96 Transactions of the 



the men were sent out with scythe and stone, the reapers spread 

 themselves in a string, the scythes went singing over the stubble, and 

 the swatlis fell in rows, regular and exact as so many regiments. 

 The scarlet poppies and hard-headed docks fell alike before the sharp 

 blades; the field mouse ran frightened and trembling through the 

 stacks, whilst its nest, no bigger than an orange, fell with the p()i)pies ; 

 the mottled snake glided into the uncut patches, and the green toad 

 sat still and met decaj^itation like a hero. After the reapers came 

 the gatherers, who piled the crop into convenient bundles for the 

 sheave-makers, and after the gatherers came the binders. Deftly 

 taking a mass of pliant straw, they separated it in twain, placed head 

 to head, picked u\^ the bundle in their sun-browned arms, and bound 

 it close with a sudilcn twist. The sheaves lying all around were 

 then placed in shocks, butts all to the ground and heads all pointing 

 as they grew. The sun always shone brightly on these shocks, and 

 the farmer's dog, guarding the men's clothes, was always to be found 

 lying by one; whilst the children, free and freckled, played at keep- 

 ing house in another. Here, too, in its welcome shadow, came the 

 mowers for their mid-da}^ lunch — home-brewed beer, cold meat, yel- 

 low cheese, and close-grained bread. Here, too, they flocked when 

 the sudden thunder storm rose up, and the black rain-clouds blotted 

 out the sun as if chaos indeed had come again. The clouds flew 

 down to the west, however; the sun shone out again; the drops 

 sparkled on the hedges and tinkled gently on the hollow straw; the 

 scythes rang under the hones, and work went on once more. Tlie 

 rakers came, followed by the master's eye, to gather the dropjicd 

 bunches, but left hero and there a chance head or two for the glean- 

 ers, just for all the world as was done in the days of Boaz and liuth. 

 From the shocks were builded the mows, the laying of the circles 

 and the building of the edifice being no mean art, I assure you. Here 

 the grain lay ripening until the time came when the great wains were 

 driven into the field, loaded, roped up, and sent creaking down the 

 lane to the yard to be sackecl. Threshing l)oards and Hails are 

 brought to work, the barn resounds with lusty blows, the straw is 

 bundled and stowed, and the piles of filled grain-sacks rise up to the 

 very rafters. Then, when the wind blows freshly and dry, tiie win- 

 nowing sheets are spread out, the sieves are shaken, the grain falls 

 like dust down, and the chaff is driven by the wind. Garnered once 

 more, it is kept until sold to the mercliant or ground for family use. 

 How dillerent the culture, gathering and disjuisal of grain is to-day 

 I need not waste time to recall; to tell you of double crops, of head- 

 ers and reapers, of steam threshers and winnowers, of grain cut, 

 cleaned, .sacked, sold and paid for, all on the field in one day. 



But to make the contrast all the more striking, and as an interest- 

 ing review, let me take you back along the avenues of time; let us 

 be intensely retrospective and stand looking close to that era when 

 there was the beginning of all things. This time, too, we will not 

 confine our attention to one particular branch of husbandry, but 

 glance at its origin and progress as a whole. 



There can be no doubt that the origin and progress of agriculture 

 are nearly identical with those of civilization. The very instant a 

 man begins to husband the gifts of the earth, and to till that he may 

 garner, that very instant he ceases to be a savage. Think over this 

 yourselves, and you will find that the nations of the earth to-day are 

 advancing in civilization in exact ratio to their advance in agriculture. 



