IMPROVEMENT OF WHEAT 31 



and other barbarians, agriculture in Europe ebbed to the lowest 

 degree of respectability. It was revived by the Saracens of 

 Spain, and by their successors, the Moors, it was carried to a 

 height perhaps not surpassed in Europe before the last quarter 

 of the nineteenth century. 



While Plato, Socrates and Pliny took an interest in agricul- 

 ture, it is claimed that the oldest of writers on husbandry 

 whose works have survived is Cato, the Roman Censor (234-149 

 B. C.). In 1757, Home stated that Virgil and Columella were 

 still the best authors on this subject. From the downfall of the 

 Roman democracy until the dawn of English history, little was 

 written on agriculture. At times it was encouraged in a gen- 

 eral way and highly honored, as it always has been in China, 

 but usually the farmer was left to work out his own salvation. 

 This he did, and successfully, though it required centuries of 

 time. He no longer relies for information upon the elucida- 

 tions of subtle shamans revealing the will of elusive, evasive, 

 and ever vanishing gods, creations of the fancy. In nearly 

 every civilized country of the world he is supported by scien- 

 tifically grounded institutions. As these are practically the 

 scientific foundation of modern wheat raising, especially of 

 some of its most recent and interesting phases, they are con- 

 sidered of sufficient importance here to be taken up briefly. 



The National Governments of all of the principal wheat 

 growing countries of the world are factors in an official capacity 

 in the culture of wheat, and at times millions of dollars are 

 expended by a single government in endeavoring to solve some 

 problem of unusual importance. In the United States, Wash- 

 ington in 1796 suggested the establishment of a national board 

 of agriculture. The first appropriation made by Congress for 

 agricultural purposes was in 1839, $1,000. Lincoln approved 

 the act which established our National Department of Agricul- 

 ture in 18G2. Under Cleveland, in 1889, it was raised to an 

 Executive Department. 



The development of the department has been surprising, es- 

 pecially in recent years. The things most characteristic of it 

 have been its rapidly increasing magnitude, the study of ques- 

 tions most diversified in interests and far-reaching in impor- 

 tance, and the thorough, effectual and scientific methods 

 employed. As new interests arose, were investigated, and in- 



