THE PROBLEM OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 23 



in search of fresh pastures. Probably Irish hunters are mainly 

 indebted to ancestors of this type for their remarkable leaping powers. 

 A fourth type should be added a horse quite fifteen hands high, in 

 build not unlike the modern race horse, fleet but probably character- 

 ized by an indomitable disposition. This Siwalik type derives his 

 name from the fact that it appeared among the Siwalik Hills of India, 

 and it is the oldest known true horse." EDITOR. 



2. THE BEGINNINGS OF PLANT CULTIVATION 1 

 BY A. P. DE CANDOLLE 



In the progress of civilization the beginnings are usually feeble, 

 obscure, and limited. There are reasons why this should be the case 

 with the first attempts at agriculture or horticulture. Between the 

 custom of gathering wild fruits, grain, and roots and that of the regu- 

 lar cultivation of the plants which produce them there are several 

 steps. A family may scatter seeds around its dwelling, and provide 

 itself the next year with the same products in the forest. Certain 

 trees may exist near a dwelling without our knowing whether they 

 were planted, or whether the hut was built beside them in order to 

 profit by them. War and the chase often interrupt attempts at cul- 

 tivation. Rivalry and mistrust cause the imitation of one tribe by 

 another to make but slow progress. If some great personage com- 

 mand the cultivation of a plant, and institute some ceremony to show 

 its utility, it is probably because obscure and unknown men have pre- 

 viously spoken of it, and that successful experiments have already 

 been made. A longer or shorter succession of local and short-lived 

 experiments must have occurred before such a display, which is cal- 

 culated to impress an already numerous public. It is easy to under- 

 stand that there must have been determining causes to excite these 

 attempts, to renew them, to make them successful. 



The first cause is that such or such a plant, offering some of those 

 advantages which all men seek, must be within reach. The lowest 

 savages know the plants of their country; but the example of the 

 Australians and Patagonians shows that if they do not consider them 

 productive and easy to rear, they do not entertain the idea of culti- 

 vating them. Other conditions are sufficiently evident: a not too 

 rigorous climate; in hot countries, the moderate duration of drought; 



1 Adapted from The Origin of Cultivated Plants, pp. 1-7, 325. (D. Appleton 

 & Co.) 



