AGRICULTURE. 



of manures, irrigation, times of sowing, and 

 other necessary operations ; and every gene- 

 ration would be wiser in the art than that 

 which preceded it This especially has oc- 

 curred in these more northern climates, where 

 art and industry has to compensate for a defi- 

 ciency of natural advantages. "Enlarging 

 numbers," observes Mr. Sharon Turner, "only 

 magnify the effect; for mankind seem to 

 thrive and civilize in proportion as they mul- 

 tiply; and, by a recurrent action, to multiply 

 again in proportion as they civilize and pros- 

 per." In this manner improved modes of cul- 

 tivation, the introduction of new species, and 

 of more fruitful varieties of agricultural pro- 

 duce, have universally kept pace with an in- 

 creasing population. This resting upon a 

 basis of facts, vindicates the wisdom of Pro- 

 vidence, and refutes Mr. Malthus's superficial 

 theory of over-production. The agricultural 

 produce of England has gradually increased 

 from the insignificant amount that was its 

 value in the time of the Roman invasion, to 

 the enormous annual return of 200,000,0007. ; 

 and it is very certain that in this country, and 

 much more in other parts of the world, the 

 produce is a mere fraction of what the total 

 soil is capable of returning. 



Agriculture is the art of obtaining from the 

 earth food for the sustenance of man and his 

 domestic animals ; and the perfection of the 

 art is to obtain the greatest possible produce 

 at the smallest possible expense. Upon the 

 importance of the art, it is needless, therefore, 

 to insist ; for by it every country is enabled to 

 support in comfort an abundant population. 

 On this its strength as a nation depends ; and 

 by it its independence is secured. An agricul- 

 tural country has within itself the necessaries 

 and comforts of life ; and, to defend these, 

 there will never be wanting a host of patriot 

 soldiers. 



Of the pleasure attending the judicious cul- 

 tivation of the soil, we have the evidence of 

 facts. The villa farms sprinkled throughout 

 our happy land, the establishments of Hoik- 

 ham, Woburn, &c., would never have been 

 formed if the occupation connected with them 

 was not delightful. We have an unexception- 

 able witness to the same fact in the late Mr. 

 Roscoe, the elegant, talented author of the 

 Lives of Lorenzo de Medici and of Leo the 

 Tenth. Mr. Roscoe was the son of an exten- 

 sive potato grower, near Liverpool. In the 

 cultivation of that and other farm produce, he 

 had been an active labourer ; and he who thus 

 had enjoyed the delights that spring from lite- 

 rary pursuits, and from the cultivation of the 

 soil, has left this recorded opinion, "If I was 

 asked whom I consider to be the happiest of 

 the human race, I should answer, those who 

 cultivate the earth by their own hands." 



We have but little information to guide us 

 as to the country in which man first cultivated 

 the soil ; nor of that in which he first settled 

 after the deluge. Thus much, however, is cer- 

 tain, that we have the earliest authentic ac- 

 count of the state of agriculture as it existed 

 among the Egyptians and their bond-servants, 

 the Israelites. From the former, probably, the 

 Greeks were descended. The Romans, at a 

 5 



AGRICULTURE. 



later period, were a colony from Greece ; and 

 from the Romans the other countries of Europe 

 derived their earliest marked improvement in 

 the arts. 



Our brief history of the progress of agricul- 

 ture, then, will be divided into, 1. The agricul- 

 ture of the Egyptians and other eastern 

 nations ; 2. The agriculture of the Greeks ; 

 3. The agriculture of the Romans; 4. The 

 agriculture of the Britons, including a cursory 

 notice of its present state among the chief 

 nations of Europe. 



I. THE AGRICULTURE OF THE EGYPTIANS, 

 ISRAELITES, AND OTHER EARLY EASTERN 

 NATIONS. 



Every family of these primitive nations had 

 its appointed district for pasturage, if it pur- 

 sued a pastoral life ; or its allotted enclosure, 

 if it was occupied by tilling the earth. There 

 was no distinction in this respect between the 

 monarch and his people: each had a certain 

 space of land from which he and his family 

 were to derive their subsistence. 



The Egyptians, as well as the Israelites, 

 were flock-masters. The latter were particu- 

 larly so; and, as Joseph's brethren said to 

 Pharaoh, "their trade was about cattle from 

 their youth." (Gen. xlvi. 34.) When, there- 

 fore, they came into Egypt, they desired the 

 "low-lying land of Goshen, as producing the 

 most perennial of pasture. (Gun. xlvii. 4.) It 

 is true that the same authority says, " Every 

 shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyp- 

 tians;" but this was because, about a century 

 before the arrival of Joseph among them, a 

 tribe of Cushite shepherds from Arabia had 

 conquered their nation, and held them in sla- 

 very ; till, after a sanguinary contest of thirty 

 years, they regained their liberty about twenty- 

 seven years before Joseph was promoted by 

 Pharaoh. That the Egyptians were flock- 

 masters is certain, from many parts of the 

 Scriptures. Thus, when Pharaoh gave per- 

 mission to the Israelites to dwell in Goshen, 

 he added, as he spoke to Joseph, "And if thou 

 knowest any men of activity among them, then 

 make themVulers over my cattle" (Gen. xlvii. 

 6.) ; and when the murrain came into Egypt, 

 it was upon their horses, asses, camels, oxen, 

 and sheep. (Exod. ix. 3.) 



The attention and care necessary to be paid 

 to their domestic animals were evidently well 

 known and attended to ; for when they pro 

 posed to settle in a land, their first thought 

 was to build "sheepfolds for their cattle." 

 (Numb, xxxii. 16.) They had stalls for their 

 oxen (Hab. iii. 17), and for all their beasts 

 Thus King Hezekiah is said to have made 

 "stalls for all manner <of beasts, and cotes for 

 flocks; moreover, he provided him possessions 

 of flocks and herds in abundance" (2 Chron 

 xxxii. 28) ; and that this abundance exceeded 

 the possessions of the greatest of our modern 

 flock-masters, we may readily acknowledge, 

 when we read that " Mesha, king of Moab, was 

 a sheep-master, and rendered unto the king of 

 Israel 100,000 lambs, and 100,000 rams, with 

 the wool." (2 Kings, iii. 4.) 



They prepared the provender for their 

 horses and asses of chaff, or cut straw and 



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