ENCYCLOPAEDIA 



AGRICULTURE 



THE first want of man is food, and his first resource for it the ground. Whether 

 herbs or fruits were resorted to, must have depended on their relative abundance 

 in the country where man found himself ; but the latter would probably be preferred, 

 till the use of fire was discovered in the preparation of the former. The first care and 

 labour of man would thus be bestowed on fruit trees, and hence gardening may be said 

 to be the art of earliest invention. But man is also a carnivorous animal, and this pro- 

 pensity of Ids nature would soon induce him to attempt domesticating such beasts of the 

 earth as he found most useful in affording milk, clothing, or food, or in performing 

 labour. Hence the origin of pasturage, and the management of live stock. The in- 

 vention of tillage would be coeval with the discovery of the use of the cereal grasses, and 

 may be considered as the last grand step in the invention of husbandry, and the most 

 important, as leading to the establishment of property in territorial surface. 



In the earlier stages of civilisation, these branches of economy, in common with 

 all the arts of life, would be practised by ev^ry family for itself ; but the advantages of 

 separating occupations v/ould soon present themselves, and the result of this principle 

 in regard to rural culture and management, the res rustica of the Romans and hus- 

 bandry of old English authors, is, that all their operations are now classed under the 

 two designations of agriculture and gardening. 



Agriculture, the art to which we here confine ourselves, as compared to gardening, 

 is the culture and management of certain plants and animals for the food and service of 

 man ; but, relatively to the present improved state of the art, it may be defined, the cultiva- 

 tion and management of territorial surface on an ext nded scale, by manual and animal 

 labour, for the production of objects and materials used for the food and service of man, 

 and for various important purposes in arts, manufactures, and civilised life. 



The importance of agriculture is obvious, not only by its affording the direct supply 

 of our greatest wants, but as the parent of manufactures and commerce. Without 

 agriculture there can be neither civilisation nor population. Hence it is not only the 

 most universal of arts, but that which requires the greatest number of operators : the 

 main body of the population in every country is employed in the pursuit of agriculture ; 

 and the most powerful individuals, in almost all nations, derive their wealth and conse- 

 quence fromi their property in land. 



In tlie earliest ages of mankind, before tillage was invented, the surface of the 

 earth would be common to all the inhabitants, and every family would pasture its 

 flock, and pitch its tent, or erect its hut, where it thought fit : but when tillage came 

 in use, it became necessary to assign to each family a portion of territory, and of this 

 portion that family became the proprietor and cultivator, and the consumer of the product. 



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