EVOLUTION IN FARMING. 5S 



EVOLUTION IN FARMING. 



BY J, H. PEABODT. 

 [Presented at the Rochester Institute February 4, 1886. T 



I have read of remains of statuary found deep below the earth's surface, 

 of Eoman causeways and roads, covered by the deposit of ages ; have seen 

 the deep black soil of the western prairies, the infinitesimal growth of 

 vegetable matter through countless ages ; have been down deep in the coal 

 beds of Pennsylvania ; have endeavored to understand the geological theory 

 of deeply buried rock strata, enclosing the fossil remains of gigantic reptiles, 

 and asked wonderingly, when was all this done? The great forces of nature 

 have been, and are, at work around us all the time. The bare coral rocks 

 are being slowly covered by a soil that shall be food for vegetable life. The 

 centuries have been rolled back as a scroll, and man seems to stand the great 

 central figure, gazing at the boundless ocean of knowledge yet to be 

 explored. 



With Nature's slow evolutions have his intelligence and knowledge kept 

 pace? We think so, and will endeavor to confine this paper to the subject 

 — Evolution in farming — premising with the remark that art, commerce, 

 navigation, and agriculture are so closely related that it is hard to treat of 

 the progress of either separately. 



An attempt to describe agriculture with prehistoric man is sim})ly specu- 

 lation. It is difficult also to find data in regard to it in later history. The 

 poet made his heroes all warriors and his heroines of the sensual kind. It 

 seems to have been the original occupation of mankind when not at war. 

 Joseph, the son of a farmer and successful stock man, made his greatest 

 success in a corner on corn, but unlike our modern speculators, unloaded at 

 cost when the poor cried for bread. David's record as a farmer is mostly 

 confined to an account of the " set to " with the lion and the bear. Elisha 

 was called by Elijah from plowing with twelve yokes of oxen, but was obliged 

 to cook one of his teams to get dinner for the men. Cincinnatus' name goes 

 into history as an agriculturist, as it seemed wonderful that a great man 

 knew enough to plow. 



Cromwell, I believe, must have been a good farmer, but no doubt would 

 have remained one of Grey's " Gems of purest ray serene," had not religious 

 zeal and great ability brought him to the front in another capacity. Viewed 

 in a more serious light, agriculture, being a peaceful calling, has been like 

 the springs that feed great rivers. It has been to the constant, regular acces- 

 sion of strong, healthful young blood of the country that great cities and 

 manufacturing towns have depended largely for the brain and nerve force to 

 stand the mental strain of professional and business life, and, as God has 

 raised men up for great emergencies, so will He, in the future, allow the 

 farmer to take his place among the great ones of the earth, if he will make 

 himself competent and worthy. Through all the vicissitudes of time, the 

 great change has been going on. I have not attempted to enter into partic- 

 ulars, on account of the time, but if one will trace back the origin of dif- 

 ferent varieties of fruit, grasses, grain and flowers, of domestic animals and 

 fowls, and varied types of each class, of home surroundings and agricultural 

 implements, he will discover the magnitude of my subject. A book might 



