The Earliest Farming 



A GREAT space of time lies between us and the people who 

 first became farmers. Let us look back thousands of years. Men 

 got their living by hunting and fishing. They moved about in 

 tribes seeking the places where animals, birds, and fish were most 

 plentiful, and they did not stop long in one place. Gradually 

 they discovered among the animals some which could be tamed 

 and thus made more useful. The dog and horse were won from 

 their wild state for their swiftness and strength ; they could help 

 in capturing other animals and in carrying loads. The cow, sheep, 

 goat, and pig were tamed for their milk, flesh, hides, and wool. If 

 some attention was given to them, they were a much more con- 

 venient and certain source of wealth than when they ran wild. 



With the possession of flocks . and herds the tribesmen lost 

 some of their freedom. The loss was not serious if they kept 

 only cattle and horses ; it was when they added sheep and pigs 

 that their possessions imposed restrictions on their movements. 

 From the earliest times the different tribes fought each other for 

 possession of the best hunting grounds, and when they began to 

 rear herds and flocks they fought still more. While they con- 

 tinued to hunt, they found that they gained far more when they 

 came on the camp of another tribe, killed or scattered its members 

 and added their cattle and sheep to their own. There was no 

 security for what belonged to a tribe, if a more powerful neighbour 

 fell on it. 



This wild, free life had, and still has, great attractions for men. 

 In spite of the hardships which attend it there is something in it 

 which appeals to the men who become soldiers, travellers, sports- 



