THE BEGINNINGS OF AGRICULTURE. 681 



procure only an extremely limited subsistence, because plants 

 adapted to the wants of man were rare and scattered. Like the 

 animals wliose kind of life lie continued, he first limited his de- 

 mands to asking life and shelter from plants. A commensal of 

 all the phytophagous species, he took his place as a parasite, not as 

 a master, at the banquet of creation served without distinction to 

 the multitude of the hungry. If he managed to subsist, it was 

 with great difficulty, constantly a prey to hunger and in a perpet- 

 ual uncertainty as to the future even in the midst of a temporary 

 abundance, which was dissipated in his hands without his being 

 able to make permanent provision. 



To the phase of absolute uncultivation that occupied the first 

 age of the human race succeeded a period of trials which was pro- 

 longed through the ages of savage hunting and pastoral barbar- 

 ity. On rising from the state of Nature, men in quest of food 

 would give more attention and care to the exploitation of the re- 

 sources of the hunt, always available, than to that of vegetable 

 production, which was limited to a short season. Wherever, 

 as in North America, game was abundant over vast territories, 

 the preying system could maintain itself independently. Where, 

 on the other hand, game was rare and the extent of the terri- 

 tory small, as in Polynesia, the populations had early recourse to 

 agricultural operations. Peoples who from being hunters became 

 shepherds, obliged to wander from pasture to pasture with their 

 flocks, were hardly able to devote themselves to agricultural experi- 

 ments, which demanded sedentary customs. But when hunters, for 

 lack of game, and shepherds, after droughts and epizootics, became 

 deprived of their customary resources, they were forced to call 

 upon plants to supplement their subsistence. The getting of wild 

 food was manifestly insufficient for populations which had multi- 

 plied in a relative abundance, and people were obliged, under pres- 

 sure of necessity, to apply their ingenuity to the artificial propa- 

 gation of useful plants to fill the measure of their wants. In fact, 

 the more earnestly these plants were sought, the rarer they became. 

 A certain number of species of great merit have thus disappeared 

 from wild Nature, and are preserved only in cultivated varieties. 

 The advantage of saving and increasing so precious types was 

 understood at an early period, and man, exercising an intelli- 

 gence of which no other animal had shown itself capable, learned 

 to take good care of the plants which had proved most valuable 

 to him. Doubtless fortunate accidents showed the way and were 

 a revelation. Some seeds of fruits thrown down carelessly and 

 springing up around the house suggested the thought of inten- 

 tional plantings. The savage, who saw these young plants spring 

 up and grow, watched over them, tried other experiments of repro- 

 duction and plantation and the garden was formed, the begin- 



