1. AGRICULTURE OUR MOST 

 IMPORTANT INDUSTRY 



Agriculture, which at first referred only to the tillage 

 of the land, may now be considered as the science and 

 art of all that relates to the cultivation of the soil, and 

 as such includes the ingathering of the crops, rearing 

 the live stock, the use of farm implements, and the 

 employment of labour. 



Agriculture is one of the oldest of human arts, 

 dating from prehistoric times. Some of the earliest 

 agriculturists were the inhabitants of the lake -dwellings 

 of Switzerland, and amongst their remains are the bones 

 of cows, pigs, sheep, and goats. Wheat, barley, millet, 

 and flax were cultivated by these old-world people, 

 and corn-crushers were in use in every dwelling. 



The savage, who lives on the roots and fruits he 

 finds ready to his hand, stands on a lower level than the 

 hunter who lives by the chase, while the herdsman 

 leading a nomadic life belongs to a much higher stage 

 of human culture. Civilisation in any full sense only 

 begins amongst men who live in settled homes and Vho 

 till the soil for their sustenance. 



The Aryan race, to which we belong, probably took 

 its name from a word meaning to plough, and was thus 

 distinguished from the nomadic people who did not 

 cultivate the ground. Among the primitive Aryans 

 fields were tilled, grain was raised and ground into meal, 



B. A. 1 



