AGENTS. 



AGRICULTURE. 



ers ; the oak, for instance, between its fortieth 

 and sixtieth years ; the elm after its fiftieth ; 

 the spruce after its fortieth ; the yew after its 

 sixtieth : of this rate of growth, Decandolle has 

 constructed an interesting table, showing the 

 rate of increase in diameter of certain trees, 

 such as the Oak, Larch, Elm, Spruce, Yew, 

 every 10 years from 1 to 150 years. 



Mr. Waistell has constructed tables respect- 

 ing the growth of timber, showing every fourth 

 year, from 12 to 100, the progressive annual 

 increase in the growth of trees, and gradual 

 decrease in the rate per cent, per annum, that 

 the annual increase bears to the whole tree. 



AGENTS. [In England.] Land agents, are 

 very commonly persons of the legal profes- 

 sion, little conversant with the ordinary details 

 of farming affairs. This is not always a de- 

 sirable state of things it often leads to oppres- 

 sion, to discord, and to very bad farming. 



An agent cannot bind his principal beyond 

 the extent of his limited authority (Fenn v. Har- 

 rison, 3 T. R. 575). For although a principal 

 is bound by all the acts of his general agent, 

 yet where he appoints an agent for a particu- 

 lar purpose, he is only bound to the extent of 

 the authority given. 



" Agreements for a lease, made with an agent 

 who acts under a power of attorney, and a 

 lease executed by such agent in pursuance of 

 the agreement, shall bind the principal." (Ha- 

 milton v. Clanricarde, 1 Bro. P. C. 341.) 



AGISTMENT. A term seemingly from the 

 the old law French word giste, which signifies 

 a lying-place, and therefore, as applied to cat- 

 tle, supposes pasturing. Agistment accord- 

 ingly is the pasturing of cattle, the property 

 of another, on the payment of a certain sum 

 of money, or other valuable consideration ; 

 and the animals thus grazed are sometimes 

 called gistments. " If," says Blackstone, "a man 

 takes in a horse or other cattle to graze and 

 depasture in his grounds, which the law calls 

 agistment, he takes them upon an implied con- 

 tract to return them on demand to the owner. 

 (Cro. Car. 271.) But he cannot like an inn- 

 keeper retain them till payment." Agistment 

 also means the profit arising from this prac- 

 tice. The tithe of agistment is the tenth part 

 of the value for the keeping or depasturing 

 such cattle as are liable to pay it ; but it may 

 be avoided by cutting the grass for stall-feed- 

 ing. 



AGREEMENT. A very considerable pro- 

 portion of the lands of England are held by 

 agreements between the landlord and the 

 tenant. See LEASES. 



These are best made in writing, although 

 not absolutely necessary for terms not exceed- 

 ing three years. (Crosby v. Wordsworth, 

 6 East, 602.) An agreement to make a lease 

 is, in equity, a good lease. (Hamilton v. Card- 

 ness, 2 Bro. P. C. 125.) But whether an instru- 

 ment shall amount to a present lease or only 

 as an agreement for a future lease, will depend 

 o&the intention of the parties, to be collected 

 frtfoi the i 



instrument itself. (Morgan v. 

 '3 Taunton, 65. Baxter v. Browne, 2 W. Black. 

 973.) [See CUSTOMS OF COUNTIES.] 



AGRICULTOR (Lat. a husbandman). The 

 vord in our language is modern, but is getting 



into common use. It is, however, more gene- 

 rally written agriculturist, and is intended to 

 imply one who is skilled in the art of cultivat- 

 ing the ground. (Todd'* Johnson.) 



AGRICULTURE, HISTORY OF (Lat. 

 agricultura). The art of cultivating the ground; 

 tillage, husbandry, as distinct from pasture. 

 ( Todd's Johnson.) 



I shall, in the present article, limit myself to 

 a brief historical sketch of agriculture, which 

 became one of the sustaining arts of life as 

 soon as man was ordained to earn his bread 

 by the sweat of his brow. In the garden of 

 Eden, whose fertile soil and genial clime ap- 

 pear to have combined in maturing a continued 

 variety and unfailing succession of vegetable 

 sustenance, agricultural operations were un- 

 known ; for that which came spontaneously to 

 perfection required no assistance from human 

 ingenuity ; and where there is no deficiency 

 there can be no inducement to strive for im- 

 provement. That period of perfection was 

 but transitory ; and the Deity that had placed 

 man in the garden " to dress it and keep it," 

 eventually drove him thence " to till the earth 

 from whence he was taken," (Gen. ii. 15 ; iii. 

 23.) 



From that time to the present, agriculture 

 has been an improving art ; and there is no 

 reason to doubt but that it will go on advanc- 

 ing as long as mankind continues to increase. 



Man, in his greatest state of ignorance, is 

 always found dependent for subsistence upon 

 the produce of the chase ; but, as population 

 increases, recourse must be had to other 

 sources of food. And we find in the shepherd's 

 life of the early ages, the first step to agricul- 

 tural art, the domestication of animals, which 

 it was found to be more convenient to have 

 constantly at hand, rather than to have to seek 

 precariously at the very time they were re- 

 quired. As the increase of population still 

 went on, and the flocks and the herds had pro- 

 portionately to be enlarged, one favourite spot 

 would be found too small for the subsistence 

 of the whole ; and, as in the case of Abraham 

 and Lot, they would have to separate and find 

 pasturage in different districts. This separa- 

 tion into tribes could not proceed beyond a 

 certain extent ; and when the land was fully 

 occupied, recourse would by necessity be had 

 to means of increasing the produce of given 

 surfaces of soil instead of enlarging their ex- 

 tent. With Abraham and Isaac it is very 

 evident that wheat and the other fruits of the 

 earth were the rare and choice things of their 

 country ; but when such nations once learned, 

 as they might from the example of Egypt, the 

 resource such products were in periods of fa- 

 mine, arising from mortalities among their 

 cattle, they would soon pursue their interests 

 by cultivating them. This completed, the ac- 

 quirement of property in land for the space not 

 only long occupied, but upon which the occu- 

 pier had bestowed his labour, built his habita- 

 tion, and had enclosed from injury by vagrant 

 animals, would be acknowledged to be his 

 without any one stopping to inquire what right 

 he had to make the enclosure. 



When once thus located, experience and 

 observation would soon teach the employment 



