitchell accuses of having plagiarized. Mitchell calls attention 
 to the fact that both Palladius and Crescentius living nine 
 centuries apart urged the use of earthen pipes for conduct- 
 ing water. 
 
 Occasional reference will be found to the following -writers 
 who contributed to our knowledge of agriculture in the coun- 
 tries in -which they lived: Olivier Des Serres of France, Heres- 
 bach,of Germany, Herrera of Spain.Fitzherbert of Great Britain. 
 Perhaps the best present day -work on Roman agriculture is by 
 Professor Charles Daubeny published in 1857 and is entitled 
 
 •Mitchell's Wet days at Edgewood. 
 
149 
 
 "Roman Husbandry." The reading of Hoskyn's History of Ag- 
 riculture and of Dautaeny's Roman Husbandry is sufficient to 
 give one a fairly good view of the condition of agriculture 
 down to the time when the British Islands became a factor in 
 the agriculture of the world. 
 
 Loudon gives over 225 British writers who wrote between 
 1500 and 1831 on agricultural topics excluding works on 
 horsemanship, gardening, veterinary surgery.* Many of these 
 writers wrote several books. Arthur Young, for example, 
 wrote twenty-seven works one of ■which contained forty 
 volumes. It illustrates admirably the natural love of the 
 British people for rural affairs. To be a land owner is the high- 
 est ambition of the true Briton. 
 
 There is not the time and it would be of little value to give 
 you a list of these writers. A few of them, however, those who 
 exerted the most influence should be known to every one in- 
 terested in agriculture. Sir Anthony Fitzherbert is the first of 
 these celebrities and is known as the father of English hus- 
 bandry. He was a learned lawyer and judge under Henry VIII. 
 and a writer of several books on law. His book on husbandry 
 ■was published in 1523. Thomas Tusser is known principally 
 for his 500 Points of Good Husbandry which was published in 
 1573. He -was evidently similar in nature to Goldsmith of 
 whom it has been said "the wisest of men with a pen, the 
 greatest of fools without one." He was educated at Eton and 
 Cambridge, obtained his farming experience, such as it was 
 in Suffolk. 
 
 We now step down a period of eighty years and pass by sev- 
 eral celebrities in the agricultural field such as Gervase, 
 Markham, Hugh Plat, Gabriel Platte, to Samuel Hartlib -who 
 was a great promoter and writer on Agriculture. He is of prin- 
 cipal interest to us at this time on account of his advocacy of 
 the proposition for erecting a school of husbandry about which 
 he -wrote an essay in 1651. We now step down another eighty 
 years to Jethro Tull so -well known on aocount of his introduc- 
 tion into England of the cultivation of wheat something after 
 the fashion of the cultivation of beets on a large scale, or our 
 method of cultivation of corn. His fundamental idea is found in 
 his expression "tillage is manure.' 1 His chief book was "The 
 New Horse Hoeing Husbandry or an Essay on the Principles 
 of Tillage and Vegetation" published in 1733. Jethro Tull died in 
 1740. Arthur Young was born in 1741 and died in 1820. 
 
 We often see men who are just in touch -with the times in 
 
 ♦Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Agriculture, pp. 1206 to 1214. 
 
150 
 
 which, they live but who leave very little trace of themselves to 
 their posterity. Other men exert but little influence in their day 
 and age but exert a much greater influence after they have 
 died. I judge Arthur Young belonged to the former class. He 
 began writing in 1 767 and continued until 1809. He was Sec- 
 retary of the Board of Agriculture and is spoken of as an emi- 
 nent agriculturist. Loudon catalogues seventy-nine books 
 which he wrote, and yet none of these are Scarcely ever seen. 
 
 Two books were published in London in 1801 written by 
 General George Washington. One was entitled "Letters to Ar- 
 thur Young, England, containing an account of his husbandry 
 with a Map of his Farm, his Opinions on Various Questions in 
 Agriculture and Many Particulars of the Rural Economy of the 
 United States." The other was entitled "Letters from him to 
 Sir John Sinclair on Agriculture and other interesting Topics 
 Engraved from the Original Letters so as to be an exact Fac 
 Simile of the Hand Writing of the Celebrated Character." 
 Loudon, an Englishman writing about 1830,speaks of General 
 George "Washington as the most illustrious character of the 
 age in which he lived. The Right Hon. Sir John Sinclair to 
 whom these letters were addressed was the founder of the Board 
 of Agriculture of which Arthur Young was Secretary, and the 
 writer of several works between 1790 and 1820. 
 One of the most frequently quoted authorities on the agriculture 
 of the close of the last century and the beginning of the present 
 century is William Marshall, born in Yorkshire in the land of 
 Shorthorn cattle and Cleveland Bay horses. He wrote minute- 
 ly of the agriculture of different sections of England and has 
 thus become the original source of much agricultural informa- 
 tion of these times. 
 
