Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1850-02-01
History Of Agriculture.

| by the anclents to fabulous heroes and
hCroines; by he Egyptians to Osiris; by
the Laiins % Janus; and by the Chinese
TO Chin-hong, successor to Fo-hi; tut
| the earliest correct account is from that
Book of books, which Divine wisdom
exemp,s from all mistakes. From this
we learn that the cultivation of the soil
was the primitive pursuit of man. God
| placed Adam in Eden, to"till the ground, -
ito dress and keep the garden;'' but a
garden in the proper acceptatiou of the
term, is only field which labor has high
ly cultivated and tas,e embeIlished.
OF the descendants of our first parents,
Cain Was "tiIler of the ground;' No
ah was husbandman, who perpetuated
The art among his posterity, rs they came
down from Mount Ararat upon tho plains
of Assyria, and divided the earth among
them. Abraham and Lot had their res
pectlve herdsmen and pastures, JOB had
oxen, asses, sheep, and camels, and SER
wants to keep them; and Jacob sent 10 e
gypt TO purchase corn of his unknown
Joseph. Elijah found Elisha ploughing
IN the field with twelve yoke Of oxen.
or king David's principal worllmen, one
had the charge of the field, the tifling OF
the ground; another, of the vineyard:
and Solomon, his son and successor,
planted orchards and vineyards. and cas-
sed these pursuits "among the delights
OF the sons of men" We also read in
the Scriptures Of the various operations
OF watering. ploughing, reapiug, thresh-
ing, winnowing with the shovel, and
with the fan or sieve; of digging hills
with mat.ock, and of various agricul-
taral productions, as corn, oil, fruits, milk,
honey, and butter. ....
On the settlement OF Canaan, each
tribe received its inheritance, and each
head of a family his portion by lot, and
this he held by absolute right; and if this
primitive system had been perpetuated,
would it not have prevented that inequal-
Ity IN landed possessions, from which
have resulted neglect of cultivation, con-
sequent scarcity and star Iation, which
have given a sad distinction to the recent
history OF some Transatlantic countries!
Passing from these scenes of sacred
association, did time permit, we might
trace the history Of this noble art among
the nations of antiquity. From Egy pit,
first in arts and first in letters, it pass ed
through Phpnicia to Greece, where it
employed the gifted mind of a Democril-
US, Xenophon, an Aristotle, a Theoph-
rastus, and Hesiod. FROM Greece it
was waited on the wave of emigration
to the banks of the Fiber, to Rome, mis-
tress of the world, who planted 1t after
her conquests, in all her colonies. Her
consnls could WELD the sword in war,
and hold the plough in peace. Her
Cinclnnatus returned in honor from the
battle field to his farm. Her Cato, HIM
self farmer, the son OF farmer, ret-
red daily from his legal pursuits of the
morning to his fields, "where, with
plain cloak over his shoulders in Winter,
and almost naked in Summer, he labored
with his servants, till they had clonclu-
ded their tasks, after which he sat down
with them at the table, eating the same
bread aud drinking the same wine. -
The Georges of her Virgil are COM
pend of the most approved methods of
cultivation among the Greeks and Ro-
mans, and are worthy of the high rank
which they hold in the educational sys-
TENS of our day.
Upon the fall of the Roman Empire,
agriculture slumbered during the night of
The dark ages, till the star of the Reform
alton dawned upon the world. Then
the seed which the ancient Romans car
rled into Britain, and that also which
they scattered on their way thlther in
countries. sprang up and bore fruit
Bat it was not until the middle of the
sixteenth century, that the first English
treatise on husbandry appeared, little
more than half a century before our Pu-
rltan fathers brought it with them to
America.
From the commencement of the nine
teenih century, we can speak of Agrcul-
ture as a science, and within The last thir-
ty years, it has received the attention Of
learned and scientific men. 'Fhe geolog-
ical and agricultural surveys which have
been made in many of our States, have
furnished materials for a work on the
application of science to This art, when
ever some master-spirit shall arise to
give them form and order, and to deduce
from them such practical results as shall
reduce the operations of The farmer TO
rules as definite and useful as any that
govern the mechanic arts.-Mr. Uiider's
.aadress.