98 Transactions of the 



iiave to cLaim your attention all day if I were to trace the worship of 

 Ceres and l^oniona stej) by step with the history of their devotees or 

 recreants, and as my wish is to interest, not to fatigue you, we will, 

 as we well can from the present lofty standpoint of history', take in 

 whole centuries at a glance. From her establishment to her decay, 

 Greece paid but little attention to agriculture. Kome thought more 

 highly of the art, and her old writers were authors of works full of 

 modern practicability. The (Jothic age came, the age of the Gotha 

 who despised agriculture as heartily as they loved feud and loot; who 

 reversed the gentler teachings of the Master, and turned ])lows into 

 swords and j)runing hooks into spears. Europe lay in one long sum- 

 mer fallow, a fallow that lasted until the Saracens came, and brought 

 irrigation and cultivation with them. Matters agricultural, so 

 important to the prosperity of the country, looked brighter. The 

 soft arts of the field were practiced. Even the Hun, the 8cyth and 

 the Sclav began to till and keep their own flocks, instead of stealing 

 their neighbors'. 



Come we now to England under the feudal age — an age when 

 might was right, and the shadow of castle walls kept every poor 

 man's i)rospect dark. Agriculture improved but little during that 

 time. Leases were short; tenants were dispossessed at a nod; and 

 as rents were usually paid in kind, the man whose ground yielded 

 largely had to pay an increased pro rata. The consequence was that 

 the hard-working fief-holders cared only to gather or keep just 

 enough to pay the rent and keej) themselves. Gradually, very grad- 

 ually, proprietors came to see that long leases and fixed rents were 

 advantageous; but even under this healthier treatment, agriculture 

 in England, as indeed in all Europe, was at a low ebb. Wheat was 

 grown but little; rye, barley, and oats were the chief grains, and 

 even the aristocracy knew few esculents but these. It was not until 

 the days of polygamous Henry VIH that any salads, any carrots, or 

 other edible roots were known in England. A lettuce on Queen 

 Elizabeth's dinner table was as much thought of as the absence of 

 vegetables from any of ours would be to-day. 'Meat was abundant, 

 because cattle grazed at will over most of the country. 



But better times were coming; the horizon was already growing 

 brighter; wonders were accom])lished, and a new epoch was com- 

 menced. Jn a little German town such a i)rotcst was made as startled 

 every potentate, and tore down the black curtains of centuries. 

 Martin Luther arose, that strange possessed man, in whom all pro- 

 gress was embodied, and who earned for himself the glorious title of 

 " the monk that shook the world." Wycklyfie discovered the use of 

 types, the printing i)ress was set up, the "art preservative" cultured, 

 and ignorance dispelled. A brave Italian sailor set out on a voyage 

 more venturesome than that of Sinbad, steered his rotten ship due 

 West, and discovered a New World. The death blow to Feudalism 

 was struck, and from that day agriculture began to look up — in fjict, 

 modern agiiculture may be said to date from the invention of ))rint- 

 ing. J3ooks were written on the subject, and though many of the 

 essays were fantastical, some of the suggestions were thoughtful and 

 judicious. Lidian corn and i)otatoes were brought from America; 

 the red clover and turnip were introduced into Lngland ; and the 

 same Jethro Tull of whom I have spoken proved himself the Luther 

 of agriculture! His experiments occupied the first years of the 

 eighteenth century, and it was only in seventeen hundred and 



