COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORTATION 275 



SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE AGRICULTURAL 



PRESS x 



J. CLYDE MARQUIS 



THE influence which the printed page has had upon agriculture 

 cannot be definitely measured. The idea has been generally ac- 

 cepted that practical and, especially, successful farming has un- 

 til recently been conducted apart from the directions given in 

 books. The disfavor with which the countryman who considers 

 himself especially practical has regarded those who consult the 

 written experiences of others in books has been too generally 

 dwelt upon in discussions of the literature of agriculture. 



The influence of the printed page is particularly subtle. The 

 casual reader often believes that he has received no benefit from 

 an academic treatment of a topic, yet his subsequent methods 

 are indisputable evidence that he has absorbed an idea and 

 adopted the suggestions, even though he believes he has not. 

 To say that the most important single influence for the improve- 

 ment of agriculture has been the periodical press would be both 

 trite and unnecessary, yet no discussion of the influence of the 

 printed page upon agricultural methods would be complete did 

 it not begin with this premise. 



A sketch of the development of agricultural literature is neces- 

 sary to secure an adequate appreciation of its importance. Its 

 beginnings are unknown, and there were probably treatises on 

 practical agriculture in early periods of Chinese history of 

 which we now have no record. There are only occasional glimpses 

 of the development of the art of husbandry in the early history 

 of man. These appear in Biblical literature and in Egyptian 

 records and later become more evident in the writings of the 

 Greeks and Romans. 



The first foundations of the literature of husbandry which 

 may be said to support the present structure were laid by the 

 Roman writers, and many of the fundamental propositions 

 presented by them may still be accepted with trifling modifica- 

 tions. The husbandmen of to-day would be benefited greatly by 

 a thoughtful perusal of the advice of Cato and Columella. 



i Adapted from Annals of the Amer. Acad., 40: 158-162, March, 1912. 



