3 02 SYSTEMS OF PERMANENT AGRICULTURE 



arguments of his critics that the agricultural practice of his time 

 was the result of long experience and consequently must be cor- 

 rect, he expressed a fundamental truth in the following words: 



"The experience of 1700 years no more proves this practice to be right, 

 than the long experience of cattle drawing by their tails proved that practice 

 right, before drawing by traces was by experiment proved to be better: for 

 nothing can be depended on as experience, which has not been tried by experi- 

 ment." 



He also classes himself with those who " cannot believe that a 

 man will become bald by being shaved at the wrong time of the 

 moon, without more experience than has been made for it these 

 1700 years past." 



Another century passed, during which the humus theory ad- 

 vanced by Thaer and others gained some recognition. The humus 

 of the soil was held to be the source of carbon and carbonaceous 

 matter for the plant. Humus and water were considered the only 

 sources of plant food, and the productive power of the soil was 

 believed to depend solely upon its humus content. 



In the "Georgical 1 Essays" (Edition of 1777) by Doctor A. 

 Hunter, which also includes many essays or reports by other 

 " philosophical farmers," we find the following interesting state- 

 ments : 



"The ancient writers gave us excellent comments upon the husbandry of 

 their times. Hesiod wrote very early upon Agriculture. Mago, the Carthagin- 

 ian general, composed twenty-eight books upon the same subject, which were 

 translated by order of the Roman Senate. Upon these models Virgil formed 

 his elegant precepts of husbandry. 



"Cato, the Censor, wrote a volume upon Agriculture. Columella has left us 

 twelve books upon rural matters. Varro's treatise will ever be esteemed. . . . 



"The celebrated Sully calls Agriculture one of the breasts from which the 

 State must draw its nourishment. That great man could not possibly have 

 given us a more happy simile. ..." 



"Colbert entertained a different notion of policy. Esteeming manufacturers 

 and commerce as the sinews of the State, he gave all possible encouragement to 

 the Artisan and the Merchant, but forgot that the manufacturer must eat his 

 bread at a moderate price. The farmer being discouraged, the necessaries of 



'Georgical, like the proper name George (Latin Georgius), meaning husband- 

 man or farmer, is derived from the Greek -yi) (ge-, as in geology), the earth, and 

 tpyttv (ergein, as in energy), to work. The Georgics of Virgil are poems on agri- 

 cultural affairs. 