 The writers to which references have heretofore been made 
 are principally of interest to us from the historical standpoint. 
 We seldom consult them except through the writings of others. 
 J. C. Loudon is also a historical character but his works are of 
 present day interest. He -was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland in 
 1782. He was educated in Edinburgh and was a successful 
 farmer. For many years he ■was editor of the Gardeners' Mag- 
 azine, one of the leading journals of its time. Between 1820 
 and 1840 he published his Encyclopaedia of Gardening, his 
 Encyclopaedia of Agriculture, his Encyclopaedia of Architec- 
 ture, and his Arboretum. These encyclopaedias are veritable 
 bee hives of information. So far as I am aware no person be- 
 fore him or since has left such stupendous works on Rural 
 affairs. 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 SELECT LIST OF BOOKS FOR THE TECHNICAL LIBRARY 
 OF AN EDUCATED FARMER. 
 
 1. Woll's Handbook for the Farmer and Dairyman. 
 
 2. Storer's Agriculture. 3 Vols. 
 
 3. Roberts' Fertility of the Land. 
 
 4. Vorhees, Fertilizers. 
 
 5. King's Irrigation and Drainage. 
 
 6. Chamberlain's Farm Drainage. 
 
 7. Bailey's Garden Making. 
 
 8. Bailey's Horticultural Rule Book. 
 
 9. Parson's Landscape Gardening. 
 
 10. Sander's Barn Plans. 
 
 11. Darwin's Plants and Animals under Domestication. 2 
 Vols 
 
 12. Warfield's Cattle Breeding. 
 
 13. Shaw's Study of Breeds. 
 
 14. Wallace's Farm Live Stock of Great Britain. 
 
 15. Sander's Horse Breeding. 
 
 16. Hayes' Points of the Horse. 
 
 17. Hayes Education of the Horse. 
 
 18. Wing's Milk and its Products. 
 
 19. Powers' American Merino, 
 
 20. Coburn's Swine Husbandry. 
 
 This is a suggestive list only and is made on the supposition 
 that the farmer is a graduate of a four year's course in Agricul- 
 ture and has studied as text books and thus possesses in addi- 
 tion to above list.Henry's Feeds and Feeding, Miles' Stock Breed- 
 ing, Curtis' Horses, Cattle, Sheep and Swine, King's Soils, Mor- 
 row and Hunt's Soils and Farm crops, Goubaux and Barrier's 
 Exterior of the Horse, Gurler's American Dairying, Decker's 
 Cheddar Cheese Making, Farrington & Woll's Testing Milk and 
 its Products, Russell's Dairy Bacteriology and Mcintosh's Dis- 
 eases of Horses and Cattle. It is supposed, also, that he will re- 
 ceive the Year Book, the Station Record and the Farmer's 
 Bulletins of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and that he 
 will receive the station bulletins, the agricultural and other 
 technical reports of his state 
 
 151 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 A PROBLEM IN FARM MANAGEMENT. 
 
 For the purpose of becoming familiar with the financial side 
 of farm operations, each student will he required to make a report 
 upon the management of a farm. The farm is to consist of 240 
 acres of land in actual existence. Fields, fence and buildings up- 
 on the 1 and may be changed to suit the conditions as the student 
 desires to have them. The location is to be between 25 to 50 
 miles of Columbus, O., and between one and three miles of a 
 railway station. 
 
 Mixed husbandry is to be followed, and the farm is to main- 
 tain from 25 to 50 head of cattle and the proper complement 
 of horses and swine. It is to be understood to give a general 
 idea of conditions and may be changed by any student upon 
 consultation of the instructor. The report will be made upon 
 heavy weight paper eight and one-fourth by eleven and one- 
 half inches as follows: 
 
 1. The general character of the farm productions including 
 the rotation of crops and the acres of each. State acres of (a) 
 tillable land, (b) pasture land, (c) land covered with buildings 
 and yards, (d) land in gardens and orchards. 
 
 2. Itemized statement of capital employed using subdivis- 
 ions to be hereafter given. See page 125 
 
 3. Itemized statement of average estimated receipts and 
 disbursement for the year, and show net profit and interest 
 upon investment. 
 
