The Earliest Farming n 



see to-day. We must get rid of this idea. The people who had 

 only just learned to cultivate land in the simplest way never 

 dreamed of the chemical and botanical activities that went on 

 in the soil and seed, in the air and plant. Much less did they 

 imagine that they could direct and stimulate these activities. 

 Like all people they were religious, and religion played a greater 

 part in their lives than it does in ours. There was an extra- 

 ordinary mystery for them in the growing corn. The precarious - 

 ness of their lives generally made them afraid as they felt their 

 helplessness and dependence. When they saw the corn grow 

 away fast and promising amid sunshine and rain in spring they 

 rejoiced, but, when they saw it wither and shrink and bring 

 before them the prospect of scarcity and famine, their hearts 

 sank. Instead of seeking to discover' all the conditions favourable 

 to good crops they fell back on their religion. In this and in 

 other parts of their uncertain lives they believed it was a god or 

 spirit who wrought this particular evil and good. He would 

 make the corn grow if he was pleased with them, and blight it 

 if he was angry. To win his favour and get good crops they 

 sacrificed to him. Some offered human victims with a great 

 deal of ceremony ; others offered animals or fruits, but none of 

 these things improved the methods of cultivation, or increased 

 the yield of corn. 



The decision whether a man was to become a cultivator or 

 continue to be a hunter and herdsman did not rest with himself 

 alone. He was member of a tribe, and was subject to certain 

 rules laid down by his chief, or by the council of the tribe. They 

 objected to the cultivation of the land on a large scale, or in 

 a serious way, and made laws against it. They believed it would 

 imperil the existence of the tribe. A group of nations round 

 the Mediterranean Sea had abandoned this view the Egyptians, 

 Phoenicians, Hebrews, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. They 

 devoted themselves to agriculture, and became both civilized and 



