THE REAL IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE. 1 1 



When Homer draws his picture on the shield which 

 he causes Vulcan to forge for Achilles, he mingles feasts, 

 dancing, and luxury, with contentions and bloodshed 

 in his city scenes ; while rural life is represented by 

 " soft fallowfields, rich glebes," " industrious plough- 

 men," " fields of deep corn," " diligent reapers and 

 delighted masters," banquets in preparation for the 

 toilers, observances of religious rites, scenes repre- 

 senting the union of industry, comfort, sanctity, peace, 

 and pleasure ; a mingling of what is truest in nature 

 and in life ; rites portraying a confiding faith in Nature's 

 God, the All Father. 



That great man, Aristotle, the economist as well as 

 philosopher and logician, reckoned agriculture as the 

 chief source of national wealth. Modern political econ- 

 omy, as taught by the best writers, more correctly gives to 

 all industries a value in proportion to the utility of the 

 articles they produce ; but the prevailing thought and 

 custom of the day goes farther than this, and finds its ex- 

 ercise in practically belittling agriculture. 



The ancient Romans, as all are aware, looked upon 

 this favorite occupation with a sort of " devotional 

 respect." Reproducing from Von Schlegel's " Philos- 

 ophy of History," we have the following passage, com- 

 prehensive and frequently quoted : " They (the Romans) 

 were exceedingly covetous of gain, or rather of land, for 

 it was from land, and in the production of the soil, that 

 their principal and almost only wealth consisted. They 

 were a thoroughly agricultural people, and it was only at 

 a late period that commerce, trades, and arts were intro- 

 duced among them, and even then, they occupied but a 

 subordinate place." When at length the majority of the 

 Roman people lost their hold upon the best of occupa- 