 4. (a) Itemized statement of estimated cost per acre of rais- 
 ing, harvesting, storing, and marketing four principal farm 
 crops raised, (b) Give annual cost of maintaining work 
 horses with estimated number of days used. 
 
 152 
 
<s 
 
 a 
 a 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 A 
 
 •ti 
 a 
 a 
 
 to 
 
 (B 
 
 Q 
 
 X 
 i— i 
 
 Q 
 U 
 
 a, 
 
 Ph 
 
 m 
 
 (D 
 
 •a 
 & 
 
 a 
 
 u 
 
 B 
 
 o 
 
 •a 
 
 en 
 <! 
 
 a 
 
 M 
 
 fa 
 
 a> 
 A 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 A 
 
 A 
 
 a 
 
 ■8 
 — s 
 
 8 
 
 I - 
 
 »5S 
 
 
 
 ■Is 
 
 o o o « » i- ooeeo e oooo 
 
 o o o w i-i io ooeoo o oooo 
 
 o o o oooooooooo 
 
 © © O OOOOOOOOOO 
 
 ooo oooooooooo 
 
 ooo oooooooooo 
 
 © eo » « oo ■# © eo e " 
 
 h n io r>« n N to o 
 
 © to n « 
 
 io rt t- te 
 
 H 10 10 » 
 
 © © o to CO o 
 ooo ■* 
 
 o o e 
 ooo 
 ooo 
 ooo 
 h t- n 
 to <* « 
 
 ooo 
 ooo 
 ooo 
 
 10 10 o 
 10 10 o 
 
 « 10 rt 
 
 OOOO 
 OOOO 
 
 oooo 
 ^ io io r* 
 
 «HOO 
 * t- O 00 
 H 10 rt O 
 
 O OOR»« 
 © © O ■* rt •* 
 OOO 
 
 ooo 
 ooo 
 ooo 
 10 1- to 
 
 t- 10 to 
 CO H 
 
 O O O O O O 
 
 o o o o o o 
 
 o o o o o o 
 
 o o o o o o 
 
 o o o o o o 
 
 N 10 CO 41 CA CO 
 
 10 «« CO rt 10 
 
 H rt CO 
 
 OOOO 
 
 oooo 
 oooo 
 
 10 ■* o CO 
 
 10 « O rt 
 
 CO r- © N 
 
 ta rt rt CO 
 
 O © O CO » N 
 O O O 10 » f 
 
 ooo 
 ooo 
 ooo 
 
 ooo 
 
 l» f « 
 00 10 » 
 
 rt « rt 
 
 o o o o o o 
 
 o o o o o o 
 
 o o o o e o 
 
 O O O 00 O 00 
 
 O O O 10 O 10 
 
 o a » c* to 
 
 rt 05 « 0* 05 
 
 * h « eo rt 
 
 oooo 
 oooo 
 oooo 
 
 « « O N 
 
 I- t- O CO 
 
 10 10 O CO 
 
 oo 4 oo et 
 « eo rt 
 
 © © O IO CO M 
 
 ooooen 
 
 ooo 
 
 ooo 
 
 ooo 
 
 ooo 
 
 rt O « 
 
 » o rt 
 
 o o o o o e 
 
 o o o o o o 
 
 o o o o o e 
 
 o o o o o o 
 
 o o o o o o 
 
 to « r- oo os w 
 
 05 K « CO rt eo 
 
 « 
 
 oooo 
 oooo 
 oooo 
 
 rt © W 10 
 
 CO © » rt 
 
 CO 00 O rt 
 
 to 10 K 
 
 © o o oo e» i- 
 
 © © o io » to 
 
 ooo 
 ooo 
 ooo 
 ooo 
 oo CO et 
 
 © CO rt 
 
 ooo 
 ooo 
 ooo 
 ooo 
 ooo 
 
 « rt 05 
 
 « eo rt 
 
 oooo 
 oooo 
 oooo 
 
 05 « CO CO 
 
 eo co io eo 
 
 I- « p. rt 
 
 rt io e» hi 
 
 CO 
 10 
 
 05 
 30 
 
 00 
 
 - P ft 
 
 5 a a © 
 
 r. cfc 4i <9j 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 -Ij 4) ' 
 
