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institutes, no cheap publications, no free libraries, and comparatively little encouragement given to education. In those days we had to borrow books from those who would lend them, and he was a happy youth indeed who found amongst his father's friends and acquaintances one who would encourage and support him in the pursuit of knowledge. Learning was then considered a dangerous thing, and many went so far as to say that education would be the ruin of the poor and the annoyance of the rich, making them discontented with their lot in life, and paving the way to rebellion and insurrection. Now we

have lived to see the falsity of this doctrine, and I trust we may yet live to see the labouring man combine with his daily pursuits the blessings of a mind free from prejudice, but full in the enjoyment of intellectual culture.

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162

LECTURE II.

ON THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN AGRICULTURE.

RESEARCH into the annals of antiquity throws but a feeble light upon the methods adopted by primitive nations in the tillage of the soil; or upon the implements employed in procuring the products of agriculture and converting them into food. The earliest accounts upon which reliance can be placed are those in the sacred Scriptures, whence we learn that the Babylonians and Egyptians were rich in agricultural resources, and that the labours of the husbandman on the banks of the Nile and the Euphrates were rewarded by returns of "sixty, seventy, and one hundred-fold." This large return was, doubtless, the result, partly of the fertility of the soil, which received year by year, on the overflowing of the rivers, deposits which enriched the soil; and partly also of the favouring influence of an almost tropical climate.

It is a mistake to suppose that the farmers of these remote times were unacquainted with the simpler implements of agriculture, for even at the present day there remain enduring records of such instruments in the paintings on the walls of Egyptian temples, and on the sculptures and coins of later date. Most of our agricultural implements may be traced back to an ancient origin, and it is more than probable that the Egyptian farmer of nearly 3000 years ago had many of the conveniences of the dwellinghouse and well stocked farm-yard that may be seen in our own homesteads at the present day. Such facts as these

should make us cautious in assuming to ourselves the merit of original invention and improvement, when history furnishes such unmistakeable records of the great antiquity of machines of similar descriptions.

To another very ancient race, the Egyptians and Romans, as well as ourselves, were probably indebted for the discovery and application of many of the machines by which we cultivate the soil. The very people with whom we are now prosecuting a deadly feud* are the descendants of that race to whom we owe some of the most important aids in the cultivation of the soil, and judging from the traditionary annals of the country we may conclude that the inhabitants of Hindostan and Central India were amongst the earliest to improve the art of tillage, and to introduce that system of rotation, by which the soil is enabled to produce larger and more abundant crops.

Like most other nations the Greeks were at first rather a pastoral than an agricultural people, and although Hesiod and succeeding writers have left records upon the subject, we are less acquainted with the progress and extent of agriculture in Greece than in Italy, or almost any other country.

Amongst the Romans agriculture was regarded as one of the most important and profitable pursuits, and during the earlier days of the republic it engaged the attention of the bravest citizens and most skilful generals. And, no doubt, in Italy agriculture owed much of its successful progress to the energies developed and disciplined in the sterner school of war. The Romans were well acquainted with irrigation, manuring, ploughing, draining, and other more obvious processes connected with the fertilisation of the land and securing its products.

* Written immediately after the revolt of the native army in our Indian possessions in 1858.

During the middle ages agriculture, no longer considered an honourable occupation, sunk in most countries to the lowest possible condition. The processes of irrigation and manuring were neglected, or lost, and hence it is not surprising that under such a system the products should not be much more, according to Humboldt, than four times the quantity of the seed sown.

In America, during the paternal reigns of the Incas of Peru, agriculture was carried on with great success by that ancient and intelligent people; and until overrun by the Spaniards under Pizarro they maintained their character as a civilised community, subsisting on the products of the soil, which they cultivated upon principles superior to those known in Europe at the time, and in other respects conducive to the interests and well being of the people. The Peruvians were well acquainted with the value of guano, which, according to Prescott, was procured from the coast, and was held in such high estimation that no person was permitted, under risk of severe penalties, to disturb the penguins on the islands during the time of breeding. Again, their system of irrigation was upon a magnificent scale, the water being carried across valleys and round the sides of mountains to an extent far exceeding works of a similar nature in modern times. All the lessons to be derived from these undertakings were lost upon the Spaniards, by whom the Peruvians and their works were alike neglected and destroyed. In this country the cultivation of the soil was little studied as a profession, and very imperfectly practised up to the middle of the last century. Up to the union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland the crops of corn are very small in comparison to what they are at present; and wheat must have borne a small proportion to the inferior descriptions of grain, such as oats and rye, with probably some occasional patches of beans and barley.

Potatoes, carrots, turnips, &c., were unknown, and it is recorded that during the reign of Henry VIII., if a salad was wanted, messengers had to be sent to Holland and Flanders for it. Contrasting the mode of living in those days with the abundant luxuries which are now within our reach, and the comparison is immeasurably in favour of the times in which we live.

From the commencement of the last century to the year 1760, agriculture gave little or no indication of progress, and it was not till that time that a movement took place either in the culture of the soil or the management of live stock. From that period, however, may be dated the first step towards a system which has brought the greater portion of the surface of these islands into cultivation for the sustenance of our growing and greatly increasing population.

It is to the southern and eastern parts of Scotland, and to a few distinguished men of the southern part of the United Kingdom, that we are indebted for these early movements; and it is no insignificant compliment to our countrymen to say that they were the great pioneers in the improvement of agriculture. Among the earliest and most distinguished of these we must not forget the name of Arthur Young, the father of English farming, and one of the most sagacious and talented of men. As a contemporary and colleague he allied himself with the eccentric but gifted Robert Bakewell, the founder of the breed of Leicester sheep, and the yeoman-farmer and systematic breeder of live stock. Bakewell was the very ideal of an independent English farmer; his house was his castle, and he used to sit under a huge chimney, clad in a brown coat, scarlet waistcoat, leather breeches, and top boots. There he sat, the model of independence, the head of his family, and lord of his domain. He breakfasted at eight, dined at one, supped at nine, and whoever was there, though at

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