ENCYCLOPÆDIA

OF

AGRICULTURE.

THE first want of man is food, and his first resource for it the ground. Whether

herbs or fruits were resorted to, must have depended on their relative abundance in the country where man found himself; but the latter would probably be preferred, till the use of fire was discovered in the preparation of the former. The first care and labour of man would thus be bestowed on fruit trees, and hence gardening may be said to be the art of earliest invention. But man is also a carnivorous animal, and this propensity of his nature would soon induce him to attempt domesticating such beasts of the earth as he found most useful in affording milk, clothing, or food, or in performing labour. Hence the origin of pasturage, and the management of live stock. The invention of tillage would be coeval with the discovery of the use of the cereal grasses, and may be considered as the last grand step in the invention of husbandry, and the most important, as leading to the establishment of property in territorial surface.

In the earlier stages of civilisation, these branches of economy, in common with all the arts of life, would be practised by every family for itself; but the advantages of separating occupations would soon present themselves, and the result of this principle in regard to rural culture and management, the res rustica of the Romans and husbandry of old English authors, is, that all their operations are now classed under the two designations of agriculture and gardening.

Agriculture, the art to which we here confine ourselves, as compared to gardening, is the culture and management of certain plants and animals for the food and service of man; but, relatively to the present improved state of the art, it may be defined, the cultivation and management of territorial surface on an ext nded scale, by manual and animal labour, for the production of objects and materials used for the food and service of man, and for various important purposes in arts, manufactures, and civilised life.

The importance of agriculture is obvious, not only by its affording the direct supply of our greatest wants, but as the parent of manufactures and commerce. Without agriculture there can be neither civilisation nor population. Hence it is not only the most universal of arts, but that which requires the greatest number of operators: the main body of the population in every country is employed in the pursuit of agriculture; and the most powerful individuals, in almost all nations, derive their wealth and consequence from their property in land.

In the earliest ages of mankind, before tillage was invented, the surface of the earth would be common to all the inhabitants, and every family would pasture its flock, and pitch its tent, or erect its hut, where it thought fit: but when tillage came in use, it became necessary to assign to each family a portion of territory, and of this portion that family became the proprietor and cultivator, and the consumer of the product.

2

Hence the invention of property in land, and progressively of purchased cultivators, or slaves; of hired cultivators, or labourers; of commercial agriculturists, or farmers; and of the various laws and customs in regard to the proprietorship and occupation of landed property.

The practice of agriculture, however rude in early times or in countries still comparatively uncivilised, assumes a very different character among the most advanced nations. Not to mention the peculiarities of implements, machines, and domestic animals, and the different kinds of culture and management requisite for the different countries and climates of the world, the local variations requisite even in Britain are so considerable, that an agriculturist whose experience and observation had been confined to one district, may be comparatively unfit to exercise his profession in another. The sheep farming of the North Highlands, the dairy farming of Gloucestershire, the hop culture of Kent, the woodlands of Buckinghamshire, and the hay management of Middlesex, have given rise to commercial agriculturists of very distinct varieties from the common corn farmer. The previous preparation of land for culture, by enclosure, drainage, embanking, road-making, &c., demands considerable science; and has given rise to artist agriculturists, known as land-surveyors and land-engineers. The relative changes as to rent and occupancy which take place between land-owners and farmers, and the valuation and transfer of landed property among monied men, have produced land-valuators and landagents; from the direction of extensive estates, and the management of small concerns and farms, have originated the serving agriculturists, known as land-stewards and bailiffs; and the operators are shepherds, herdsmen, ploughmen, carters, spadesmen, and hands of all work.

The practice of agriculture, from having been chiefly confined to men of humble station, who pursued it as a matter of business or profit, has of late years been engaged in by men of rank, and other opulent or amateur practitioners, as matter of taste and recreation. The contrast between the simple and healthy pursuits of the country, and such as require intense application, and confine men chiefly to towns and cities, gives them a peculiar charm to the industrious and active citizen, while the idle and the opulent find relief in it from the weariness of inaction or a frivolous waste of time. Some magnificent displays of the art have thus been made by great landed proprietors on their demesne or home farms; and very neat and tasteful specimens of culture, by retired citizens and other possessors of villas, farms, and fermes ornées. These circumstances may be said to have raised the pursuit of agriculture to a comparatively dignified state, with reference to that in which it was formerly held; while the political advantages which are enjoyed by all classes in a free and commercial country, have improved the circumstances of agriculturists of every grade, and tended to raise them in the scale of society. The recent discoveries in chemistry and physiology, have led to the most important improvements in the culture of plants, and the breeding and rearing of animals; agriculture is, in consequence, no longer an art of labour, but of science; hence the advantage of scientific knowledge to agriculturists, and the susceptibility, in the art, of progressive advancement. "Agriculture," Marshall observes," is a subject, which, viewed in all its branches and to their fullest extent, is not only the most important and the most difficult in rural economies, but in the circle of human arts and sciences."

For the purpose of agricultural improvement, societies have been established in every country of Europe, and in almost every county of Britain. Most of these, as well as several eminent individuals, have stimulated cultivators and breeders to exertion, by the offer of premiums, and other honorary rewards. Professorships of rural economy have also been instituted in some colleges; and other independent georgical institutions have been established for public instruction, especially on the Continent: to which we may add, the publication of numerous books on the subject of agriculture and territorial improvement.

Such are the origin, the extent, the importance, and the interest of the subject of agriculture; from which it cannot be surprising that a varied and voluminous mass of knowledge has been accumulated on the subject, and is consequently more or less necessary to every one who would practise the art with success himself, or understand when it is well practised for him by others. To combine as far as practicable the whole of this knowledge, and arrange it in a systematic form, adapted both for study and reference, are the objects of the present work. The sources from which we have selected, are the modern British authors of decided reputation and merit; sometimes we have recurred to ancient and to Continental authors, and occasionally, though rarely, to our own observation and experience: observation chiefly in Britain, but partly also on the Continent; and experience in Scotland, under the paternal roof, during our early years, during some years' occupancy of two extensive farms in England, — and, in the engineering and surveying departments, during our practice for upwards of twenty years as a landscape-gardener.