 
 £ 
 
 S s £ 
 
 « ^ i a „ 
 
 ofl ■ °* o * 
 
 « s 
 
 0S « 
 
 w a 
 
 H h rt fc m O P O 8 
 
 8° +* B © 
 
 S 8 r • 
 ninxx 
 
A 
 to 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 . S 
 W £ 
 
 rS rj 
 
 I— I CD 
 
 to 
 n 
 to 
 o 
 
 Q 
 2 
 W 
 
 ^ 1 
 
 d 
 
 o 
 to 
 
 CO 
 
 S 
 
 9"K 
 
 KUK «HH 
 
 e 
 
 r- 
 
 ► 
 
 'A 'A V, 
 
 X X 
 
 ► 
 
 h e 
 o" o 
 
 0) 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 S 13 
 
 as e is 
 
 
 
 
 0) 4 10 
 
 
 
 
 f CO o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •B 9 
 
 « H H 
 
 
 
 
 "o oo o 
 
 
 
 
 f> « H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 if* s 
 
 Ph 
 
 H H « 
 
 
 
 
 0) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ph 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 -. a" 
 
 f ia •» 
 
 CS « H 
 
 CS 05 S3 « H K 
 
 H O M «H 
 
 •o « « 
 
 « « H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4a 
 
 a! 
 co 
 
 W 01 o 
 
 « *( H (- OS o 
 
 HO* 
 
 a ti 4 
 
 CO 05 X 
 
 CS CD ^ 
 
 
 s»o 
 
 CO CO CO 0! « « 
 
 «>14 
 
 ei « 
 
 S tH 
 
 CO ^i »H 
 
 
 
 *l ^< 1-1 
 
 
 
 05 05 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . * *l 
 
 
 
 X O * 
 
 00 00 C) 
 
 H H H 
 
 00 o M 
 
 X X M 
 
 XXX 
 
 H 55 e " 
 
 
 « « H 
 
 F- 
 
 
 H h 
 
 
 
 
 
 PS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 09 
 4» 
 
 os 06 r- 
 
 t- « c 
 
 « « 05 
 
 ■S O 0) 
 
 1 + 
 
 X « i-t 
 
 io o x 
 
 O OS CO 
 
 
 o o ■* 
 
 ao oo te 
 
 « « « 
 
 *}! f * 
 
 eo e» « 
 
 H H 
 
 * « * 
 
 
 a 
 
 X * H 
 
 
 
 !S CS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 et 10 e* 
 
 « H J- 
 
 H OS CS 
 
 S3 10 « 10 cs r* 
 
 10 CO X 
 
 ■* « 03 
 
 
 « 10 cs 
 
 t« S3 U 
 
 05 e* « 
 
 OS 00 « h^i 
 
 
 H H 10 
 
 
 
 
 H (- « 
 
 
 H * * 
 
 "O 81 « CO « H 
 
 
 H H 
 
 
 u 
 
 « h 
 
 
 
 H H 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 
 » C9 
 
 
 
 R»8 
 
 
 s 
 
 5 « as 
 
 O) o f 
 
 X X X 
 
 CO H H 
 
 X X X 
 
 XXX 
 
 e 6 ej 
 
 
 J* 
 
 H H 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 t "H 
 
 
 » 
 
 00 * 10 
 
 O 03 * 
 
 X x X 
 
 C 03 X 
 
 XXX 
 
 rilt H 
 
 11 H c5 
 
 
 ■2 
 
 «- T* 
 
 H 
 
 
 * H 
 
 
 0! H 
 
 
 
 S3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 e o e 
 
 e e e 
 
 e o e 
 
 c c c 
 
 o o o 
 
 o e e 
 
 ceo 
 
 
 S3 X 10 
 
 OS 00 « 
 
 OS 00 o 
 
 OS 00 c 
 
 03 X >0 
 
 03 X 10 
 
 03 X 10 
 
 
 00 00 00 
 
 X X CPC 
 
 00 06 oo 
 
 X X X 
 
 xKX 
 
 XXX 
 
 XXX 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 09* 
 
 QD 
 
 t 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 09 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 'X 
 
 
 
 
 4a 
 0! 
 4a 
 OS 
 
 on* 
 
 « 
 
 4a 
 
 i 
 
 09 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 « 
 
 O 
 
 
 oo 
 
 4a 
 
 
 
 
 
 to 
 •a 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 s 
 
 1 
 
 +3 
 
 l 
 
 § 
 
 Q 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 a 
 
 e 
 
 00 
 
 E 
 
 
 
 
 
 P 
 
 5 
 
 A 
 
 « 
 
 a 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 * 
 
 •4- 
 
 C 
 
 
 
 49 
 
 tc 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 4a 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 e 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a m