3,28 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The ancient Egyptians were skilful farmers. From the 

 paintings and inscriptions upon their tombs we get an idea 

 of the advanced condition of farming three thousand years 

 ago. An Egyptian farm comprised all the departments 

 which we have at the present time. There were houses with 

 various rooms, gardens, orchards, ftirm yards with sheds for 

 cattle and stables for horses. They were great raisers of 

 poultry, and practised artificial hatching. The land was 

 ploughed with oxen and the seed sown by ploughing and 

 rolling in. Egypt paid Rome tribute of twenty million bushels 

 of corn annually. Manuscript deeds were given in the time 

 of the Ptolemies. These contained, besides a description of 

 the land, descriptions of the buyer and seller, their per- 

 sonal appearance, parentage, profession and residence, and 

 were attested by a large number of witnesses. 



The early Romans were earnest farmers, and their wealth 

 consisted in land and its products. As the farmer prospered, 

 commerce and traffic followed, but always occupying a sub- 

 ordinate place. A writer says: "Perhaps it is not too 

 much to assert that many of those qualities which fitted them 

 for conquering the world were acquired or nourished and 

 matured by the skill and persevering industry so needful 

 for the intelligent and successful cultivation of the soil." 

 Cicero puts into the mouth of Cato these words : "I come 

 now to the pleasures of husbandry, in which I vastly delight. 

 They are not interrupted by old age, and they seem to me 

 to be pursuits in which a wise man's life should bo spent. 

 The earth does not rebel against authority ; it never gives 

 back but with usury what it receives. The gains of 

 husbandry are not what exclusively commend it. I am 

 charmed with the nature and productive virtues of the soil. 

 Can those old men be called unhappy who delight in the 

 cultivation of the soil? In my opinion there can be no 

 happier life, not only because the tillage of the earth is 

 salutary to all, but from the pleasure it yields. The whole 

 establishment of a good and assiduous husbandman is stored 

 with wealth ; it abounds in pigs, in kids, in lambs, in 

 poultry, in milk, in cheese, in honey. Nothing can be 

 more profitable, nothing more beautiful than a well-culti- 

 vated farm." Cato speaks of irrigation, frequent tillage and 



