II. THE HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 



IN early times there was much drudgery connected with farm 

 life, and the lot of the farmer was hard, indeed. But few imple- 

 ments were used, and these were of a very crude type. The only 

 form of plow known was a rude crooked stick which was drawn 

 along the top of the ground by men or oxen. All seed was sown 

 broadcast by hand, and when the grain was ripe it was cut with a 

 reaping hook or a scythe. Thrashers were unknown and all grain 

 had to be thrashed out by hand. This was generally accomplished 

 by spreading the grain out on the barn floor or the ground and 

 beating it with a flail. Sometimes the thrashing was effected by 

 the treading of animals. Muscle and brawn ruled in these early 

 days, and people were not accustomed to do much thinking or plan- 

 ning to better their conditions. Professor Davidson says: " The 

 Roman farmer in the time of Columella spent four and six-tenth 

 days in growing a bushel of wheat, while in 1830 the same amount 

 of wheat could be grown under improved hand methods with three 

 hours' work at a cost of 17.7 cents. At the present time under 

 improved machine methods the same result may be secured with 

 only nine minutes' work and at a cost of three and five-tenths 

 cents." The change from the use of implements for hand produc- 

 tion to those for machine production has relieved farm work of 

 much of its drudgery and has at the same time greatly cheapened 

 the cost of production of crops of every kind. 



The widespread introduction of highly specialized and complex 

 farm machinery has made it necessary that the farmer shall be a 

 mechanic, while the close competition that has arisen in every line 

 of production has made it obvious that all farm operations must be 

 conducted according to scientific methods. Acquaintance with 

 some of these methods may be gained through costly experience, 

 but a systematic study of agriculture in the public schools, farm- 

 ers' institutes, and State Agricultural Colleges of our country offers 

 a more direct way to learn the facts of scientific agriculture, 



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