AGRICULTURE 261 



nodules on their roots, can enrich the soil by 

 fixing atmospheric nitrogen : for centuries the 

 cultivators of India have been aware of the 

 fact, although not of its explanation, and have 

 sown these plants in association with cereals. 

 Much is now made of the " dry farming " which is 

 to revolutionize the agriculture of South Africa. 

 This simply consists in maintaining a fine surface 

 tilth, and so checking evaporation from the sub- 

 soil. It is systematically practised by the ryots 

 of Upper India, who will not sow wheat until, by 

 repeated ploughings, the soil has been reduced 

 to the consistency of powder. Far away across 

 the ocean, on the treeless plateaux of Mexico and 

 Peru there were other centres of agricultural skill, 

 which followed lines that were curiously similar 

 to those of Asia. The plough which is used in the 

 uplands of Cuzco is the counterpart of one that 

 may be seen in India ; and the character of the 

 crops and the disposition of the fields vividly 

 recall the features of an Indian village. Modern 

 agriculture has generally been content to grow 

 crops that have been grown from time immemorial 

 although it has improved their quality very 

 greatly. It is only within the last century that 

 tea, coffee, and cocoa have revolutionized the 

 course of civilized diet. 



To us it appears quite natural that individuals 

 should possess property of their own : we are 

 disposed to scout communistic theories as vision- 

 ary, and opposed to fundamental proclivities of 

 human nature. Yet, judging by the survivals of 

 antiquity that may be discovered in laws and 

 customs and in the practices of uncivilized races, 

 we must conclude that in early times property 

 belonged to the tribe, or the family, not to the in- 

 dividual, and that it was originally as unthinkable 

 that a man should appropriate things in private 



