478 



The Jolrxal of Hkrhdity 



transition fonn from i)rimitive to hij^hcr 

 construction — a combination of the 

 spade-plow and the wedge-plow. 



Another form going back in princi]jle 

 to the spade-plow is the so-called 

 "zoche." the ditch-fork or mattock- 

 plow. It is used principally in Slav dis- 

 tricts — Prussia, Littauen, Letten— but 

 was used much farther west at an earlier 

 date, for the Luneberg farmers of Wend- 

 land yet say "zochen" for "pflugcn," 

 to plow. 



All of these plows have a beam which 

 does not permit the depth of the furrow 

 to be regulated; they must be dragged 

 by the plowman, which involves very 

 hard labor. At a very early age man en- 

 deavored to evolve a form that would 

 lighten his labor, and produced: 



2. The wedge or sole-plow. This al- 

 lowed the depth of the furrow to be 

 regulated, and lightened the labor. The 

 principle is to change the position of 

 the shoe instead of the handle, as was 

 required in the ealier form. 



By the addition of a mold-board this 

 jilow dcvclo]K'd into a garden jjlow, with 

 which in i^rehistoric times Germans or 

 Celts cultivated the so-called High 

 Fields (Upper Bavaria, Jutland). Its 

 development can be followed in every 

 country among all the Indo-Germanic 

 peojjlcs, and the type is today in use 

 everywhere. 



THE PLOW IN GREECE. 



From Greece wc possess a picture of 

 the goddess Kora (Persephone), with 

 an ancient model of this tyjjc of ]jlow. 

 It was formerly considered that the dis- 

 tribution of this plow was from Greece, 

 with the spread of Hellenic culture. 

 Such is not the case, for we find this 

 tyjje of plow among all Indo-Gcrmanic 

 pcojjles, even in places where Grecian 

 influence can not even be suspected to 

 have reached. In its most jirimitive 

 form, it has been found fossilized in 

 West Prussia, near Papau. 



At a very early period a wheel-frame 

 was constructed, mold-boards added, 

 and small improvements made, with 



^ * Braungart, R. Die Urhcimat dcr Landwirthschaft allcr indogcrmanischcn Volkcr an der 

 Cic'schichle dcT Kullurpflanzcn und Ackerbaugcrate in Mittel-und Nordeuropa nachgcwiesen. 

 Heidtlherg, 1912, C. Winter. 



which the j^low became one of the house- 

 hold utensils of the Indo-Germans and 

 accompanied them on their wanderings. 

 We find this type among the Iranians 

 and Hindus, in the Caucasus among 

 th Georgians and Ossetes, still in its 

 most ])rimitive form. The Slavs have 

 changed it only in small details, not to 

 ad\'antage, and of its original Indo- 

 Gennan origin there can be no doubt. 



As a result of his deep researches, 

 Braungart * comes to the conclusion 

 that the original home of primitive 

 Indo-German agriculture in the broad- 

 est sense of the word, is to be sought in 

 the present-day German empire and 

 surrounding territory, and only to an 

 unimportant extent in southern Scan- 

 dinavia. Further, that the agricultural 

 implements were, in principle at least, 

 well developed as early as the late 

 Stone Age, and that the separation of 

 the peoples at the beginning of their 

 migrations is to be placed at the middle, 

 if not in the earlier part, of this neolithic 

 age. The old Indo-Gcrmans therefore 

 possessed, at least 10,000 years ago, a 

 well-developed art of agriculture, were 

 a settled ijopulation, and had a consid- 

 erable civilization. 



Finally, a few words on my special 

 subject, animal husbandry. 



The most important domestic ani- 

 mals — dogs, pigs, cattle, sheep, goats — 

 confront us, sometimes represented b}^ 

 numerous types, in the new Stone Age. 

 The horse seems not to have been tamed 

 until later; likewise poultry. 



THE DOG PREHISTORIC. 



The dog, it is generally admitted, 

 comes into our field of knowledge at 

 the same time as man himself. And 

 before proceeding I want to remark that 

 we agriculturists must take with cau- 

 tion the very suggestive but very fanci- 

 ful picture of Ed. Hahn, of early man 

 domesticating animals from religious 

 motives. Hahn believes that man sub- 

 dued and bred wild animals in order 

 that he might always have at hand sub- 

 jects for offering to the gods. Whoever 



