VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 25 
if they are to maintain their artificial characters and excel- 
lences. Left to themselves, the various breeds of domesti- 
cated Pigeons would all disappear, merging into the original 
Dove from whence they sprang. All artificial varieties of 
animals, plants, and fruits would, under nature, become, in 
time, like the wild stock from which they originated. Hence 
man must wage war continually against organic nature, in 
order to maintain his artificial standards against her inex- 
orable laws. 
The beginning of agriculture was the first step toward 
civilization as well, for the necessity of remaining near his 
crops to guard them from their enemies compelled the prim- 
itive farmer to erect a permanent habitation. This took his 
attention from war and the chase, for much of his time was 
now occupied in tilling the soil and caring for his crops and 
animals. 
The slow growth of primitive agriculture in the older 
civilized countries gave time for a gradual adjustment of the 
forces of nature to the new conditions established and main- 
tained by man. The gradual or partial clearing away of the 
forests occupied centuries. The planting of crops merely 
kept pace with the natural increase of population, while 
the destruction of wild animals and their replacement with 
domesticated species were similarly gradual and progressive. 
So, although in the older countries agriculture suffered much 
from the pests to which its operations must always give rise, 
it remained for the peopling of newer lands to develop the 
greatest difficulties in the path of the farmer. 
Agriculture produces an increased food supply. The 
population increases correspondingly, and the overflow seeks 
new fields. In these new lands, of which America is the 
most prominent example, the conditions of civilization and 
agriculture have replaced with marked rapidity those of 
sayagery and primeval nature. 
MAN AT WAR WITH NATURE IN THE NEW WORLD. 
All the greater changes that were effected gradually by 
man in Europe, where, in the course of centuries, civiliza- 
tion was slowly evolved from savagery, —all these stupen- 
w 
