AGR 



AGR 



also used for the profit arisimg from the 

 discounting 1 a note, bill, &c. Agio of as- 

 surance, is the same with what we call 

 policy of assurance. See ASSURANCE. 



AGREEMENT, in law, signifies the 

 consent of several persons to any thing- 

 done, or to be done. 



There are three kinds of agreement. 

 First, an agreement already executed at 

 the beginning, as when money is paid, or 

 other satisfaction made for the thing 

 agreed to. Secondly, an agreement after 

 an act done by another, to which a person 

 agrees : this is also executed. Thirdly, 

 an agreement executory, or to be execut- 

 ed in time to come. 



An agreement put in writing does not 

 change its nature ; but if it be sealed and 

 delivered, it becomes still stronger ; nay, 

 any writing under hand and seal, or a 

 proviso amounting to an agreement, is 

 equivalent to a covenant. 



AGRICULTURE, is the science which 

 explains the means of making the earth 

 produce, in plenty and perfection, those 

 vegetables, which are necessary to the 

 subsistence or convenience of man. Its 

 practice demands a considerable know- 

 ledge of the relations subsisting between 

 the most important objects of nature. It 

 is eminently conducive to the advantage 

 of those actively engaged in it, by its 

 tendency to promote their health, and to 

 cherish in them a manly and ingenuous 

 character ; and every improvement made 

 in the art must be considered as of high 

 utility, as it facilitates the subsistence of a 

 greater proportion of rational and moral 

 agents; or, if we suppose the number to 

 be unincreased, furnishes them with 

 greater opportunities than could be pos- 

 sessed before, of obtaining that intellec- 

 tual and moral enjoyment, which is the 

 most honourable characteristic of their 

 nature. The strength of nations is in 

 proportion to their skilful cultivation of 

 the soil ; and their independence is se- 

 cured, and their patriotism animated, by 

 obtaining from their native spot all the 

 requisites for easy and vigorous subsist- 

 ence. 



Not only to raise vegetables for the 

 use of man, but those animals also which 

 are used for food, is obviously therefore 

 part of the occupation of the husband- 

 man; and to assist him in his operations, 

 other animals are to be reared and fed by 

 him, to relieve his labours by their 

 strength and endurance of exertion. In 

 cold and comparatively infertile climates, 

 the serv ces of these creatures are par- 

 t icularly important, if not absolutely in- 



dispensable, and their health and mul- 

 tiplication become, consequently, objects 

 of great and unremitted attention. 



The period of the introduction of 

 agriculture into Britain is unknown. 

 Pliny observes that, at the time of the 

 Roman invasion, the inhabitants were ac- 

 quainted with certain manures, particu- 

 larly marl. During the possession of the 

 island by the Romans, great quantities of 

 grain were exported from it, and it can 

 not be doubted that, as in various other 

 respects, the rude inhabitants derived ad- 

 vantage from their enlightened conquer- 

 ors; they were eminently benefited by 

 their agricultural experience. Amidst the 

 series of contest and confusions which fol- 

 lowed the final abandonment of Britain by 

 the Romans, the art and practice of hus- 

 bandry must be presumed to have become 

 retrograde. From the Norman conquest, 

 however, it derived fresh vigour, as a con- 

 siderable number of Flemish farmers, by 

 this revolution, became proprietors of 

 British estates, and introduced that know- 

 ledge of the means of cultivation, for 

 which their own country had been long 

 distinguished. 



Before the sixteenth century few data 

 are afforded, witli respect to the details of 

 agricultural practice in this island. At 

 this period it derived a valuable impulse 

 from the exertions of Fitzherbert, a judge 

 of the common pleas, whose treatises on 

 the subject were read with avidity, and, 

 while they abounded in instruction, ex- 

 cited a taste and emulation for the pur- 

 suits of husbandry. Sir Hugh Platt fol- 

 lowed this path of genuine patriotism 

 with great assiduity, modesty, and public 

 advantage, treating particularly on the 

 subject of manuring. Gabriel Platter 

 held out to his countrymen the light of 

 genius, guided by experience. Captain 

 Blyth, in 1652, published a judicious 

 treatise, containing- directions for water- 

 ing lands. And Hartlib, the friend of 

 Millan, in a work called the Legacy, sug- 

 gested the establishment of a national in- 

 stitution for the encouragement of hus- 

 bandry, and stimulated to the practice of 

 it a number of country gentlemen., whom 

 the violence and changes of the times 

 had reduced to a situation, in which they 

 found it requisite to avail themselves of 

 all means and resources to extricate 

 themselves from comparative impoverish- 

 ment. Evelyn and Jethro Tull were, at a 

 somewhat later period, of eminent service 

 in directing the attention of their contem- 

 poraries from the grossness and pollutions 

 of voluptuousness, to tins most valuable 



