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SOUTHERlsr AaRIOULTURE 



PART I 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 



Primitive man obtained his food from the fruits 

 and roots of various wild plants and from the flesh 

 of wild animals. • Agriculture began when he first 

 took thought to care for his favorite food plants and 

 to plant them near his usual haunts. The first 

 crops doubtless sprang from the seeds of wild fruits 

 carelessly scattered near the favorite camp or rest- 

 ing place. The fruits of these chance-sown plants 

 were handy and easy to gather, hence the plants 

 were cherished and to some extent protected from 

 injury, while valueless plants would be broken down 

 and destroyed. From such crude beginnings has 

 modern agriculture sprung with its manifold labors 

 and activities that have so wonderfully changed the 

 face of the habitable part of the world, destroying 

 the natural plant covering with its endless variety, 

 and substituting great areas of those few plants that 

 are of greatest utility to mankind. Agriculture is 

 thus the propagation of plants through the inter- 

 vention of man. 



B 1 



